Glossary: Bluetooth | Sweetwater.com

Expert Center > Glossary > Bluetooth

«Back to Glossary Menu

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0-9

Bluetooth: A short-range wireless technology that communicates via a frequency-hopping transceiver over the 2.4-gigahertz radio frequency, a space known as the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. Bluetooth was originally conceived as a low cost, low power, short-range technology that would replace cables on such devices as mobile phone headsets, handsets and portable computers. However, its promoters soon envisioned the creation of "personal area networks" in which computers could be wirelessly connected to printers, audio could be transmitted over short distances (for example, to the rear speakers in surround setups), and remote control of PDAs or other appliances could be easily implemented. Some people have referred to it as a sort of wireless USB, which is a pretty apt description in many respects. First conceived in 1994 by Ericsson Mobile Communications (now a part of Sony), by 1998 the Bluetooth Special Interest Group included industry giants Intel, IBM, Toshiba and Nokia. Today more than 2000 companies produce or are developing Bluetooth enabled products. Apple Computers incorporate Bluetooth compatibility that allows keyboards, mice and other peripherals to wirelessly connect to the main unit. While Bluetooth originally had a transmission range of only 10 meters, today, three power classes exist for Bluetooth devices, the most powerful allowing transmissions up to 100 meters. Bluetooth is a different protocol from Wi-Fi, but both occupy a section of the 2.4 GHz ISM band that is 83 MHz wide. Bluetooth uses a technology called Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) that allows it to hop between 79 different 1 MHz-wide channels in this band whenever it encounters interference from other transmissions.

B-Bender	Backbeat	Back-Emf
Backline	Backplane	Backplate
Backup/Back Up	Backward Compatible	Backwards Masking
Badge	Baffle	Baffled Stereo
Bagpipe	Bakelite	Balanced
Balanced Power	Ball-end	Balun
Bambino Guitar	Banana Plug	Band
Band Limit	Bandpass	Band Reject Filter
Bandwidth	Banjo	Banjo Tuners
Banjo Tuners	Bank Select	Bantam
Bar	Bar Bridge	Baritone Guitar
Baroque	Barre Chord	Barrier Miking
Bass	Bass Management	Bass Reflex
Bass Trap	Basswood	Baud
Baud Rate	Baxandall Shelving Curve	Baxandall Tone Controls
Beaming	"Beano" Album	Bear Claws
Beat	Beatboxing	Beat Juggling
Beat matching	Beats (or "Beating")	Bebop
Bel	Bell Filter	Belly
Belt Drive	Beta	Betamax (or shortened to "Beta")
Bezier CurveBezier Curve	Bi-Amp	Bi-Directional
Bi-flex Truss Rod	Bi-phase modulation (Binary Phase-shift keying)	Bi-phase Sync
Bias	Bias Beat	Bias Beat
Bias Beat	Bias Beat	Bichord
Bigsby	"Bikini" Guitar and Bass Ensemble	Bill Putnam, Sr.
Binary	Binaural	Binding
Binding Post	Binhex	BIOS
Birdseye	Bit	Bit Depth
Bit Mapping	Bitonality	Bitsetting
Bit Splitting	Biwa	Blackburst
Black Burst	Black Panel Amp	Blackwood
Blade Switch	Bleed	Blending
BLER	Blind Transfer	Block
Blu-ray	Blue Book	Bluetooth
Blumlein Microphone (or Blumlein Pair)	BMI	BNC
Bobbin	Body Pack	Bolt-in Neck
Bolt-On Neck	Bookmark	Bookmatching
Book Type Field	Boom Operator	Boost (and Cut)
Boot	Boot Camp	Bottleneck
Bouncing	Boundary Microphone	Bout
Boutique Amp	BPM	bps
Bracing	Braided Shield	Breaker
Breakout/ Breakout Box	Breath Controller	Breathing
Breve	Brian May "Red Special"	Brickwall Filter
Brickwall Limiter	Bridge	Bridge Block
Bridged	Bridge Pin	British EQ
Broadband	Brockburst	Brockburst
Broken Chord	Broken Octave	Brownian Movement/Motion
Brown Sound	Bubinga	Bucking
Buffer	Buffer Under-Run	Bug
Bulk Dump/Load	Bullet Truss Rod	Bump (slang)
Burl	Burn	Burn-In
Burns Bison	Burns Bison Bass	Burns Gear-0-Matic
Burns Gear-0-Matic	Burst	Bus
Bus Bar	Buzz Track	Broadcast Wave File (BWF)