Headphone audio enhancement system

• US 9,866,963 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2016
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ComHear, Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ComHear, Incorporated
• Inventors: Kraemer, Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US14/992,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20160134970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/08 of electromagnetic transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/005 For headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/01 Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/307 Frequency adjustment, e.g. tone control H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

An audio enhancement system can provide spatial enhancement, low frequency enhancement, and/or high frequency enhancement for headphone audio. The spatial enhancement can increase the sense of spaciousness or stereo separation between left and right headphone channels. The low frequency enhancement can enhance bass frequencies that are unreproducible or attenuated in headphone speakers by emphasizing harmonics of the low bass frequencies. The high frequency enhancement can emphasize higher frequencies that may be less reproducible or poorly tuned for headphone speakers. In some implementations, the audio enhancement system provides a user interface that enables a user to control the amount (e.g., gains) of each enhancement applied to headphone input signals. The audio enhancement system may also be designed to provide one or more of these enhancements more effectively when headphones with good coupling to the ear are used.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing audio for headphones, the method comprising:

under control of a hardware processor;

receiving a left input audio signal;

receiving a right input audio signal;

applying a first notch filter to the left input audio signal to produce a left spatially-enhanced signal;

applying a first gain to the left input audio signal to produce an adjusted left input audio signal;

mixing at least a portion of the adjusted left input audio signal with the left spatially-enhanced signal to produce a left filtered signal;

applying a second notch filter to the right input audio signal to produce a right spatially-enhanced signal;

applying a second gain to the right input audio signal to produce an adjusted right input audio signal;

mixing at least a portion of the adjusted right input audio signal with the right spatially-enhanced signal to produce a right filtered signal;

obtaining a filtered difference signal from the left filtered signal and the right filtered signal; and

providing output signals to headphones based on the filtered difference signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

filtering the left and right input audio signals with at least two band pass filters to produce bass-enhanced audio signals;

filtering the left and right input audio signals with a high pass filter to produce high-frequency enhanced audio signals; and

mixing the filtered difference signal, the bass-enhanced audio signals, and the high-frequency enhanced audio signals to produce the output signals.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving user input from a user interface; and

configuring at least one of the band pass filter, the high pass filter, the first notch filter, or the second notch filter using the received user input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented by a computing device comprising the hardware processor.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the computing device comprises a smartphone or a tablet computer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the second notch filters are configured to attenuate frequencies in a frequency band associated with speech.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first notch filter, the second notch filter, or both are configured to have a center frequency within a frequency band of about 2100 Hz to about 2900 Hz.

8. A system for enhancing audio for headphones, the system comprising:

a spatial enhancer comprising a hardware processor configured to;

apply a first notch filter to a left input channel of audio to produce a left spatially-enhanced channel of audio;

apply a first gain to the left input channel of audio to produce an adjusted left input channel of audio;

mix at least a portion of the adjusted left input audio signal with the left spatially-enhanced signal to produce a left filtered channel of audio;

apply a second notch filter to a right input channel of audio to produce a right spatially-enhanced channel of audio;

apply a second gain to the right input channel of audio to produce an adjusted right input channel of audio;

mix at least a portion of the adjusted right input audio signal with the right spatially-enhanced signal to produce a right filtered channel of audio;

obtain a filtered difference signal from the left filtered channel of audio and the right filtered channel of audio; and

output left and right output signals to headphones based on the filtered difference signal.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a low frequency enhancer configured to process the left input channel of audio and the right input channel of audio to produce bass-enhanced channels of audio;

a high frequency enhancer configured to process the left input channel of audio and the right input channel of audio to produce high-frequency enhanced channels of audio; and

a mixer configured to combine the filtered difference signal, the bass-enhanced channels of audio, and the high-frequency enhanced channels of audio to produce the left and right output signals.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the system is implemented by a computing device comprising the hardware processor.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device comprises a smartphone or a tablet computer.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first and the second notch filters of the spatial enhancer are configured to attenuate frequencies in a frequency band associated with speech.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the first notch filter, the second notch filter, or both have a center frequency within a frequency band of about 2100 Hz to about 2900 Hz.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first notch filter and the second notch filter are centered around the same frequency.

15. A system for enhancing audio for headphones, the system comprising:

a hardware processor configured to;

receive left and right audio inputs;

obtain a difference signal from the left and right audio inputs;

apply a notch filter to the difference signal to produce a spatially-enhanced audio signal;

apply a gain to the difference signal to produce an adjusted audio signal;

mix at least a portion of the spatially-enhanced audio signal and the adjusted audio signal to produce a filtered signal;

obtain a sum signal by combining the left and right audio inputs;

mix the sum signal with the filtered signal to produce left and right output signals; and

output the left and right output signals to headphones.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to process the left and right audio inputs with a bass enhancement to produce bass-enhanced audio signals.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to process the left and right audio inputs with a high-frequency enhancement to produce high-frequency enhanced audio signals.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to mix the bass-enhanced audio signals and the high-frequency enhanced audio signals together with the sum signal mixed with the filtered signal to produce the left and right output signals.

19. A method of enhancing audio for headphones, the method comprising:

under control of a hardware processor;

receiving a left input audio signal;

receiving a right input audio signal;

applying a first notch filter to the left input audio signal to produce a left spatially-enhanced signal;

applying a second notch filter to the right input audio signal to produce a right spatially-enhanced signal;

obtaining a filtered difference signal from the left spatially-enhanced signal and the right spatially-enhanced signal;

providing output signals to headphones based on the filtered difference signal;

filtering the left and right input audio signals with at least two band pass filters to produce bass-enhanced audio signals;

filtering the left and right input audio signals with a high pass filter to produce high-frequency enhanced audio signals; and

mixing the filtered difference signal, the bass-enhanced audio signals, and the high-frequency enhanced audio signals to produce the output signals.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving user input from a user interface; and

configuring at least one of the band pass filter, the high pass filter, the first notch filter, or the second notch filter using the received user input.