Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

Doppler Labs, Inc.

Google Inc.

Eargo, Inc.

Apple Inc.

Knowles Electronics, Inc.

Dsp Concepts, Inc.

Eargon, Inc.

Gints Valdis Klimanis

Richard Fritz Lanman, Iii

Noah Kraft

Jeff Baker

Matthew J Jaffe

Anthony Parks

Jeffrey R Baker

Jonathan Sarjeant Aase

Beau Jay Polinske

Aram M Lindahl

Nicholas Unger Webb

Joseph M Williams

Daniel C Wiggins

Hardik Ruparel

Richard Fritz Lanman Iii

Beau Polinske

An apparatus and method for auto echo cancellation utilizing an occluded voice sensor. The technology as disclosed and claimed herein and the various implementations and embodiments improves Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) system performance by increasing cancellation quality and speech SNR by the replacement of the lower frequency portion of the microphone signal with the signal of an Occluded Voice Sensor (OVS) signal and never including the spectral band in the transmission. This frequency band replacement excludes the reinjection of that band from the speaker.

Apparatus and method for acoustic echo cancellation with occluded voice sensor

A wearable audio device can include a microphone located to detect atmospheric sound including a user's voice. The device can include an acoustic vibration sensor located to detect sound including the user's voice conducted through the user's body. The device can include a body voice filter coupled to the acoustic vibration sensor. The device can include a filter parameter generator coupled to the acoustic vibration sensor and the body voice filter the filter parameter generator configured to generate parameters for the body voice filter based on a frequency characteristic of a signal obtained from the acoustic vibration sensor. The device can include a composite signal generator coupled to the body voice filter and the microphone and configured to generate a composite voice signal based on a low band signal obtained predominately from the body voice filter and based on a high band signal obtained predominately from the microphone.

Wearable audio device having improved output

A hearing assistance device is discussed that has one or more accelerometers, a user interface, and optionally a left/right determination module is configured to receive input data from the one or more accelerometers from user actions causing control signals as sensed by the accelerometers to trigger a program change for an audio configuration for the device selected from a group consisting of a change in amplification/volume control, a change in a mute mode, a change of a hear loss profile loaded into that hearing assistance device, and a change in a play-pause mode.

Hearing assistance device with an accelerometer

A wearable audio device, like a wireless earpiece, that generates a composite voice signal based on a low band signal and a high band signal is disclosed. The low band signal includes a component of the user's voice obtained from an acoustic vibration sensor that detect body conducted sounds and the high band signal includes a component of the user's voice obtained from a microphone that detects atmospheric sounds, wherein the low band signal is obtained predominately from the acoustic vibration sensor and the high band signal is obtained predominately from the microphone. The low and high band signals are based on one or more characteristics of the vibration sensor signal.

Personal audio systems and methods are disclosed. A personal audio system includes a voice activity detector to determine whether or not an ambient audio stream contains voice activity, a pitch estimator to determine a frequency of a fundamental component of an annoyance noise contained in the ambient audio stream, and a filter bank to attenuate the fundamental component and at least one harmonic component of the annoyance noise to generate a personal audio stream. The filter bank implements a first filter function when the ambient audio stream does not contain voice activity, or a second filter function when the ambient audio stream contains voice activity.

Annoyance noise suppression

A device is discussed, such as the hearing assistance device itself and/or an electrical charger cooperating with the hearing assistance device. The device can have one or more accelerometers and a power control module to receive input data indicating a change in acceleration of the device over time from the one or more accelerometers in order to make a determination to autonomously change a power mode for the hearing assistance device based on at least whether the power control module senses movement of the hearing assistance device as indicated by the accelerometers.

Hearing assistance device that uses one or more sensors to autonomously change a power mode of the device

Personal audio systems and methods are disclosed. A personal audio system includes a processor to generate a personal audio stream by processing an ambient audio stream in accordance with an active processing parameter set, a circular buffer memory to store a most recent snippet of the ambient audio stream, and an event detector to detect a trigger event. In response to detection of the trigger event, a controller may extract audio feature data from the most recent snippet of the ambient audio stream and transmit the audio feature data and associated metadata to a knowledgebase remote from the personal audio system.

Privacy protection in collective feedforward

Personal audio systems and methods are disclosed. The personal audio system includes a processor configured to generate a processed ambient audio stream by processing the ambient audio stream in accordance with a selected set of processing parameters selected from the plurality of processing parameter sets stored in the memory, a communications interface configured to receive a new set of processing parameters, selected by someone other than the user, and a controller configured to instruct the processor to begin generating the processed ambient audio stream by using the new set of processing parameters.

Sharing of custom audio processing parameters

A hearing assistance device is discussed that has one or more accelerometers, a user interface, and optionally a left/right determination module is configured to receive input data from the one or more accelerometers from user actions causing control signals as sensed by the accelerometers to trigger a program change for an audio configuration for the device selected from a group consisting of a change in amplification/volume control, a change in a mute mode, a change of a hearing loss profile loaded into that hearing assistance device, and a change in a play-pause mode.

Personal audio systems and methods are disclosed. A personal audio system includes a class table storing processing parameters respectively associated with a plurality of annoyance noise classes, a controller, and a processor. The controller identifies an annoyance noise class of an annoyance noise included in an ambient audio stream and retrieves, from the class table, one or more processing parameters associated with the identified annoyance noise class. The processor to processes the ambient audio stream according to the one or more retrieved processing parameters class to provide a personal audio stream. The processor includes a pitch tracker to identify a fundamental frequency of the annoyance noise and a filter bank including a band reject filter tuned to the fundamental frequency.

Ambient sound is converted into an ambient audio stream. A processed ambient audio stream is generated by processing the ambient audio stream in accordance with a selected set of processing parameters selected from the plurality of processing parameter sets stored in the memory. Trigger data is searched and a new set of processing parameters is requested. The trigger data identifies the new set of processing parameters that is available for use in processing the ambient audio stream. A received new set of processing parameters is selected as the selected set of processing parameters. The processed ambient audio stream is converted into processed output sound.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Gints Valdis Klimanis