PERSONAL LISTENING DEVICE WITH AUTOMATIC SOUND EQUALIZATION AND HEARING TESTING
First Claim
1. A personal listening apparatus, comprising:
- an audio input port;
an audio output port;
a user interface device operable to transform physical input to an electrical signal indicating user input;
a processor connected to receive an input audio signal from the audio input port, to provide an output audio signal to the audio output port, and to receive the user input from the user interface device; and
a memory operably associated with the processor;
the memory holding program instructions for;
administering a hearing test by providing a tone sequence to the audio output port and analyzing the user input from the user interface device;
determining a hearing profile from results of the hearing test indicative of hearing ability at different test frequencies; and
amplifying respective frequency bands of the input audio signal to compensate for deficiencies in hearing ability indicated by the hearing profile, to provide the output audio signal.
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Abstract
A personal listening device in a handheld form factor includes an input port for receiving an audio signal, a processor for selecting equalizer settings responsive to a selected hearing profile, an equalizer for equalizing the audio signal according to the equalizer settings, and an output port for outputting the equalized audio signal to a speaker, headphone, or other audio output device. The personal listening device also includes a tone generator and user input device coupled to the processor, configured to administer a sequence of tones, generate audio instructions, and receive user input, thereby administering a hearing test and generating a user hearing profile. The device may be operated to administer multiple tests and store multiple hearing profiles, and to provide hearing profiles to other devices.
89 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A personal listening apparatus, comprising:
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an audio input port; an audio output port; a user interface device operable to transform physical input to an electrical signal indicating user input; a processor connected to receive an input audio signal from the audio input port, to provide an output audio signal to the audio output port, and to receive the user input from the user interface device; and a memory operably associated with the processor;
the memory holding program instructions for;administering a hearing test by providing a tone sequence to the audio output port and analyzing the user input from the user interface device; determining a hearing profile from results of the hearing test indicative of hearing ability at different test frequencies; and amplifying respective frequency bands of the input audio signal to compensate for deficiencies in hearing ability indicated by the hearing profile, to provide the output audio signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for operating a personal listening device, comprising:
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administering a hearing test by providing a tone sequence to an audio output port of a personal listening device, and analyzing input from a user interface device; determining a hearing profile from results of the hearing test indicative of hearing ability at different test frequencies; storing the hearing profile in a local memory; receiving a first audio signal from an external source device; amplifying respective frequency bands of the input audio signal to compensate for deficiencies in hearing ability indicated by the hearing profile, to provide an output audio signal; and outputting the output audio signal to an external audio output device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification