Ear microphone apparatus and method
First Claim
1. An earset, comprising:
- a housing positionable with respect to an ear of a person;
a microphone disposed with respect to the housing for insertion into the ear of a person, the microphone operable to detect a change in air pressure within the ear while the person speaks and to produce an electrical microphone signal corresponding to the internally detected change in air pressure;
a speaker disposed with respect to the housing and operable to produce a sound corresponding to an electrical speaker signal input to the speaker; and
a circuit coupled to receive the microphone signal produced by the microphone and the electrical speaker signal is input to the speaker, and operable to produce a corrected microphone signal having a reduced feedback component of the microphone signal, the feedback component resulting from the detection by the microphone of the sound produced by the speaker wherein the circuit includes;
an amplifier for amplifying the microphone signal produced by the microphone;
an amplifier for amplifying the electrical speaker signal received by the circuit and outputting an electrical feedback indication signal; and
a combining means for combining the amplified microphone signal and the feedback indication signal to produce the corrected microphone signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An earset including a housing positionable with respect to an ear of a person, a microphone disposed with respect to the housing for insertion into the ear of a person, the microphone operable to detect a change in air pressure within the ear while the person speaks and to produce an electrical microphone signal corresponding to the internally detected change in air pressure and a speaker disposed with respect to the housing and operable to produce a sound corresponding to an electrical speaker signal. The earset also includes a circuit coupled to receive the microphone signal and the speaker signal and operable to produce a corrected microphone signal having a reduced feedback component of the microphone signal, the feedback component resulting from the detection by the microphone of the sound produced by the speaker to produce a corrected microphone signal.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An earset, comprising:
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a housing positionable with respect to an ear of a person;
a microphone disposed with respect to the housing for insertion into the ear of a person, the microphone operable to detect a change in air pressure within the ear while the person speaks and to produce an electrical microphone signal corresponding to the internally detected change in air pressure;
a speaker disposed with respect to the housing and operable to produce a sound corresponding to an electrical speaker signal input to the speaker; and
a circuit coupled to receive the microphone signal produced by the microphone and the electrical speaker signal is input to the speaker, and operable to produce a corrected microphone signal having a reduced feedback component of the microphone signal, the feedback component resulting from the detection by the microphone of the sound produced by the speaker wherein the circuit includes;
an amplifier for amplifying the microphone signal produced by the microphone;
an amplifier for amplifying the electrical speaker signal received by the circuit and outputting an electrical feedback indication signal; and
a combining means for combining the amplified microphone signal and the feedback indication signal to produce the corrected microphone signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of detecting speech of a person, comprising the steps of:
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placing a microphone at least partially within an ear of the person;
detecting a change in air pressure within the ear of the person using the microphone, the change in air pressure corresponding to the speech of the person;
producing an electrical microphone signal corresponding to the internally detected change in air pressure;
placing a speaker with respect to the ear of the person;
generating a sound with the speaker corresponding to an electrical speaker signal input to the speaker; and
generating a corrected microphone signal by reducing a feedback component of the microphone signal, the feedback component resulting from the detection by the microphone of the sound generated by the speaker and wherein reducing the feedback includes;
amplifying the microphone signal produced by the microphone;
amplifying the electrical speaker signal to generate an electrical feedback indication signal; and
combining the amplified microphone signal and the feedback indication signal to produce the corrected microphone signal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
coupling the corrected microphone signal to a communication device;
transmitting an output corresponding to the corrected microphone signal by the communication device;
receiving a signal from which the speaker signal is produced by the communication device; and
outputting the speaker signal by the communication device.
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16. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of detecting an air pressure change adjacent and external to the ear of the person with a second microphone and producing an electrical signal corresponding to the externally detected change in air pressure.
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17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of comparing a signal strength difference between the electrical signal corresponding to the internally detected change in air pressure and the electrical signal corresponding to the externally detected change in air pressure to distinguish detections of air pressure changes produced by the speech from air pressure changes produced by a source external to the person.
Specification