startup based in California Fine Calculation is tackling the problem of recording people’s voices in noisy environments with its own voice isolation models — a technology that could benefit voice-based AI products and services.
Consumer applications using voice AI are seeing tremendous growth today. AI meeting note takers such as Granola, Fireflies, Fathom, and Read AI have captured the attention of both users and investors. Existing companies such as OpenAI, ClickUp and Notion have built-in voice transcription solutions. App makers like Wispr Flow and Willow are working on voice dictation. Then there are hardware companies like Plaud and Sandbar that use devices as a means to transcribe your voice and then use AI to generate information and interact.
One of the challenges for these companies is to record users’ voices in any kind of environment, such as loud cafes or offices.
To address this, Subtle Computing developed an end-to-end voice isolation model that can understand what you’re saying even in noisy environments. Chen said there are many companies working on voice understanding. He noted that sometimes, device manufacturers send the voice to the cloud to get a clean output, but this is not effective.
The startup trains specific models to match a specific device’s acoustics and adapt to the user’s voice instead of training a model that works on all devices.
“What we found is that when we preserve the acoustic characteristics of a device, we have an order of magnitude better performance than generic solutions. This also means we can give personalized solutions to the user,” Chen said.
The company was founded by Tyler Chen, David Harrison, Savannah Cofer and Jackie Yang, who met at Stanford. Chen, Cofer and Yang were pursuing their PhDs while Harrison was pursuing an MBA. They came together in Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad course, where they worked on alternative computing interfaces and started building Subtle Computing.
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“As we interact more with AI, we’re moving towards a future where we talk to our devices,” Chen said. “But the obvious question is how much do our devices, the users, understand in all the environments we work in every day. Whether it’s a very loud coffee shop or a shared office where there are other people around you and you might be talking about something private — voice doesn’t work that way today,” he added.
The startup said it can run the voice-only isolation model on some devices, which is just a few megabytes in size and has a latency of 100ms. The company may also run a different model to transcribe voice and provide text output for other devices. Chen said that thanks to its isolation model, the company’s transcription model can better understand users and in turn create a more accurate transcription.
Subtle Computing said Qualcomm has selected the startup as a member of its voice and music expansion program. This means the startup’s technology will be compatible with Qualcomm’s chips and available in devices produced by OEMs.
The company has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Entrada Ventures, with participation from Amplify Partners, Abstract Ventures and angel investors, including founders such as Twitter’s Biz Stone, Pinterest’s Evan Sharp and Perplexity’s Johnny Ho.
Karen Roter Davis, managing director at Entrada Ventures and former director of an early project at X (Alphabet), noted that voice AI is a noisy space, and although interactions through this medium are increasing, the overall voice experience is not great. He believes the startup’s focus on voice isolation brings a different perspective to the market.
“While you can debate whether AI will increase or decrease time spent on a day-to-day basis, we can all agree that advances in computing power and machine learning / AI provide opportunities for breakthroughs in the voice interface — if done right,” Davis said. “Subtle Computing meets people where they are with voice interfaces that withstand excessive noise and are ultra-quiet, delivering a voice experience that’s reliable, easy and fun. It’s a game changer,” he added.
The company said it has also partnered with a consumer hardware brand and an automotive brand – without naming them – to develop its solutions. But Subtle Computing doesn’t want to be just a model supplier to other companies.
The startup also said it plans to announce a consumer product covering both hardware and software next year, without offering details.
