SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SoundHound Inc.®, the leading innovator in sound recognition and voice-enabled conversational intelligence technologies, and Boombotix, the company that makes portable speakers for life in motion, today announced their partnership on the launch of the Boombotix Hurricane smart speaker. The speaker provides a high quality, voice-controlled audio experience integrating Hound®, SoundHound Inc.’s voice search and assistant app, powered by the Houndify™ voice recognition and conversational intelligence platform.
“With our mission to Houndify everything, we are thrilled to support Boombotix in creating a connected speaker that you speak to naturally,” said Katie McMahon, VP and GM at SoundHound Inc. “As the first screenless device that incorporates Hound’s voice interaction, including the ability to ask compound and complex questions and seamlessly follow up, this connected speaker will amaze and delight.”
The Boombotix speaker is focused on delivering a superior music playing experience in the home and includes a battery for portable use. All users have to do to access their favorite artists, songs or music genres is say, “OK, Hound” and ask for what they want to hear. Boombotix aims to deliver a high quality audio experience, with the product focused on playing music that can be easily activated with commands such as, “OK Hound, play something chill,” or “let’s hear something new.” Users can also directly request to hear a specific artist, song or album.
In addition, Hound provides access to music knowledge, weather, sports, news, stocks, nutritional values, flight status, local restaurant and business search from Yelp, Uber ride fares and time estimates, games and more. The Boombotix speaker marks the first instance of a third-party device built with the Hound voice assistant inside. This enables the Boombotix speaker, specifically designed for an at home, voice-first experience, to access the voice search and assistant experience of the mobile-first Hound app, which is available for easy on-the-go usage.
“Our goal is to simplify the home audio experience by adding voice control and artificial intelligence to music management, so SoundHound Inc.’s Houndify platform was the perfect partner,” said Sean Sullivan, CEO of Boombotix. “The high quality hardware and intelligence provided in our speaker delivers a valuable music experience, and with the power of Hound inside, it can do so much more -- it will revolutionize the way our customers listen to music and help them save time and effort in their busy lives.”
Hound is powered by the Houndify technology platform, which enables developers to revolutionize their products and services by adding voice-enabled conversational intelligence to any app or product. Houndify provides the world’s fastest ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition), the world’s most advanced NLU (Natural Language Understanding), unmatched speed and accuracy utilizing Speech-to-Meaning™, and software development kits (SDKs) across all major operating systems and platforms, plus includes an ever-expanding set of domains of understanding and knowledge graphs. More than 15,000 partners have registered to use the Houndify platform for their products, including NVIDIA (in a car dashboard) and Samsung (in its smart home products). As a Houndify partner, Boombotix has the advantage of enabling new domains and including music content partners quickly and seamlessly, with no action required from the user beyond speaking naturally.
The Boombotix home speaker includes the following combination of unique features:
- Intelligent, context-aware, and conversational voice interaction: Simply speak to interact. Leveraging the Houndify Speech-to-Meaning™ technology, Hound delivers hands-free voice control to play music, control the volume, and more.
- Music-first focus, with increasing variety and discovery: Plays music on demand, responding to requests to play a specific song, artist or album. It also makes it easy to play music that fits any lifestyle or mood by responding to “play something chill,” “let’s hear a workout mix,” or “play something new,” and leverages SoundHound’s music knowledge to respond to queries like, “play the top rock song in the U.S.”
- Superior sound quality: High definition sound with two full-range drivers and a 10 watt active subwoofer, combined with an echo cancelling microphone, provides music clarity unparalleled by voice-enabled players.
- At home and portable: Impressive range, easy two-way communication, a portable design, and a rechargeable battery make for a perfect listening companion in the home, with the option to unplug and take it out to the porch, garage, rooftop or beach.
- More than music: Hound delivers more than voice control for music, enabling access to information including general knowledge, weather, sports, news, stocks, nutritional values, flight status, local restaurant and business search from Yelp, Uber ride fares and time estimates and more. Examples that showcase interactive and conversational interactions with Hound include calculating a home mortgage, playing games like Blackjack, or checking on a flight status by simply asking, “Is my flight on time?”.
The speaker is currently available for preorder on Kickstarter and Boombotix plans to ship it later this year. Developers interested in exploring the Houndify platform can visit Houndify.com to sign up and learn more. To download the free Hound voice search and assistant app for iOS and Android, visit SoundHound.com/Hound.
About SoundHound Inc.:
SoundHound Inc. turns sound into understanding and actionable meaning. We believe in enabling humans to interact with the things around them in the same way we interact with each other: by speaking naturally to mobile phones, cars, TVs, music speakers, and every other part of the emerging ‘connected’ world. Our consumer product, Hound, leverages our Speech-to-Meaning technology to showcase a groundbreaking smartphone experience, and is the first product to leverage and showcase the Houndify platform. Our SoundHound product applies our technology to music, enabling people to discover, explore, and share the music around them, and even find the name of that song stuck in their heads by singing or humming. And through the Houndify platform, we empower developers to be part of the Speech-to-Meaning revolution. Our Mission: Houndify everything.
About Boombotix:
Boombotix is a San Francisco based consumer electronics brand that designs ultra-portable audio for life in motion. The company works directly with artists and athletes to develop industry-leading devices that empower users with unparalleled versatility, premium acoustics and durability.
