Qualcomm has formally announced the acquisition of San Diego-based SoftMax, a firm specialising in noise reduction for mobile devices.

The deal will bring multi-microphone noise suppression and echo cancellation technology to Qualcomm, broadening the audio and voice capabilities of the wireless firm's product portfolio.

The technologies will be integrated into devices such as mobile handsets, Bluetooth headsets, VoIP phones and notebook PCs.

SoftMax's voice algorithms for signal separation, echo cancellation and signal processing are designed to help wireless devices separate a speaker's voice from various background noises.

According to Qualcomm, the technology also delivers a number of additional advantages, including lower power consumption, easy implementation and minimal processing power and memory requirements.