ACTIVE HEARING PROTECTION SYSTEM
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Accused Products
Abstract
An active hearing protecting system right earplug and a left earplug and a wearable central unit to be worn at the user'"'"'s body a digital audio signal processing unit which has at least two channels and which can be connected via an audio input to an external audio signal source each earplug including a microphone and a loudspeaker which are connected to the audio signal processing unit. The central unit also has a detector for detecting audio signals and being adapted to control the audio signal processing unit when audio signal is detected. The audio signal processing unit has an ambient mode in which the audio signals captured by the left ear microphone are provided to the left ear loudspeaker and the audio signals captured by the right ear microphone are provided to the right ear loudspeaker, and a communication mode in which the audio signals from the audio input are provided at least one of the loudspeakers and audio signals captured by at least one of the microphones are provided to the other ear loudspeaker.
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Citations
78 Claims
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1-39. -39. (canceled)
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40. An active hearing protecting system comprising a right earplug to be worn at least in part in the right ear canal of a user and a left earplug to be worn at least in part in the left ear canal of the user and a central unit to be worn at the user'"'"'s body and comprising a digital audio signal processing unit which has at least two channels and which can be connected via an audio input to an external audio signal source,
wherein each earplug is adapted for providing for an acoustic attenuation of at least 10 dB averaged over the audible frequency range and comprises an active unit comprising a microphone for capturing audio signals from ambient sound and a loudspeaker which are connected to the audio signal processing unit, wherein the central unit comprises a detector for detecting the presence of an audio signal at the audio input, and wherein the central unit is adapted to control the audio signal processing unit in such a manner that, during times when no presence of an audio signal at the audio input is detected, the audio signal processing unit is operated in an ambient mode in which the audio signals captured by the left ear microphone are provided to the left ear loudspeaker and the audio signals captured by the right ear microphone are provided to the right ear loudspeaker, and during times when the presence of an audio signal at the audio input is detected, the audio signal processing unit is operated in a communication mode in which the audio signals received via the audio input are provided to at least one of the left ear loudspeaker and the right ear loudspeaker and the audio signals captured by at least one of the left ear microphone and the right ear microphone are provided to at least the other one of the left ear loudspeaker and the right ear loudspeaker.
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78. A method for providing hearing protecting to user, comprising:
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wearing a right earplug comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker at least in part in the right ear canal and a left earplug comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker at least in part in the left ear canal in such a manner that each earplug provides for an acoustic attenuation of at least 10 dB averaged over the audible frequency range; wearing a central unit comprising a digital audio signal processing unit which has at least two channels at the user'"'"'s body; connecting an external audio signal source via an audio input to the central unit; detecting whether an audio signal is present at the audio input or not; and controlling the audio signal processing unit in such a manner that, during times when no presence of an audio signal at the audio input is detected, the audio signal processing unit is operated in an ambient mode in which the audio signals captured by the left ear microphone are provided to the left ear loudspeaker and the audio signals captured by the right ear microphone are provided to the right ear loudspeaker, and during times when the presence of an audio signal at the audio input is detected, the audio signal processing unit is operated in a communication mode in which the audio signals received via the audio input are provided to at least one of the left ear loudspeaker and the right ear loudspeaker and the audio signals captured by at least one of the left ear microphone and the right ear microphone are provided to at least the other one of the left ear loudspeaker and the right ear loudspeaker.
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Specification