Surely when you buy headphones, especially wireless headphones, you have also heard of CVC microphone noise cancellation technology. But perhaps no one understands this technology, how it works and how it is different from the ANC active noise cancellation standard that is getting more attention from users. So in this article, we will answer all these questions!
First, CVC stands for “Clear Voice Capture,” which was invented to block out environmental noises, retaining only the voice to help improve the microphone’s recording quality. This technology was invented for phone conversations but has also been applied to podcast recording and remote meetings. This technology is constantly being upgraded, and up to now, it has reached the 8th generation (CVC 8.0).
CVC is a highly adaptive technology, which means that in actual use conditions, the longer it is used, the better the ability to separate human voices and block other noises. According to testing, this technology can block up to 30dB of noise, which is impressive!
This technology cannot completely block out all noises, especially unexpected noises like car horns and children’s screams, but it will also make them smaller. CVC is a prerequisite that the user’s voice will be the loudest for the microphone. CVC is applied to the microphone system of new generation headsets, but smartphone applications are also applied to any microphone.
So how is CVC different from ANC? These are two independent technologies applied in two different cases. CVC is used during conversations, turning off other noises except the user’s voice, and ANC blocks sound outside the headset, making the music listening space quieter.
Both ANC and CVC need a circuit board, analyzing that this is ‘noise’ to block them. CVC will work by cutting off frequencies that it considers noise, leaving only a small amount of speech. ANC works on the ‘back-of-phase’ mechanism, creating frequencies out of phase to cancel out the noise before it has a chance to reach the user’s ears.
ANC, like CVC, cannot block sudden sounds but is very effective with ‘background’ sounds, which are continuous and can be adapted to ANC. CVC is only used during a conversation (usually for a short time), but ANC will have to be used continuously during audio enjoyment, making the headset consume more battery.
In addition, ANC also requires the headset to use a diaphragm to create a reverse-phase wave to help prevent noise so that the sound quality will be slightly reduced. With the latest generations of headphones, the reduction in sound quality is not too much, but if we listen closely, we can also recognize it.