Noise abatement system for dental procedures

• US 20150304761A1
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volt Analytics, LLC
• Original Assignee: Volt Analytics, LLC
• Inventors: Montazemi, Peman, Zekavati, Shaghayegh, Mitolo, Massimo
• Granted Patent: US 9,609,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/16 Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general G10K11/36 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/116 Medical; Dental
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3224 Passive absorbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1008 Earpieces of the supra-aural or circum-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1025 Accumulators or arrangements for charging secondary cells per se H01M10/00; charging in general H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• 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

Abstract

A noise abatement system for dental procedures conceived to protect the hearing of dental operators (dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants dental technicians and/or any other dental staff member in the dental operatory) as well as of patients, comprises a pair of headphones composed of one (1) left and one (1) right phone [1] connected to each other via a strap [2], an audio signal processor (ASP) [7] with associated circuitry, a remote operator on/off talk button [14] and a voltage source charging station [2530]. The user of the system can toggle an operator/patient switch [8] in the casing of the headphones to switch between operator mode and patient mode. In operator mode, high-frequency noise from dental tools is captured by one (1) left and one (1) right microphone [3], is filtered out by a noise-abating filter [16], as a part of the ASP, and only frequencies from speech signals are allowed to the operator through a pair of speakers [4] mounted in the casing of the phones. In patient mode, all noise is filtered out by the audio signal processor from the surrounding environment and, therefore, no noise is allowed to the patient through the two left and right speakers [4]; however, if an operator enables the operator on/off talk button [20], the patient will be able to hear speech frequencies from any operator in the surrounding environment. Thus, a high-frequency noise-abating system is provided to dental practice'"'"'s, practitioners and technicians that prevent them, as well as patients, from being exposed to unwanted noise from dental tools. At the same time, dental staff members and technicians can communicate among each other during the dental procedure, or operation of dental tools, while the pair of headphones is functioning; they can also communicate with the patient by pushing an operator on/off talk button [14]. This system also allows each user to mix in an auxiliary audio signal from an external audio source [15]; when in patient mode, this auxiliary audio signal gets muted when the operator pushes the operator on/off talk button [20] in order to talk to the patient. Last, this system can be recharged by resting the pair of headphones onto a charging station [29].

Claims

1. A system for noise abatement of dental procedures that is primarily designed to protect the hearing of dental operators (e.g. dentist, dental hygienist, dental assistant, dental technician and/or any other dental staff member in the dental operatory, all hereafter called operators of the said system) and dental patients, includes a pair of headphones located on the head of each user

that is composed of one (1) left and one (1) right phone placed of the left and right ears of the user, and connected to each other via a flexible strap

wherein one (1) left and one (1) right microphone (hereafter called mics) are mounted within the casing of the said left and right phones, with a hole in each said casing in front of each mic allowing the latter to receive audio signals from the surrounding environment

wherein one (1) left and one (1) right speaker are mounted in the casing of the said left and right phones at the level of the user'"'"'s ears;

the inner surface of each said casing has a hole or several holes to let each said speaker provide audio signals to each ear of the user

wherein the casing of the said left and right phones is large enough to cover the left and right ears of the user

wherein the casing of the said left and right phones have a padded cushion in contact with the user'"'"'s head surface to increase comfort while wearing the device and acoustic isolation with respect to high-frequency noise from the surrounding environment

wherein the walls of the said casing of the said left and right phones are made of high-frequency insulating material to provide acoustic isolation from the surrounding environment

wherein a noise-abating audio signal processor and associated audio signal processing circuitry (combination hereafter called audio signal processor or ASP) are mounted in the casing of the said pair of headphones;

the ASP receives audio signals captured from the surrounding environment by the said pair of mics, processes them and sends the processed noise-abated audio signals to the user'"'"'s ears through the said pair of speakers

wherein an operator/patient switch mounted in the casing of the said pair of headphones switches the said ASP between operator mode and patient mode;

in operator mode, the said ASP allows the user to hear through the said pair of speakers all audible frequencies within speech range captured by the said pair of mics from the surrounding environment, whereas the rest of the frequencies, including high-frequency noise emitted by all dental apparatuses used by the operator (e.g. dental drill, suction system, air compressor, water pick, ultrasonic scaler and similar apparatus hereafter called dental tools) are filtered out;

in patient mode, the headphones, covered in high-frequency insulating materials, filter out all sounds, including all audible frequencies within speech range, as well as noise emitted by dental tools, as the ASP is turned off

that, when the operator/patient switch is in the patient mode, an operator-controlled on/off talk button located on an external remote device transmits a triggering signal to the receiver that is part of the circuitry on board of the pair of headphones;

the receiver then emits the triggering signal to the ASP, which in turn, enables the patient to hear through the said pair of speakers all audible frequencies in the speech range captured by the said pair of mics from the surrounding environment, yet still filtering out noise emitted by dental tools;

when the operator/patient switch is in the operator mode, the operator on/off talk button has no effect on the ASP

wherein an independent direct-current constant voltage source (hereafter called voltage source) is mounted in the casing of the said pair of headphones;

the said voltage source powers the said ASP and all electrically-connected components as part of the said pair of headphones

wherein a light indicator located on the external surface of the said pair of headphones displays the voltage source level to the user;

the said light turns green when the said voltage source voltage level is adequate and red when the said voltage source voltage level is below a threshold and needs to be replaced or recharged;

the status of the said light indicator is controlled by the said ASP, which monitors the voltage level of the voltage source

wherein an audio signal volume control button is located on the external surface of the said pair of headphones allowing the user to increase or decrease the audio signal volume level delivered by the said pair of speakers to the user'"'"'s ears

wherein an on/off power switch is located on the external surface of the said pair of headphones allowing the user to turn on or off the power supply from the said voltage source to the ASP and associated circuitry;

when the power on/off switch is in the on position, the said light indicator turns on based on the said light color scheme;

when the power on/off switch is in the off position, the said light indicator turns off

that has a charging coil that receives magnetic energy from a charging station, converts the said energy to electric current which, in turn, charges the said voltage source.

2. An audio signal processor (ASP), according to claim 1,

that is mounted in the casing of the said pair of headphones and that receives inputs such as audio signals captured from the surrounding environment by the said pair of mics and provides noise-abated audio signals through the said pair of speakers to the ears of the user

that functions in operator mode or patient mode by toggling the said operator/patient switch;

in operator mode, the noise-abating filter of the ASP filters the audio signals captured by the said pair of mics from the surrounding environment and produces a noise-abated audio signal within the speech frequency range through the said pair of speakers to the user'"'"'s ears;

in patient mode, the noise-abating filter of the ASP is turned off and no audio signal other than the auxiliary audio signal is sent to the user'"'"'s ears through the said pair of speakers

that allows the patient to hear all audible frequencies from surrounding speech sounds as long as the said operator on/off talk button is in the on position and the operator/patient switch is in patient mode;

when enabled, the operator on/off talk button sends a signal to the ASP on board of the patient'"'"'s pair of headphones to turn it on, thereby enabling the speech frequencies to be heard by the patient

with its associated circuitry that are electrically powered by the said voltage source

that controls the functionality of the said voltage source light indicator

that controls the volume level of the outgoing audio signals from the said pair of speakers to the ears of the user;

the increase or decrease of the volume level is received by the ASP from the said volume control button

that turns off as it stops receiving power from the said voltage source in case the said power on/off switch is in the off position;

when the power on/off switch is in the on position, the ASP can be on or in sleep mode according to the functionality of the said operator/patient switch and the said operator on/off talk button

that automatically turns on from a sleep mode in case there is any high-frequency noise level above a threshold and accomplishes its noise-abating task according to the functionalities dictated by the said operator/patient switch and the said operator on/off talk button;

this sleep mode functionality is intended to extend the lifetime of the said voltage source

that can be remotely programmed using an external computing device (e.g. computer) equipped with tuning software;

the programming is focused on modifying the audio signal processing parameters of the ASP to obtain optimal functionality

that allows the user to mix in to the said noise-abated audio signal an auxiliary audio signal coming from a remote external audio source (e.g. music player, audio channel, TV, and/or any other apparatus capable of generating an audio signal);

when the operator/patient switch is in patient mode, the auxiliary audio signal gets muted by the ASP when the operator on/off talk button is in the on position to allow the patient hear the speech sounds from the surrounding environment;

the volume of the auxiliary audio signal is controlled via the said volume control buttons located on the casing of the said pair of headphones or from the external audio source itself if that capability is available

that in said operator mode, automatically detects, by processing audio signal captured from the said pair of microphones, a minimum threshold level in speech frequencies that, if surpassed, will wake up the ASP and transmits the said speech frequencies through the said pair of speakers to the ears of the user;

this threshold detection functionality is intended to extend the lifetime of the said voltage source and avoid user to hear sounds through the said pair of speakers in absence of speech frequencies in the surrounding environment

that has a power management capability that integrates the voltage source, on-off power switch, noise-abating filter and light indicator into the functionality of the said ASP

that when the operator/patient switch is in patient mode, upon receiving a triggering signal from a receiver, enables the user to hear through the pair of speakers all audible frequencies in the speech range captured by the said pair of mics from the surrounding environment, yet still filtering out noise emitted by dental tools;

when the operator/patient switch is in the operator mode, the operator on/off talk button has no effect on the ASP.

3. An operator on/off talk button, according to claims 1 and 2,

that allows the operator to talk to the patient when the said operator on/off talk button is in the on position;

the button works only if the operator/patient switch is in patient mode

that has a casing (separate from the casing of the said pair of headphones) comprising the said talk button, a voltage source, a transmitter with associated circuitry, a door and a talk light indicator

wherein a talk button that can be pressed to enable the talk functionality between operator and patient

which talk button can be either mounted onto the dental chair and be pressed by the operators'"'"' fingers or be mounted into a foot switch which can be pressed by the operators'"'"' foot

wherein a voltage source provides power to the said transmitter and associated circuitry

wherein, upon pressing the said talk button, the said transmitter and associated circuitry sends a triggering signal to the receiver on board of the pair of headphones in patient mode

that has a door in its said casing that can be opened by the user in order to replace the voltage source in case this one reaches a low voltage level that would impeach the operator on/off talk button to function normally

wherein a talk light indicator located on the external face of the said casing is turned on every time the talk button is pressed by the user;

the said talk light indicator is powered by the said voltage source through the said circuitry.

4. A charging station, according to claims 1 and 2,

that allows recharging the voltage source of the said pair of headphones when they rest onto the charging station;

for the charging process to work, the said voltage source on board of the said pair of headphones needs to be of rechargeable type

that has a casing (separate from the casing of the said pair of headphones) comprising an electric cord that goes out to the wall power plug to power the electric charging circuit comprised in it

that has a charging circuit comprising a rectifying circuit that converts alternative current voltage to direct current voltage

that has a charging magnetic coil allowing the pair of headphones to get charged when deposited on it in the headphones rest location

that has a charging light indicator that, turns red when the voltage source on board of the pair of headphones is getting charged from the charging circuit, turns green when the voltage source on board of the pair of headphones is fully charged.