ADVANCED COMMUNICATION EARPIECE DEVICE AND METHOD
First Claim
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1. A sound dose limiter device for controlling a total sound dose reaching an ear of a user, said limiter device comprising:
- an in-ear device for substantially occluding an outer ear canal of the user, said in-ear device including a speaker for providing an audio signal input from an audio output of an audio source inside the outer ear canal, an internal microphone for measuring a sound pressure level inside the occluded outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear; and
a controller device connecting to the internal and external microphones for receiving respective internal and external measured sound pressure levels and for receiving the audio output, said controller device performing an evaluation of the internal and external measured sound pressure levels, calculating a cumulative total sound dose from the internal sound pressure level and the audio signal input depending on the evaluation, and controlling the audio signal input transmitted to the speaker.
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Abstract
An earpiece device (10, 110, 210, 210′) provides advanced communication to the user thereof, for controlling a total sound dose (TND), including an audio output from an audio source (16) reaching an ear of the user occluded at the outer ear canal (15) by an in-ear device (14), for allowing an external ambient sound to be heard by the ear of the user, and for allowing a voice (NSV) of the user to be transmitted to a telecommunication transmission link (TTL). The present invention also contemplates a method of operation of the earpiece device (10, 110, 210, 210′).
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. A sound dose limiter device for controlling a total sound dose reaching an ear of a user, said limiter device comprising:
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an in-ear device for substantially occluding an outer ear canal of the user, said in-ear device including a speaker for providing an audio signal input from an audio output of an audio source inside the outer ear canal, an internal microphone for measuring a sound pressure level inside the occluded outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear; and a controller device connecting to the internal and external microphones for receiving respective internal and external measured sound pressure levels and for receiving the audio output, said controller device performing an evaluation of the internal and external measured sound pressure levels, calculating a cumulative total sound dose from the internal sound pressure level and the audio signal input depending on the evaluation, and controlling the audio signal input transmitted to the speaker. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for calculating a total sound dose reaching an ear of a user wearing an in-ear device substantially occluding a user'"'"'s outer ear canal, the in-ear device including a speaker for providing an audio signal input from an audio output of an audio source inside the outer ear canal, an internal microphone for measuring a sound pressure level inside the occluded outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear, said method comprising the steps of:
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measuring, during a predetermined time interval, the internal and external sound pressure levels, and the audio output; performing an evaluation of the internal and external measured sound pressure levels; calculating a current interval total sound dose from the internal sound pressure level and the audio signal input depending on the evaluation, and a cumulative total sound dose based on previous time intervals; and controlling the audio signal input transmitted to the speaker. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A push-to-hear device for allowing an external ambient sound to be heard by an ear of a user, said push-to-hear device comprising:
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at least one in-ear device for substantially occluding an outer ear canal of the user, said at least one in-ear device including a speaker for providing an audio signal input from an audio output of an audio source inside the outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear; and a controller device connecting to the external microphone for receiving an external measured sound pressure level and for receiving the audio output, said controller device including an activation switch device activatable by the user, said controller device allowing the audio output to reach the speaker when the activation switch device is unactivated, and allowing the external ambient sound pressure level to reach the speaker when the activation switch device is activated, while at least partially disabling the audio output from reaching the speaker. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for allowing an external ambient sound to be heard by an ear of a user wearing an in-ear device substantially occluding a user'"'"'s outer ear canal, the in-ear device including a speaker for providing an audio signal input from an audio output of an audio source inside the outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear, said method comprising the steps of:
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upon activation of an activation switch device activatable by the user, measuring the external ambient sound pressure level; and allowing the external ambient sound pressure level to reach the speaker, while at least partially disabling the audio output from reaching the speaker. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A communication device for allowing a voice of a user to be transmitted to a telecommunication transmission link, said communication device comprising:
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an in-ear device for substantially occluding an outer ear canal of the user, said in-ear device including an internal microphone for measuring a sound pressure level inside the occluded outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear, the internal and external measured sound pressure levels including respective acoustically deformed speech voice from the user; and a controller device connecting to the internal and external microphones for receiving respective internal and external measured sound pressure levels, said controller device performing an evaluation of the external measured sound pressure level, digitally generating an enhanced natural speech voice signal from at least the internal sound pressure level depending on the evaluation, and transmitting the generated enhanced natural speech voice signal to the telecommunication transmission link. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for transmitting a voice of a user wearing an in-ear device substantially occluding a user'"'"'s outer ear canal to a telecommunication transmission link, the in-ear device including an internal microphone for measuring a sound pressure level inside the occluded outer ear canal, and an external microphone for measuring an external ambient sound pressure level reaching the user'"'"'s ear, the internal and external measured sound pressure levels including respective acoustically deformed speech voice from the user, said method comprising the steps of:
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measuring the internal and external sound pressure levels; performing an evaluation of the external measured sound pressure level; digitally generating an enhanced natural speech voice signal from at least the internal sound pressure level depending on the evaluation; and transmitting the generated enhanced natural speech voice signal to the telecommunication transmission link. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification