Process and apparatus for selecting or designing products having content-free sound outputs

• US 20030220537A1
• Filed: 05/23/2003
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: B&M Racing & Performance Products, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Flowmaster Incorporated (B&M Racing Holding Corp.)
• Inventors: Flugger, Ray T.
• Granted Patent: US 6,936,000 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/28
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/38 Acoustic or auditory stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4884 inducing physiological or psychological stress, e.g. applications for stress testing
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0027 by the hearing sense
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0044 by the sight sense
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 21/00 Other devices or methods to cause a change in the state of consciousness; Devices for producing or ending sleep by mechanical, optical, or acoustical means, e.g. for hypnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/06 Heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/10 Electroencephalographic signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/42 Rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/60 Muscle strain, i.e. measured on the user

Abstract

A process and apparatus for selecting or designing a product, such as a muffler, having a complex, content-free sound output which is less stressful or more pleasing. The process includes the steps of sensing at least one physiological response of a subject (21) while the subject listens to an initial content-free sound output, repeating the sensing step for a new content-free sound output, comparing the physiological responses, and selecting the sound output for use in selecting or designing the product which output produces the physiological response that is the least stressful or most pleasing to the subject. The apparatus includes an audio playback device (15), a sound recording (16) of the initial sound, a sound recording (16) of the new sound, and physiological monitoring apparatus (17) suitable for attachment to and monitoring of the physiological responses of the test subject (21) to the playback of the sound recordings.

Claims

1. A process of designing or selecting a product comprising the steps of:

sensing at least one physiological response of a subject while the subject listens to an initial content-free sound output;

repeating the sensing step for a new content-free sound output;

comparing the physiological response for the initial sound output with the physiological response for the new sound output to determine a response change correlated to a sound change;

selecting the physiological response correlated to the sound producing one of;

a less stressful sound output, and a more pleasing sound output; and

using the selected physiological response to perform one of;

selecting as between products, and designing a product, to produce substantially the selected physiological response.

2. The process as defined in claim 1 wherein,

the sensing steps are accomplished by sensing at least one electrophysiological response of the subject to the sound outputs.

3. The process as defined in claim 1, and the steps of:

repeating said sensing step for a plurality of new sound outputs;

comparing the physiological response to each new sound output to previously sensed physiological responses prior to performing said selecting step.

4. The process as defined in claim 2 wherein,

said selecting step is accomplished by selecting the physiological response indicating the least stressful sound output.

5. The process as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said sensing step is accomplished by using an electromyography monitoring apparatus and electrodes coupled to sense micro-voltages produced by a muscle.

6. The process as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said selecting step is accomplished by selecting the physiological response which is the most uniform in at least one of amplitude variance and frequency variance.

7. The process as defined in claim 1 and the step of:

changing the sound output between said initial sound output and said new sound output during said sensing step.

8. The process as defined in claim 1 wherein,

the sensing step is accomplished while the subject listens to the sound outputs from at least one muffler mounted on the exhaust of an internal combustion engine.

9. The process as defined in claim 8 wherein,

said new sound output is produced by changing a physical structure of the muffler.

10. The process as defined in claim 8 wherein,

said initial sound output and said new sound output are produced by employing two similar mufflers with one muffler having a changed physical structure relative to the other muffler.

11. The process as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said sensing steps are accomplished while the subject listens to sequentially played recordings of the sound outputs.

12. The process as defined in claim 8, and

determining the sound spectrum makeup of the sound output for both mufflers, and

employing the sound spectrum for the selected physiological response to design further mufflers.

13. An apparatus for designing or selecting a product comprising:

an audio playback device formed for playing of recorded sounds for listening to by a test subject;

an audio recording of an initial sound output produced by a first product of the type to be selected or designed;

an audio recording of a new sound output differing in frequency from the initial sound output and produced by a second product of the type to be selected or designed; and

physiological monitoring apparatus having transducers formed for attachment to the subject in order to monitor physiological responses of the subject to listening to the playback of the two recorded sound outputs.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 13 wherein,

said physiological monitoring apparatus is a surface electromyography monitoring apparatus.