Portable tone generator for producing pre-calibrated tones

• US 8,831,244 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Original Assignee: Audiotoniq, Inc
• Inventors: Apfel, Russell J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): FAHNERT, FRIEDRICH
• Application Number:
  US13/104,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20120288119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: 381101-103, 381/98, 381/60, 381/77, 381/79, 381/56, 381 58- 59, 381/312, 381/320, 700/94, 600/559
• US Class Current: 381/101
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/123 subjective methods
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3089 Control of digital or coded signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A portable tone generator includes a connector configurable to couple to an input/output port of a computing device, a memory configured to store data corresponding to a plurality of frequencies, and an output interface configurable to couple to a speaker system. The portable tone generator further includes tone generating circuitry coupled to the input interface, the output interface, and the memory. The tone generating circuitry is configured to receive a control signal from the computing device identifying a selected frequency of the plurality of frequencies, retrieve the data corresponding to the selected frequency, produce an output signal including a tone based on the data in response to receiving the control signal, and provide the output signal to the output interface.

Claims

1. A portable tone generator comprising:

a connector configurable to couple to an input/output port of a computing device;

a speaker system integrated with the portable tone generator;

a memory, internal to the portable tone generator, configured to store calibration data related to the speaker system; and

tone generating circuitry, internal to the portable tone generator, configured to receive a control signal from the computing device, the control signal to cause the speaker system to output a tone at a selected amplitude and in response to receiving the control signal to adjust the amplitude indicated in the control signal based at least in part on the calibration data related to the speaker system before the tone is output by the speaker system.

2. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein the speaker system comprises an air conduction device configured to provide sound into an ear of a user.

3. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein the speaker system comprises a bone conduction device configured to couple sound into an ear of a user through ear bones of the ear.

4. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein the speaker system comprises at least one ear phone including a speaker for reproducing the tone.

5. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein the connector comprises a universal serial bus (USB) connector.

6. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein the control signal includes a selected frequency.

7. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein calibration data includes pre-calibrated tones.

8. The portable tone generator of claim 1, wherein calibration data includes sound characteristics of the speaker system.

9. A portable tone generator comprising:

a memory configured to store data related to a hearing test;

an input interface configurable to couple to a computing device for receiving a control signal;

an output interface coupled to the tone generating circuitry for providing the output signal to a speaker system; and

tone generating circuitry coupled to the input interface and the memory, the tone generating circuitry comprising;

a digital gain amplifier configured to apply a first adjustment to a tone signal in response to receiving a first amplitude control signal;

an digital-to-analog converter coupled to the digital gain amplifier for converting the tone signal into an analog format;

an analog gain amplifier coupled to the digital-to-analog converter and the output interface converter and configured to apply a second adjustment to the tone signal in response to receiving a second amplitude control signal;

a controller coupled to the input interface, the memory, the digital gain amplifier, and the analog gain amplifier and configured to receive the instructions and, in response to receiving the instructions, the controller is configured to;

select a frequency from memory;

generate a tone signal based on the frequency;

generate a first amplitude control signal and provide the first amplitude control signal to the digital gain amplifier;

generate a second amplitude control signal and provide the second amplitude control signal to the analog gain amplifier; and

provide the tone signal to the digital gain amplifier; and

wherein the output interface receives the tone signal from the analog gain amplifier and provides the tone signal to the speaker system as the output signal.

10. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the data related to a hearing test includes data related to a plurality of frequencies.

11. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the data related to a hearing test includes data related to a plurality of speech parts.

12. The portable tone generator of claim 11, wherein output signal comprises a sound signal including a part of speech.

13. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the input interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector configured to couple to a USB port of the computing device.

14. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the input interface is configured to receive power and data from the computing device.

15. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the tone generating circuitry comprises a digital signal processor for producing the output signal.

16. The portable tone generator of claim 9, wherein the memory stores data related to the plurality of frequencies calibrated for the speaker-system.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a control signal indicating a frequency and amplitude from a computing device at a portable tone generator coupled to the computing device, the portable tone generator including an internal memory to store data related to production of one or more pre-calibrated tones and an integrated speaker system, the pre-calibrate tones tuned to compensate for the sound characteristics of the integrated speaker system;

retrieving a pre-calibrated tone from the internal memory based at least in part on the frequency and amplitude indicated in the control signal;

outputting the pre-calibrated tone.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the speaker system comprises an air conduction device configured to provide sound into an ear of a user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the speaker system comprises a bone conduction device configured to couple sound into an ear of a user through ear bones of the ear.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the speaker system comprises at least one ear phone including a speaker for reproducing the tone.