METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ACUTE SOUND DETECTION AND REPRODUCTION

• US 20080181419A1
• Filed: 01/22/2008
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ST FamTech, LLC
• Original Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Usher, John, Goldstein, Steven Wayne, Boillot, Marc Andre
• Granted Patent: US 8,917,894 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/57
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/002 Devices for damping, suppressing, obstructing or conducting sound in acoustic devices G10K1/06 - G10K1/10 take precedence; for electro-mechanical transducers for communication H04R3/002
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17827 Desired external signals, e.g. pass-through audio such as music or speech
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/41 Detection or adaptation of hearing aid parameters or programs to listening situation, e.g. pub, forest
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/05 Electronic compensation of the occlusion effect
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/001 for loudspeakers H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/002 Damping circuit arrangements for transducers, e.g. motional feedback circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A method for acute sound detection and reproduction is provided that can include measuring an ambient sound level external to an ear canal at least partially occluded by the earpiece, monitoring a change in the ambient sound level for detecting an acute sound, estimating a proximity of the acute sound, and reproducing the acute sound within the ear canal responsive to detecting the acute sound and the proximity. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. An earpiece, comprising:

an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to capture ambient sound;

at least one Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) configured to deliver audio to an ear canal; and

a processor operatively coupled to the ASM and the at least one ECR, where the processor is configured to monitor a change in an ambient sound level for detecting an acute sound from the change, and where upon detecting the acute sound, reproducing the acute sound within the ear canal via the ECR.

2. The earpiece of claim 1, wherein the processor passes sound from the ASM directly to the ECR to produce sound within the ear canal at a same sound pressure level (SPL) and frequency representation as the acute sound measured at an entrance to the ear canal.

3. The earpiece of claim 1, wherein the processor maintains an approximately constant ratio between an audio content level (ACL) presented to the earpiece and an internal ambient sound level (iASL) measured within the ear canal.

4. The earpiece of claim 1, wherein the processor measures an external ambient sound level (xASL) of the ambient sound with the ASM and subtracts an attenuation level of the earpiece from the xASL to estimate the internal ambient sound level (iASL) within the ear canal.

5. The earpiece of claim 1, further comprising:

an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) to measure an ear canal sound level (ECL) within the ear canal,

wherein the processor estimates an internal ambient sound level (iASL) within the ear canal by subtracting an estimated audio content sound level (ACL) from the ECL.

6. The earpiece of claim 5, wherein the processor measures a voltage level of the audio content sent to the ECR, and applies a transfer function of the ECR to convert the voltage level to the ACL.

7. The earpiece of claim 1, wherein the processor is located external to the earpiece on a portable computing device.

8. An earpiece, comprising:

an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to capture ambient sound;

at least one Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) configured to deliver audio to an ear canal;

an audio interface configured to receive audio content; and

a processor operatively coupled to the ASM, the at least one ECR, and the audio interface, where the processor is configured to monitor a change in the ambient sound level to detect an acute sound from the change, where the processor adjusts an audio content level (ACL) of an audio content delivered to the ear canal, and where upon detecting an acute sound, the acute sound is reproduced within the ear canal via the ECR.

9. The earpiece of claim 8, wherein the audio interface receives the audio content from at least one among a portable music player, a cell phone, and a portable communication device.

10. The earpiece of claim 8, wherein the processor maintains an approximately constant ratio between the audio content level (ACL) and an internal ambient sound level (iASL) measured within the ear canal.

11. The earpiece of claim 10, wherein the processor mutes the audio content and passes the acute sound to the ECR for reproducing the acute sound within the ear canal.

12. The earpiece of claim 10, wherein the processor amplifies the acute sound with respect to the audio content level (ACL).

13. A method for acute sound detection and reproduction the method comprising:

measuring an ambient sound level (xASL) external to an ear at least partially occluded by an earpiece;

monitoring a change in the xASL for detecting an acute sound; and

upon detecting the acute sound, reproducing the acute sound within the ear canal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of reproducing produces sound within the ear canal at a same sound pressure level (SPL) as the acute sound measured at an entrance to the ear canal.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving audio content from an audio interface that is directed to the ear canal;

maintaining an approximately constant ratio between a level of the audio content (ACL) and a level of an internal ambient sound level (iASL) measured within the ear canal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the ACL is determined by

measuring a voltage level of the audio content sent to the ECR;

and

applying a transfer function of the ECR to convert the voltage level to the ACL.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

measuring an Ear Canal Level (ECL) within the ear canal; and

subtracting the ACL from the ECL to estimate the iASL.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the iASL is estimated by subtracting an attenuation level of the earpiece from the xASL.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

muting the audio content and passing the acute sound to an Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) for reproducing the acute sound within the ear canal.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

amplifying the acute sound with respect to the audio content level (ACL).

21. A method for acute sound detection and reproduction, the method comprising:

measuring an external ambient sound level (xASL);

monitoring a change in the xASL for detecting an acute sound;

estimating a proximity of the acute sound; and

upon detecting the acute sound and it'"'"'s proximity, reproducing the acute sound within an ear canal, where the ear canal is at least partially occluded by an earpiece.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of estimating a proximity comprises:

performing a cross correlation analysis between at least two microphones;

identifying a peak in the cross correlation and an associated time lag; and

determining the direction from the associated time lag.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising identifying whether the acute sound is a vocal signal produced by a user operating the earpiece or a sound source external from the user.

24. A method for acute sound detection and reproduction the method comprising:

measuring an external ambient sound level (xASL) due to ambient sound outside of an ear canal at least partially occluded by the earpiece;

measuring an internal ambient sound level (iASL) due to residual ambient sound within the ear canal at least partially occluded by the earpiece;

monitoring a high frequency change between the xASL and the iASL with respect to a low frequency change between the xASL and the iASL for detecting an acute sound; and

reproducing the xASL within the ear canal responsive to detecting the high frequency change.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising determining a proximity of a sound source producing the acute sound.