Interviewee: Zhang Deming, Bachelor of Physics from Peking University, PhD in Acoustics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Adjunct Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, former expert in core 4G/5G communication speech at Huawei, and Founder of Acousbit. With 20 years of experience in acoustics, audio and communications, he holds dozens of international patents in the communications field and has always been committed to breaking the shackles of traditional audio and creating an extremely natural acoustic experience.
This interview delves into Dr. Zhang Deming’s career journey, pursuit of acoustic technology, entrepreneurial original aspiration and future industry layout, and deeply analyzes his unique insights into the development of the audio industry.
I. From Academia to Industry: 20 Years of Dedication to Acoustics, Laying a Solid Technical Foundation
Interviewer: Hello Dr. Zhang. You have an outstanding academic background with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Peking University and a combined master’s and PhD in acoustics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Later, you spent many years in acoustic R&D for communications at Huawei. Could you talk about how this academic and professional experience foreshadowed your subsequent technological R&D and entrepreneurship?
Zhang Deming: My physics studies at Peking University laid a solid theoretical foundation, giving me a thorough understanding of the underlying logic of acoustics and communication-related fields. My advanced studies for a master’s and PhD at the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences allowed me to focus on core technologies such as acoustic acquisition, processing, and coding/decoding, and conduct a great deal of in-depth scientific research—this was the starting point of my deep engagement in acoustics. After joining Huawei in 2007, as an expert in core 5G communication acoustics, I participated in the entire iteration of communication technologies from 2G to 5G, and was involved in the acoustic R&D of various communication devices such as mobile phones and base stations, accumulating dozens of international patents in the ITU/3GPP communication field. This experience allowed me to step out of the pure scientific research perspective, truly understand the technical needs of the industrial end, and also made me consciously polish core acoustic technologies, laying a solid technical and industrial foundation for transforming scientific research results into products and embarking on entrepreneurship later.
Interviewer: You chose to leave Huawei in 2014, at a time when your R&D career at Huawei was already on track. What was the core reason for this decision?
Zhang Deming: In the seven years at Huawei, I transformed from a researcher to a communication engineer, and also mastered and refined acoustic technologies. However, I gradually became unsatisfied with only engaging in backend R&D. I was more eager to turn the innovative acoustic technologies I had been researching for many years into high-quality products that could be put into practice and bring real experiences to users—this was the firmest thought in my heart at that time. I have always believed that developing truly practical wireless audio communication products that meet user needs is my pursuit. Creating leading high-quality acoustic products and promoting the upgrading of the wireless audio industry is more valuable to me, so I finally resolutely chose the road of entrepreneurship.
II. Addressing Industry Pain Points: A Century of Stagnation in Audio, Reclaiming the Authenticity of Sound
Interviewer: With many years of experience in acoustics and audio, and having witnessed the rapid iteration of communication technologies, what do you think is the core pain point of the current audio industry? Why did you have the entrepreneurial idea of creating an ultimate acoustic experience?
Zhang Deming: Since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875, the entire technology industry has developed by leaps and bounds: mobile phones have evolved from 2G to 5G, camera pixels have soared from 300,000 to 20 million, and various hardware and communication technologies have made leaping progress. Yet the development of the sound field has stagnated for more than a century. To put it simply, our voice calls are still stuck in the mono era without any substantive progress. This is a regret for the entire industry, and also a pain point I want to break through.
As the saying goes, “Seeing is believing, while hearing is suspect”. We often perceive poor sound quality but cannot describe the problem concretely. In fact, an analogy with images makes it intuitive: the differences in the fineness of 480p, 1080p and 4K images are clear at a glance, and the same applies to sound. Our existing methods of audio transmission and presentation are far from restoring the authenticity of sound. The human ear, auricle, shoulders, head, and the cochlear hair cell system inside the eardrum can accurately focus on spatial sound sources and shield irrelevant noise—something ordinary microphones cannot achieve. This is also the original aspiration behind my founding of Acousbit: to break the shackles of traditional audio, simulate the real perception of the human binaural system in a natural environment, realize true binaural auditory transmission, and bring users an immersive sound experience.
Interviewer: What, in your mind, constitutes a truly ultimate sound experience? What core layout did you make around this goal in the early stage of entrepreneurship?
Zhang Deming: In my opinion, the ultimate sound experience is by no means just noise reduction or sound amplification, but a high degree of restoration of the natural auditory perception of the human binaural system, and a complete reproduction of the spatial sense, directionality and layering of sound. For example, at a live venue, we can clearly hear various sounds from all directions—up, down, left, right, front and back, far and near—and accurately perceive the localization and on-site texture of sound. What we aim to do is perform noise reduction, encoding and transmission on such sound signals, and present them completely on the other end, making the listener feel as if they are on the scene with an immersive on-site experience.
In the early stage of entrepreneurship, my team and I focused on technological R&D around the natural auditory perception of the binaural system, overcoming the full-link technical challenges of sound acquisition, encoding, transmission and restoration. We abandoned the limitations of traditional mono audio and focused on creating acoustic technologies that can restore the real sound field and realize binaural auditory transmission—this is also Acousbit’s core competitiveness in the industry.
III. Anchoring the Future Track: Empowering the Innovation of the Audio Industry
Interviewer: From a Huawei R&D expert to an entrepreneur, you have always stuck to the acoustic field. What are your expectations for the development of the audio industry in the future?
Zhang Deming: The audio industry should not be bound by traditional models, nor should it stay at the technological level of a century ago. Future audio will definitely be people-centered, returning to the authenticity of sound and restoring the natural on-site acoustic experience. I will continue to adhere to the original aspiration of acoustic R&D, lead the team to break through technical barriers, and commit to breaking the predicament of “mono audio”. I hope to bring binaural immersive acoustic experiences into people’s daily lives, drive the iterative upgrading of the entire audio industry, and let technology truly serve human sensory experiences.
Epilogue
From deep research in academia to tackling challenges in industry, from technological R&D to industrial implementation, Dr. Zhang Deming has upheld his original aspiration for acoustics for 20 years, addressed the century-old pain points of the industry, and broken the shackles of audio development with hardcore technology. It is believed that under his technical leadership, the wireless audio industry will eventually bid farewell to the outdated paradigm and usher in a new era of immersive acoustic experiences.
