Wolfson Microelectronics plc to Acquire Dynamic Hearing

Wolfson Microelectronics plc ("Wolfson" or "the Company"), a global leader in the supply of mixed-signal semiconductor HD Audio solutions for the consumer electronics market, today announces that it has signed a binding agreement, subject to certain customary closing conditions, to acquire the entire issued share capital of Australian-based software solutions company, Dynamic Hearing PTY Ltd ("Dynamic Hearing") for a consideration of up to AUD 5.0m (USD 5.2m), payable in cash.

Dynamic Hearing is a leading provider of high quality audio processing software for personal communication devices such as mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets and hearing aids. Having traded profitably in the year to June 2011, it has a proven track record of repeat business with established customers, all of which are leaders in their respective markets. Since it was founded in 2002, Dynamic Hearing has built a successful business from its base in Melbourne, Australia. The 22 employees will now become part of the Wolfson team and will continue to serve Dynamic Hearing's existing customers as well as provide sound processing software for Wolfson's HD Audio solutions. 

Working closely with the Wolfson team during the past 18 months, Dynamic Hearing has developed and supplied a suite of audio enhancing transmit noise reduction and Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) algorithms to run on Wolfson's Audio Hub products. Wolfson's WM2200, launched earlier this year, was the first product combining Dynamic Hearing's multi-microphone transmit path / voice capture noise reduction and AEC technologies, with Wolfson's unique receive Ambient Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology. This combination of audio processing technologies provides a complete platform-agnostic turnkey transmit and receive noise reduction solution. This will be further deployed across Wolfson's Audio Hub products for mobile phones and tablet PC applications.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mike Hickey, CEO of Wolfson, said: "We are delighted to welcome Dynamic Hearing's highly skilled team of employees into the Wolfson family. This acquisition secures important intellectual property, adds to our customer base and supports our leadership position in delivering HD Audio solutions for the consumer electronics market."

Anthony Shilton, CEO of Dynamic Hearing, said: "This is a great opportunity for Dynamic Hearing to become part of a leading global audio solutions company. We will have an expanded capacity to market and deploy our existing intellectual property and software around the world. Our team here in Australia are looking forward to developing industry-leading software to complement and enhance Wolfson's HD Audio solutions."