EARHEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD II

• US 20080144840A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ST EarTech, LLC
• Original Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Keady, John P., Goldstein, Steven W., Usher, John, Fligor, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,199,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 3/14 Measuring mean amplitude; Measuring mean power; Measuring time integral of power

Abstract

At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a method of operating an audio device comprising: measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM) for acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δt; and calculating a SPL_Dose_Δt during the time increment Δt using SPL_ECM.

Claims

1. A method of operating an audio device comprising:

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM) for acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δ

t; and

calculating a SPL_Dose<sub>Δ

t</sub> during the time increment Δ

t using SPL_ECM.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

calculating a remaining duration time, Time_—

100%, using SPL_ECM.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

calculating an SPL_Dose_total using SPL_Dose_{66 t}.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

comparing the total SPL_Dose to a threshold value and if the total SPL_Dose is greater than the threshold value then reading an action parameter is read from readable memory.

5. The method according to claim 4 further comprising:

performing an action associated with the value of the action parameter, where the action is at least one of modifying the operation of the audio device, modifying the driver signals directed to the ear canal receiver (ECR), and sending a notification signal to a user.

6. The method according to claim 5, where modifying the operation of the audio device includes at least one of the following:

setting a time after which the audio device will shut down;

increasing the NRR of the audio device; and

activate active noise cancellation of non-ECR generated acoustic energy.

7. The method according to claim 5, where modifying the driver signals directed to the ECR includes at least one of the following:

reducing the signal to noise ratio by reducing the magnitude of the driver signals sent to the ECR;

chopping the drive signals at a rate unnoticeable by a user, where the chopping reduces the total sound pressure level generated by the acoustic signals; and

reducing frequencies in the spectral signature of the drive signals and converting the result into a modified acoustic signal.

8. The method according to claim 5, where sending a notification signal to a user includes at least one of the following:

sending an acoustic voice notification;

sending an acoustic non-voice notification;

activating at least one indicator light; and

activating a vibratory warning system.

9. A method of operating an audio device comprising:

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM1) for a first acoustic energy received by an ear canal receiver (ECR) operating in ear canal microphone (ECM) mode during a time increment Δ

t;

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM2) for a second acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during the time increment Δ

t; and

calculating a calibration relationship between intensity of the second acoustic energy with pressure measurements made by the ECM during the time increment Δ

t.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM) for a third acoustic energy received by the ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δ

t₁;

updating SPL_ECM using the calibration relationship to generate SPL_ECM-update; and

calculating a SPL_Dose<sub>Δ

t</sub> during the time increment Δ

t using SPL_ECM-update.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

calculating an SPL_Dose_total using SPL_Dose<sub>Δ

t</sub>.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

comparing the total SPL_Dose to a threshold value and if the total SPL_Dose is greater than the threshold value then an action parameter is read from readable memory.

13. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:

performing an action associated with the value of the action parameter, where the action is at least one of modifying the operation of the audio device, modifying the drive signals directed to the ECR, and sending a notification signal to a user.

14. The method according to claim 13, where modifying the operation of the audio device includes at least one of the following:

setting a time after which the audio device will shut down;

increasing the NRR of the audio device; and

activate active noise cancellation of non-ECR generated acoustic energy.

15. The method according to claim 13, where modifying the drive signals directed to the ECR includes at least one of the following:

reducing the signal to noise ratio of the drive signal to reduce the intensity of the acoustic signals produced by the ECR;

chopping the acoustic signals at a rate unnoticeable by a user, where the chopping reduces the total sound pressure level generated by the acoustic signals; and

reducing frequencies in the spectral signature of the acoustic signals and converting the result into a modified acoustic signal.

16. The method according to claim 13, where sending a notification signal to a user includes at least one of the following:

sending an acoustic voice notification;

sending an acoustic non-voice notification;

activating at least one indicator light; and

activating a vibratory warning system.

17. The method according to claim 10 further comprising:

calculating a remaining duration time, Time_—

100%, using SPL_ECM-update.

18. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

saving a portion, SPL_ECMi, of SPL_ECM-update for a sub time increment Δ

t_i of Δ

t₁;

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM4) for a fourth acoustic energy received by the ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δ

t₂,

calculating a SPL_ECM5 for the time increment Δ

t₂ using SPL_ECMi, where SPL_ECM5 is related to a measured value of the SPL generated by the ECR during the time increment Δ

t₂;

calculating estimated sound pressure levels (SPL_ECR) for drive signals directed to the ECR during the time increment Δ

t₂; and

calculating an update ECR calibration relationship using SPL_ECM5 and SPL_ECR.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

calculating a new estimated sound pressure levels (SPL_ECR-new), using the updated ECR calibration relationship, for the acoustic signals directed to the ear canal receiver (ECR) operating in ECM mode, during a time increment Δ

t₂.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising:

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM6) for a fifth acoustic energy received by the ear canal microphone (ECM) during the time increment Δ

t₃;

calculating the sound pressure levels (SPL_ECR1), using the updated ECR calibration relationship, for the acoustic signals directed to the ear canal receiver (ECR), during the time increment Δ

t₃; and

calculating the ambient SPL (SPL_ambient) during the time increment Δ

t₃ using SPL_ECM6 and SPL_ECR1.

21. A method of obtaining an NRR for an earpiece comprising:

removing an earpiece from a user'"'"'s ear;

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM) for a first acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δ

t;

checking whether an ear canal receiver ECR is operating and if operating calculating the sound pressure levels (SPL_ECR), for the drive signals directed to the ECR, during the time increment Δ

t;

calculating the removed earpieces'"'"' ambient SPL (SPL_ambient1) during the time increment Δ

t using SPL_ECM and SPL_ECR;

inserting the earpiece into a users'"'"' ear;

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM1) for a second acoustic energy received by the ECM during the time increment Δ

t₁;

checking whether the ECR is operating, and if operating, calculating the sound pressure levels (SPL_ECR1), for the drive signals directed to an ear canal receiver (ECR), during the time increment Δ

t₁;

calculating the inserted earpieces'"'"' ambient SPL (SPL_ambient2) during the time increment Δ

t₁ using SPL_ECM1 and SPL_ECR1; and

calculating an NRR for the earpiece using SPL_ambient1 and SPL_ambient2.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising:

comparing the NRR with a sealing NRR for the earpiece, and, if the NRR is less than the sealing NRR sending a notification signal.

23. The method according to claim 22, where the notification signal is an audio signal.

24. A method of operating an audio device comprising:

measuring sound pressure levels (SPL_ECM) for acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δ

t; and

calculating a SPL_Dose during a n-th time increment Δ

t using SPL_ECM , where SPL_Dose is calculated using;

SPL Dose=(Δ

t/Time_—

100%), where Time_—

100% has the form;

Time_—

100%(n)=T_c/(2((SPL_ECM−

PSL)/ER)), where PSL is a permissible sound level, Tc is a critical time period and ER is an exchange rate.

25. The method according to claim 24, further including:

calculating an SPL_Dose_total using SPL_Dose,

where SPL_Dose_total is calculated by;

SPL_Dose_total=SPL Dose(n−

1)+SPL_Dose, where SPL_Dose(n−

1) is a previous total SPL Dose value.