Telecoil adapter

• US 10,219,065 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2017
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OTOjOY LLC
• Original Assignee: OTOjOY LLC
• Inventors: Kaufmann, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Mei, Xu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hamid, Ammar T
• Application Number:
  US15/397,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20170118550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 381 74, 381331, 381315, 381312, 4555691
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1075 Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/556 External connectors, e.g. plugs or modules H04R25/607 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods and/or systems are provided for a telecoil adapter.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an adapter including a telecoil, the adapter including an audio plug for audio signals received wirelessly via the telecoil to be communicated to and from the adapter via an electrical connection to an external device, and the adapter further including at least one of the following;

an audio jack to physically receive an external audio plug in which the audio jack of the adapter is to receive the audio signals from the audio plug of the adapter via the electrical connection to the external device and/or headphones physically part of the adapter and electrically connected to receive the audio signals from the audio plug of the adapter, wherein the telecoil is incorporated into the adapter and the adapter is integrated into a cable electrically connected to the headphones at one end and including the audio plug at the other end; and

a mobile device including a storage medium, wherein the mobile device further comprises at least one of the following;

a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, a personal digital assistant, or a wearable computing device, the storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing device to process the audio signals, the audio signals to comprise electrical signals, the electrical signals to be induced in the telecoil by an electromagnetic (EM) field, the EM field to be generated by an external hearing loop, the electrical signals to be induced to further be amplified, and the instructions further executable to generate a quality rating for a hearing loop system associated with the electrical signals, the quality rating to be based at least in part on the electrical signals.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising:

headphones external to the adapter including an audio plug external to the adapter in which the external audio plug is capable of being mated with the audio jack of the adapter in a manner resulting in an electrical connection to receive the audio signals from the audio plug of the adapter via the audio jack.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the telecoil comprises an active telecoil and/or a passive telecoil.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adapter further comprises an amplifier to receive signals to be induced in the telecoil.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to filter the audio signals to improve signal-to-noise ratio.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to perform noise cancellation on the audio signals to improve signal-to-noise ratio.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to substantially equalize the audio signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adapter further includes a switch in a circuit configuration so as to toggle between the telecoil and a component to bypass the telecoil, the switch responsive to signals to be received from the external device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the component to bypass the telecoil comprises a microphone.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adapter further includes a switch in a circuit configuration so as to toggle between the telecoil, a microphone, and a position to activate both the telecoil and microphone, the switch responsive to signals to be received from the external device.