How Does iPhone 4’s Noise Cancellation Work?

Known for their painstaking deconstruction of gadgets, iFixit has discovered the technology behind the iPhone 4’s stellar noise-cancellation technology.

When iFixit first dissected an iPhone 4 last year to reveal its inner beauty, they discovered the phone contains two microphones that are “used to cut out ambient noise and improve sound quality.” However, they were unsure of the origins of the voice processor that powers the noise-cancellation feature. Now thanks to Chipworks who was recently able to de-cap the whiteprocessor, we now know the manufacturer is Audience.

The same chip is also used in the HTC-manufactured Google Nexus One which also has excellent noise-canceling abilities. iFixit has tested several phones and claims that the iPhone 4 outperforms “every non-Audience powered cell phone we’ve tried.” Check out the demo to see an audio quality comparison.

via iFixit

James Britton

James first bit into Apple when his mom and dad bought an Apple IIe in 1986. He switched to Wintel in the mid 90s when Apple was in a tailspin and back again to an iBook in 2005 when things were looking brighter. Hopefully there is no turning back to the dark side now.