WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

A new voice technology from Kopin Corporation (Nasdaq: KOPN) – a chip that can double the accuracy of automatic speech recognition in noisy environments and that dramatically improves far-field voice quality in smartphones and wearables – was named a CES 2017^® Innovation Awards Honoree in the Embedded Technologies category by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)^™.

When designed into mobile electronics, the new Kopin Whisper^™ Voice Chip provides users superior speech recognition and voice quality – especially in noisy environments such as a shopping mall, a city street or a busy restaurant. As consumers increasingly choose voice as their preferred interface to electronic devices, OEMS and integrators will need technologies such as Whisper that improve voice performance.

More Wearables Tech from Kopin

For Kopin, a long-time developer of display technologies and products for wearables, Whisper represents a market expansion into voice and speech: It was one of three Kopin products awarded the CTA’s Honoree status last week. The others were Kopin’s Solos^™ smart sunglasses for athletes, and its Black Pupil^™ tiny liquid crystal display (LCD) module for smart glasses such as Solos and other brands.

“The CTA’s recognition of Whisper is a bellwether that customers will be as interested in Kopin voice technologies as they are in Kopin display technologies,” said Kopin President and CEO Dr. John C.C. Fan. “Other speech-recognition solutions deteriorate in most real-world environments, but not our Whisper Voice Chip. It’s the game-changer that OEMs and integrators – as well as consumers – have eagerly awaited.”

No Hands Needed

The 4x4mm, low-power, digital Whisper Voice Chip enables wearable electronics to perform accurate speech recognition and to provide more natural voice quality. What’s more, it provides a true hands-free, noise-cancelled speech-recognition interface that works nearly everywhere – regardless of environmental noise – addressing the key pain-point about which consumers complain today.

The key to Whisper’s extreme accuracy is Kopin’s Voice Extraction^™ Filter. The filter uses artificial intelligence to model an acoustic environment and single out the voice signal from all other noise.

Feeding Whisper’s exceedingly clean linear voice signal into a speech engine results in significant improvements in speech-recognition rates and a more natural-sounding voice to the far-end listener. (In tests, Whisper maintained an accuracy rate of 93 percent in a 95 dB noise environment, compared to competitive products, which maintained an accuracy rate of just 40 percent or less.)

Whisper accepts up to four standard digital microphone inputs and includes an on-board digital speaker driver to replace the codec. The device works with any operating system, any processor platform and any speech engine.

Hear Whisper at CES 2017

Kopin invites senior executives from wearables and smartphone companies to private demonstrations at Kopin’s CES 2017 suite at The Palazzo, located at 3325 S. Las Vegas Blvd., between the Wynn and Venetian hotels. To schedule an appointment, contact: Paul Baker, vice president of business development, at [email protected] or (508) 870-5959.

Whisper Voice Chip, Solos smart sunglasses and Black Pupil LCD display module will be among the Kopin products displayed on the CES show floor in Booth #26035, at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall. Additional information about Kopin at CES is available at [email protected].

About the CES 2017 Innovation Awards

Whisper, Solos, Black Pupil and the other CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honorees were judged by a panel of independent industrial designers, independent engineers and members of the trade media to award outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics products across 28 product categories. The prestigious CES Innovation Awards are sponsored by the CTA, the producer of CES, the annual global gathering place for the business of consumer technologies, to be held Jan. 5-8.

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading developer of innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions. Kopin’s technology portfolio includes ultra-small displays, optics, speech enhancement technology, software, low-power ASICs, and ergonomically designed smart headset concept systems. Kopin’s proprietary components and technology are protected by more than 300 global patents and patents pending, with more than 95% related to wearable technologies. For more information, please visit Kopin’s website at www.kopin.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release may be considered “forward-looking” statements under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements relating to our expectation that Whisper represents an expansion into voice and thatWhisper Voice Chip is a “game changer. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: there may not be demand for our Whisper Voice Chip products; our Whisper technology may not perform as we expect; there may be issues that prevent the adoption or our Whisper technology, Black Pupil LCD modules, Voice Extraction^™ Filter and Solos products; manufacturing, marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or acceptance of our products; the Company might be adversely affected by competitive products and pricing; new product initiatives and other research and development efforts may be unsuccessful; manufacturing delays, technical issues, economic conditions or external factors may prevent the Company from achieving its goals; we could be delayed in shipping some of our products; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 26, 2015, and the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to the Company and only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

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