Earpiece with electronic environmental sound pass-through system
First Claim
1. An ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal, comprising:
- an earpiece housing configured for placement on, at, or within the external auditory canal of the individual;
a processor disposed within the ear piece housing;
a first microphone disposed at the earpiece housing, wherein the first microphone is outwardly facing at an outer portion of the earpiece housing to detect ambient environmental sound;
a second microphone disposed at the earpiece housing;
at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards the tympanic membrane of the individual;
wherein the ear piece is configured to detect ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the first microphone, and producing a modified sound including the ambient environmental sound at the at least one speaker within the earpiece housing;
wherein the modified sound including the ambient environmental sound is based in part on a size and shape of the external auditory canal of the individual such that the modified sound reproduces the ambient environmental sound as if directly heard by the individual.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal includes an earpiece housing configured for placement at, on or within the external auditory canal of the individual, a processor disposed within the ear piece housing, at least one microphone disposed at the earpiece housing wherein the at least one earpiece is positioned to detect ambient environmental sound, and at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards a tympanic membrane of the individual. The ear piece is configured to detect ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the at least one microphone and reproduce the ambient environmental sound at the at least one speaker within the earpiece housing. The ear piece may include a spectrometer for detecting ambient environmental lighting. The earpiece may include a number of biological sensors. The ear piece may include a magnetic induction electrical conduction electromagnetic field transceiver for linking the device to personal area networks or other devices.
109 Citations
83 Claims
-
1. An ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal, comprising:
-
an earpiece housing configured for placement on, at, or within the external auditory canal of the individual; a processor disposed within the ear piece housing; a first microphone disposed at the earpiece housing, wherein the first microphone is outwardly facing at an outer portion of the earpiece housing to detect ambient environmental sound; a second microphone disposed at the earpiece housing; at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards the tympanic membrane of the individual; wherein the ear piece is configured to detect ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the first microphone, and producing a modified sound including the ambient environmental sound at the at least one speaker within the earpiece housing; wherein the modified sound including the ambient environmental sound is based in part on a size and shape of the external auditory canal of the individual such that the modified sound reproduces the ambient environmental sound as if directly heard by the individual. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A method comprising:
-
providing an ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal, the ear piece comprising an earpiece housing configured for placement on, at, or within the external auditory canal of the individual, a processor disposed within the ear piece housing, a first microphone disposed within the earpiece housing wherein the first microphone is positioned to detect ambient environmental sound, and at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards a tympanic membrane of the individual; detecting ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the first microphone; modifying the ambient environment sound using the processor to create a modified ambient environment sound wherein the modified environmental sound is based in part on a size and shape of the external auditory canal of the individual such that the modified environment sound reproduces the ambient environmental sound as if directly heard by the individual; and producing the modified ambient environment sound at the at least one speaker within the earpiece housing to thereby provide for audio transparency. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
-
53. An ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal, comprising:
-
an earpiece housing configured for placement on, at, or within the external auditory canal of the individual; a processor disposed within the ear piece housing; a first microphone disposed at the earpiece housing wherein the at least one earpiece is positioned to detect ambient environmental sound with the first microphone; and at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards a tympanic membrane of the individual; wherein the ear piece is configured to detect ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the first microphone, modify the ambient environmental sound via the processor to create a modified ambient environmental sound, wherein the modified ambient environmental sound is based in part on a size and shape of the external auditory canal of the individual such that the modified ambient environmental sound reproduces the ambient environmental sound as if directly heard by the individual, and produce the modified ambient environmental sound at the at least one speaker. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
-
-
83. An ear piece for use by an individual having an external auditory canal, comprising:
-
an earpiece housing configured for placement on, at, or within the external auditory canal of the individual; a processor disposed within the ear piece housing; a first microphone disposed at the earpiece housing, wherein the first microphone is outwardly facing at an outer portion of the earpiece housing to detect ambient environmental sound; a second microphone disposed at the earpiece housing; at least one speaker disposed within the earpiece housing at a position to direct sound towards the tympanic membrane of the individual; an inertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing and operatively connected to the processor; a gestural control interface operatively connected to the processor for controlling the ear piece; wherein the ear piece is configured to detect ambient environmental sound proximate the external auditory canal of the individual using the first microphone, and producing a modified sound including the ambient environmental sound at the at least one speaker within the earpiece housing; wherein the modified sound including the ambient environmental sound is based in part on a size and shape of the external auditory canal of the individual such that the modified sound reproduces the ambient sound as if directly heard by the individual.
-
Specification