Apparatus and method for protecting hearing from noise while enhancing a sound signal of interest
First Claim
1. A hearing protector for providing enhancement of a sound signal of interest and protection from at least one other sound for a wearer of the hearing protector in an environment that includes high level noise in addition to the sound signal of interest comprising:
- at least two fixed microphones adapted to work together to provide a directional microphone array arranged to be pointed in the wearer'"'"'s look direction for receiving the sound signal of interest and generating sound signals corresponding to sounds detected at the array,a processor to process the sound signals generated by said directional microphone array to enhance the sound signal of interest relative to a signal generated by the high level noise and generate a corresponding enhanced signal,at least one speaker operatively connected to the processor for presenting sound based on the enhanced signal to the wearer, andat least one passive sound suppressor arranged to be located adjacent each ear of a wearer to suppress the high level noise reaching the ear drums of the wearer, said suppressor able to provide passive sound suppression of at least 15 dB.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for sound enhancement has at least two microphones (9) that provide a directional microphone array which is arranged to be pointed in the direction of a sound source. The directional microphone array thereby receives sound emitted by the sound source and generates sound signals. A processor (20) processors the sound signals generated by the microphone array to enhance the sound received by the directional microphone array from the sound source relative to other sound received by the directional microphone array. The processor (20) generates a corresponding enhanced signal (ES). Loud speakers (22) reproduce the enhanced signal as audible sound. Furthermore, sound suppression devices (7, 7a) are provided to suppress ambient should from reaching the eardrums of the user. This sound suppression acts in conjunction with the directional microphone array and the processor (20) which enhance the SOI to provide a listening environment in which the SOI is enhanced.
92 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A hearing protector for providing enhancement of a sound signal of interest and protection from at least one other sound for a wearer of the hearing protector in an environment that includes high level noise in addition to the sound signal of interest comprising:
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at least two fixed microphones adapted to work together to provide a directional microphone array arranged to be pointed in the wearer'"'"'s look direction for receiving the sound signal of interest and generating sound signals corresponding to sounds detected at the array, a processor to process the sound signals generated by said directional microphone array to enhance the sound signal of interest relative to a signal generated by the high level noise and generate a corresponding enhanced signal, at least one speaker operatively connected to the processor for presenting sound based on the enhanced signal to the wearer, and at least one passive sound suppressor arranged to be located adjacent each ear of a wearer to suppress the high level noise reaching the ear drums of the wearer, said suppressor able to provide passive sound suppression of at least 15 dB. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for providing enhancement of a sound signal of interest and protection from at least one other sound for a person in an environment that includes high level noise in addition to the sound signal of interest, the method comprising:
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providing at least two fixed microphones working together to provide a directional microphone array arranged to be pointed in the persons look direction for receiving the sound signal of interest, receiving the sound signal of interest at the microphone array, generating sound signals corresponding to sound received at said array, processing the sound signals generated at said array to enhance the sound signal of interest relative to a signal generated by the high level noise, generating a corresponding enhanced signal, reproducing the enhanced signal and presenting it to the person, and passively suppressing the high level noise at the person'"'"'s ears by at least 15 dB. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification