EARHEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD IV

• US 20130243206A1
• Filed: 05/02/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sky Socket Llc (Broadcom, Inc.), Staton Techiya, LLC
• Original Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Goldstein, Steven W., Usher, John, Fligor, Brian, Keady, John P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,357,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/121 evaluating hearing capacity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 11/145 electric, e.g. for active noise reduction
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 3/14 Measuring mean amplitude; Measuring mean power; Measuring time integral of power
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/00 Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements for hearing aids H04R25/30; detection of loudspeaker connection H04R5/04; sound-field adaptation dependent on speaker detection H04S7/308

Abstract

A system for monitoring sound pressure levels at the ear includes an ambient sound microphone (ASM) for receiving ambient sounds and an ear canal microphone (ECM) for producing audio signals as a function of ambient sound received at the ambient sound microphone and a sound signal received from an associated personal audio device. A logic circuit is operatively associated with the ASM and ECM calculates a total SPL_Dose experienced by the ear at a time t. The total SPL_Dose is calculated by determining SPL_Dose for periods Δt as measured at the ECM. The logic circuit may select an action parameter in response to the Total SPL_Dose.

Claims

1. A system configured to monitor a sound pressure level dose at an ear comprising:

an ear canal microphone configured to measure an acoustic sound pressure level (SPL) within an ear canal of the ear; and

a logic circuit operatively coupled to the ear canal microphone, where the logic circuit calculates a Total SPL_Dose at a time t as a function of the SPL.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic circuit calculates the Total SPL_Dose as a function of an estimated SPL_Dose during a time period Δ

t.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the estimated SPL_Dose is calculated as:

SPL<sub>—

DoseECM+ASM</sub>=SPL_Dose<sub>ECM+ASM−

1</sub> +Time of Sound Exposure/Time 100%, where Time 100%=24 hrs/2̂

((L_ECM−

T)/3), where L_ECM is a measured Ear Canal d/BA SPL by the ear canal microphone, and where T is a threshold value related to noise level.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a readable memory operatively connected to the logic circuit, at least one action parameter stored in the readable memory, the logic circuit comparing the Total SPL_Dose to a threshold value, and if the Total SPL_Dose is greater than the threshold value, then the logic circuit reads the action parameter from the readable memory.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the logic circuit performs an action associated with the action parameter, where the action is at least one of modifying an operation of an audio device, modifying at least one acoustic signal directed to an ear canal receiver (ECR), and sending an acoustic notification signal to a user.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the logic circuit determines whether the estimated Total SPL_Dose exceeds a minimum threshold and reduces the Total SPL_Dose if the estimated SPL_Dose exceeds the minimum threshold.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the minimum threshold is an effective quiet level.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

an ambient sound microphone, configured to measure an ambient SPL.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic circuit compares the SPL to a threshold value and determines whether the SPL corresponds to a voice of a user of the system.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the logic circuit compares the ambient SPL to the SPL measured by the ear canal microphone and determines whether the SPL measured by the ear canal microphone includes an acoustic signal corresponding to the voice of the user.

11. A method of operating an earpiece comprising:

measuring a first sound pressure level (SPL1) with an ear canal microphone (ECM);

measuring a second sound pressure level (SPL2) with an ambient sound microphone (ASM);

calculating a noise reduction rating (NRR) using the SPL1 and the SPL2;

comparing the NRR to a threshold value of the NRR, and if the NRR is less than the threshold value of the NRR then a signal is sent to a user to indicate that there is a sealing error.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

estimating a third sound pressure level (SPL3) emitted by an ear canal receiver (ECR); and

calculating a total sound pressure level (SPL_Total), using the SPL1 and at least one of the SPL2 or the SPL3.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

calculating a Time_—

100% for a time increment Δ

t during which the SPL_Total occurs.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

calculating a total sound pressure level dose (SPL_Dose total) using the Time_—

100%.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

comparing the SPL_Dose total to a threshold value and if the SPL_Dose total is greater than the threshold value, sending a signal to the user.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

modifying a drive signal sent to the ECR so that a SPL emitted by the ECR is reduced if the SPL_Dose total is greater than the threshold value.