FAQ

• Do you have a technical overview of your platform?

  

  Yes. View the LISNR Tech Overview sheet.

• Do you record audio?

  

  LISNR does not record any audio. LISNR technology utilizes bandpass filters around the frequencies of interest and all other frequencies (including voice) are rejected. An audio buffer is used to detect the LISNR Tone, and this buffer gets overwritten constantly and is never stored.

• Do people get irritated with high frequency tones being played all day?

  

  We have tested playing tones for long periods of time with no negative effects. The LISNR tone is inaudible to the the majority of people. A very small population may be able to hear audio in the range of the LISNR tone however, this does not cause any negative side effect.

• Does LISNR create an privacy or security concerns?

  

  Privacy is very important at LISNR. We have taken great measures to preserve our customers and their end-users privacy and security. We encourage you to review our posted Privacy Policy.

• How can I implement LISNR in my environment?

  

  Please reference the Implementation Guide relevant to your environment: Broadcast, Sports Venue, Live Event, Retail.

• What are the other ways I can utilize the LISNR platform?

  

  Please visit one of our LISNR Solutions Pages above to view our current use cases.

• Can animals hear the tone?

  

  Some animals can hear the tone, however, the LISNR tone is broadcasted in the FCC safe range for audio frequencies. Reference the How LISNR Smart Tones Affect Animals and Hearing for more information.

• Does LISNR have different types of tones?

  

  We support two tone profiles and three types of tones:

  Tone Profiles

  • Standard: Optimized for reverberation and increased reliability. Typically used for Proximity Engagements, Broadcast and Second Screen implementations. Throughput of 33.3 bits/second, 66.6 bits/second (wideband). Maximum of 255 bytes.
  • Precision: Optimized for closed distances. Typically used for Authentication, Payments, Access, and Security implementations. Throughput of 1000 bits/second, 2000 bits/second (wideband). Maximum of 3000 bytes.

  Tone Types

  • ID Tones: Created via the LISNR Portal or API. This tone type is a reference to an ID that is associated with a piece of curated content.
  • Text Tones: Broadcasts from the device via the SDK or generated via the API. Contain ASCII Character Set at a 255 for Standard and Compression Profiles. The Precision Profile can carry a maximum of 3000 bytes.
  • Data Tones: Broadcasts from the device via the SDK or generated via the API. Contain raw binary up to 255 bytes for Standard and Compression Profiles. The Precision Profile can carry a maximum of 3000 bytes.

• How secure is the tone?

  

  LISNR enables offline authentication, single use tones combined with metadata and tokenization between devices to ensure a completely secure connection. Please reference our Security Whitepaper to learn more. You can also encrypt your data before you modulate it into the payload of a tone, and decrypt the data after you demodulate the tone.

• What’s the “range” of LISNR Tones? How far can they reach?

  

  Output, or “volume”, determines the range of a LISNR Tone. In basic terms, increasing the volume increases the range, while decreasing the volume shortens the range. For mobile device to mobile device, average distance for Standard tone is ~20 ft and Precision is ~3ft. Can be increased with external speakers.

• How long will it take for my device to detect a LISNR Tone?

  

  Depending on the chosen Tone Profile and payload size of your transmission, your detection rates will vary. Throughput of Standard profile is 33.3 bits/second, 66.6 bits/second (wideband). Throughput of Precision profile is 1000 bits/second, 2000 bits/second (wideband). For example, a Standard Tone (wideband) with a payload of 6 bytes will detect in 1.7 seconds. A Precision Tone with a payload of 6 bytes will detect in 0.43 seconds.

• Do I need a network connection to decode a LISNR Tone?

  

  No. All LISNR Tones are decoded locally on the device.

• Does background noise cause any interference with the tone?

  

  LISNR frequencies live in the 18kHz-20kHz range which is higher than the majority of human voices and environmental noise.

• What platforms do you support?

  

  We currently support iOS, Android, Linux -x86 64-bit, Raspberry Pi, Windows -64 bit, Vista+. Our core C library can be built into a variety of other systems and platforms. By using the LISNR API, you can also generate and play tones on other platforms that have a network connection. Please reach out to info@lisnr.com to learn more.

• Can my mobile device detect LISNR Tones in the background?

  

  Reference the App Knowledge for more information.