The Future of Sound: Envisioning the Ecosystem of Bluetooth LE Audio

When the Bluetooth 4.0 specification was released, Bluetooth Smart (now Bluetooth Low Energy (LE)) was introduced with central and peripheral roles to support low-power, intermittent communications for sensor devices. This did not include a low power alternative for audio – at least not until 2020, when the Bluetooth 5.2 specification announced inclusion of an exciting new feature: LE Audio.

By comparison to previous Bluetooth Classic audio, LE Audio significantly decreases the power consumption of Bluetooth audio via the LC3 codec and enables new use cases that were impossible with HSP and A2DP.

In this white paper, we’ll look at the core features and high-level overview of what’s new with LE Audio, some applications that make compelling and innovative use of LE Audio, and explore the roadmap to broad LE Audio adoption and availability.