Personal hearing control system and method
First Claim
1. A personal hearing control system, comprising:
- an ear canal microphone suitable for placement within a user'"'"'s ear canal;
a speaker suitable for placement between said ear canal microphone and said user'"'"'s outer ear, said speaker including a diaphragm which directs sound into said user'"'"'s ear canal in response to a driving signal, said ear canal microphone arranged to produce an output signal which varies with the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal; and
a controller which receives the output signal from said ear canal microphone and provides said driving signal to said speaker, said controller arranged to control the relationship between the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal and said diaphragm'"'"'s velocity such that said velocity is proportional to said instantaneous pressure over the range of sound frequencies that would normally be affected by the occlusion effect.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A personal hearing control system includes a microphone located within a user'"'"'s sealed ear canal, a speaker having a diaphragm which directs sound into the ear canal, and a controller which drives the speaker such that the system emulates the acoustics of the user'"'"'s open ear canal. Also provided are a microphone located on the outer ear side of the sealed ear canal, which is coupled to a handheld interface unit having multiple inputs and operating modes. A user-selected input is processed by the interface unit, and the processed signal is coupled to the speaker. In one operating mode, the output of the outer ear mic is processed so as to cancel sound that leaks from the outer ear to the inner ear side of the seal.
104 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A personal hearing control system, comprising:
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an ear canal microphone suitable for placement within a user'"'"'s ear canal; a speaker suitable for placement between said ear canal microphone and said user'"'"'s outer ear, said speaker including a diaphragm which directs sound into said user'"'"'s ear canal in response to a driving signal, said ear canal microphone arranged to produce an output signal which varies with the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal; and a controller which receives the output signal from said ear canal microphone and provides said driving signal to said speaker, said controller arranged to control the relationship between the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal and said diaphragm'"'"'s velocity such that said velocity is proportional to said instantaneous pressure over the range of sound frequencies that would normally be affected by the occlusion effect. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A personal hearing control system, comprising:
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a sealing means which substantially seals a user'"'"'s ear canal when worn, said sealing means including a vent which equalizes the air pressure between the inner ear and outer ear sides of said sealing means; a ear canal microphone suitable for placement within a user'"'"'s ear canal on the inner ear side of said sealing means; a speaker suitable for placement within said user'"'"'s ear canal on the inner ear side of said sealing means, said speaker including a diaphragm which directs sound into said user'"'"'s ear canal in response to a driving signal, said ear canal microphone arranged to produce an output signal which varies with the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal; a controller which receives the output signal from said ear canal microphone and provides said driving signal to said speaker, said controller arranged to control the relationship between the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal and said diaphragm'"'"'s velocity such that said velocity is proportional to said instantaneous pressure over the range of sound frequencies that would normally be affected by the occlusion effect in said sealed ear canal, such that the occlusion effect is substantially reduced; an interface unit having one or more inputs suitable for connection to respective sources of audio, said interface unit arranged to produce an output that varies with the audio received at a user-selected input and to couple said output to said speaker; and an outer ear microphone suitable for placement on the outer ear side of said sealing means, the output of said outer ear microphone coupled to an input of said interface unit, said interface unit arranged to process the output of said outer ear microphone and couple said processed output to said speaker, wherein said interface unit has multiple selectable operating modes, said interface unit arranged such that in a first operating mode, the output of said outer ear microphone is processed such that the output coupled to said speaker cancels sound that leaks from the outer ear side of said seal to the inner ear side of said seal, and in a second operating mode, the output of said outer ear microphone is processed such that sound picked up by said outer ear microphone is coupled to said speaker such that it is reproduced for said user.
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20. A method of controlling the sound perceived by a user, comprising:
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providing a means of substantially sealing a user'"'"'s ear canal; providing a speaker on the inner ear side of said sealing means having a diaphragm suitable for directing sound into said user'"'"'s ear canal in response to a driving signal; measuring the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal; controlling the relationship between the instantaneous pressure in said ear canal and said diaphragm'"'"'s velocity such that said velocity is proportional to said instantaneous pressure over the range of sound frequencies that would normally be affected by the occlusion effect, such that the occlusion effect is substantially reduced, thereby enabling the acoustics of said user'"'"'s open ear canal to be emulated; providing an outer ear microphone suitable for placement on the outer ear side of said sealing means; providing a means for receiving audio signals from one or more sources including said outer ear microphone; and providing said driving signal such that it varies with one of said received audio signals. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification