STMicroelectronics together with Soundchip, a Swiss-based electro-acoustics consultancy and originator of the High Definition Personal AudioT (HD-PAT) Standard, announced a collaboration aimed at bringing HD-PA to market. HD-PA represents an aspirational statement of sound quality for personal audio systems.

Unlike other approaches which focus on the quality of sound produced at the source, HD-PA offers a new and authoritative approach for driving innovation in personal audio at the ear, considering and addressing the influence of important environmental factors, including noise. As a result of this combination of technologies, the companies plan to deliver HD-PA PlatformsT and HD-PA ReadyT components to market.

The collaboration will see ST license patented personal audio technology from Soundchip, becoming an active champion of the HD-PA Standard, while Soundchip will access design software tools from ST and promote ST's HD-PA ReadyT silicon.

The intellectual property that ST is licensing from Soundchip provides access to a comprehensive set of technological resources that enable ST to deliver to its customers HD-PA-compliant sound performance in IC's designed for state of the art headsets and headphones.

ST expects its first HD-PA Ready silicon devices to be available in sampling quantities at the beginning of Q4 2011.