Oticon Licenses and Deploys CEVA Bluetooth Low Energy Technology in Breakthrough Hearing Aid

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of signal processing IP for smarter, connected devices, today announced Oticon, the world's leading innovator of BrainHearing™ technology has licensed and deployed the RivieraWaves Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology  for use as part of the Bluetooth implementation in its recently announced Oticon Opn™ hearing aid.

Oticon Opn combines breakthrough technologies to "help people with hearing loss hear better, with less effort and better recall" including the innovative TwinLink™ technology which incorporates both binaural processing & direct connectivity into a single hearing aid design. This unique combination of binaural processing and 2.4 GHz Bluetooth connectivity is developed by Oticon as a dedicated hearing aid solution and allows the new Opn hearing aid to directly connect to external Bluetooth-enabled devices, including smartphones, TVs and more. The connectivity element that enables direct connectivity to external Bluetooth-enabled devices is utilizing technology components developed by CEVA. Visit Oticon Opn for more information on its exciting new features and functionalities.

"Bluetooth low energy is a critical, differentiating feature of our Opn hearing aid, allowing our customers to directly connect and stream audio between their Bluetooth-enabled devices for a significantly enhanced user experience," said Finn Möhring, VP of R&D at Oticon. "We chose CEVA's RivieraWaves BLE technology as an important component of the Bluetooth connectivity solution of Opn due to its winning combination of market leadership, quality of IP and excellent technical support."

"We are pleased to announce Oticon as a licensee for our RivieraWaves BLE IP and delighted to see the launch of their Opn hearing aid," said Aviv Malinovitch, vice president and general manager of the Connectivity Business Unit at CEVA. "Oticon is incorporating our BLE IP technology at very low power consumption and we applaud their success in bringing this to market."

The RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms consist of a hardware baseband controller, plus a feature-rich software protocol stack. For Bluetooth Low Energy, this protocol stack encompasses the Link Layer up to the GAP/GATT plus a comprehensive set of Services and Profiles. For Bluetooth Dual Mode, this protocol stack presents an industry standard HCI interface. A flexible radio interface allows the platform to be deployed with either RivieraWaves RF or various partners' RF IP, enabling optimal selection of foundry and process node.

For more information on RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms, go to https://www.ceva-ip.com/product/rivierawaves-bluetooth-platforms/

About Oticon

Oticon is one of the most innovative hearing device manufacturers with more than 110 years of experience putting the needs of people with hearing loss first.  Oticon has spearheaded a number of technological breakthroughs which have made a significant difference for people with hearing loss.  Oticon's "brain first" audiological focus recognizes that speech understanding and comprehension are cognitive processes that happen in the brain.  Oticon's innovative BrainHearing™ technology is helping to provide better hearing with less effort by giving the brain the clearest, purest sound signals to decode. Oticon designs and manufactures hearing solutions for adults and specialized pediatric instruments. People First is Oticon's strongest and most valued commitment to empower people to communicate freely, interact naturally and participate actively.  For more information visit: www.oticon.global.

About CEVA, Inc.

CEVA is the leading licensor of signal processing IP for a smarter, connected world. We partner with semiconductor companies and OEMs worldwide to create power-efficient, intelligent and connected devices for a range of end markets, including mobile, consumer, automotive, industrial and IoT. Our ultra-low-power IPs for vision, audio, communications and connectivity include comprehensive DSP-based platforms for LTE/LTE-A/5G baseband processing in handsets, infrastructure and machine-to-machine devices, computer vision and computational photography for any camera-enabled device, audio/voice/speech and ultra-low power always-on/sensing applications for multiple IoT markets. For connectivity, we offer the industry's most widely adopted IPs for Bluetooth (low energy and dual mode), Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac up to 4x4) and serial storage (SATA and SAS). Visit us at ceva-dsp.com and follow us on Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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SOURCE CEVA, Inc.