Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Knowles Electronics, Inc.

Kuan-Chieh Yen

Grant Allen Davidson

Dirk Jeroen Breebaart

Rhonda J Wilson

Zhiwei Shuang

David Matthew Cooper

Carlo Murgia

Vinay Melkote

Matthew Conrad Fellers

Thomas E Miller

Taro Kimura

Mushtaq Syed

Daniel Wayne Harris

Mark Franklin Davis

Mark Stuart Vinton

Wai Chung Chu

Ke Li

Ludger Solbach

Tarun Pruthi

Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani

Alexander Kanaris

Carlos Renato Nakagawa

Vivek Kumar

Zhouhui Miao

Alex Kanaris

Madhuri Saraf

Kunal Atitkar

This disclosure describes, in part, techniques to process audio signals to lessen the impact that wind and/or other environmental noise has upon the resulting quality of audio signals output on speaker(s) of wireless earbuds or other headphones. For example, the techniques may determine a level of wind and/or other noise in an environment and may determine how best to process the signals to lessen the impact of the noise, such that one or more users that hear audio based on output of the signals hear higher-quality audio. In some instances, the techniques are able to detect levels of wind in a relatively low-power manner and as part of regular operation of the wireless earbuds or other headphones.

Mitigating effects of wind in audio data

Methods and systems for designing binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) for use in headphone virtualizers, and methods and systems for generating a binaural signal in response to a set of channels of a multi-channel audio signal, including by applying a BRIR to each channel of the set, thereby generating filtered signals, and combining the filtered signals to generate the binaural signal, where each BRIR has been designed in accordance with an embodiment of the design method. Other aspects are audio processing units configured to perform any embodiment of the inventive method. In accordance with some embodiments, BRIR design is formulated as a numerical optimization problem based on a simulation model (which generates candidate BRIRs) and at least one objective function (which evaluates each candidate BRIR), and includes identification of a best one of the candidate BRIRs as indicated by performance metrics determined for the candidate BRIRs by each objective function.

Methods and systems for designing and applying numerically optimized binaural room impulse responses

Detecting wind events in audio data

In some embodiments, virtualization methods for generating a binaural signal in response to channels of a multi-channel audio signal, which apply a binaural room impulse response (BRIR) to each channel including by using at least one feedback delay network (FDN) to apply a common late reverberation to a downmix of the channels. In some embodiments, input signal channels are processed in a first processing path to apply to each channel a direct response and early reflection portion of a single-channel BRIR for the channel, and the downmix of the channels is processed in a second processing path including at least one FDN which applies the common late reverberation. Typically, the common late reverberation emulates collective macro attributes of late reverberation portions of at least some of the single-channel BRIRs. Other aspects are headphone virtualizers configured to perform any embodiment of the method.

Generating binaural audio in response to multi-channel audio using at least one feedback delay network

This disclosure describes techniques for detecting voice commands from a user of an ear-based device. The ear-based device may include an in-ear facing microphone to capture sound emitted in an ear of the user, and an exterior facing microphone to capture sound emitted in an exterior environment of the user. The in-ear microphone may generate an inner audio signal representing the sound emitted in the ear, and the exterior microphone may generate an outer audio signal representing sound from the exterior environment. The ear-based device may compute a ratio of a power of the inner audio signal to the outer audio signal and may compare this ratio to a threshold. If the ratio is larger than the threshold, the ear-based device may detect the voice of the user. Further, the ear-based device may set a value of the threshold based on a level of acoustic seal of the ear-based device.

Voice detection using ear-based devices

This disclosure describes, in part, techniques to process audio signals to lessen the impact that wind and/or other environmental noise has upon the resulting quality of these audio signals. For example, the techniques may determine a level of wind and/or other noise in an environment and may determine how best to process the signals to lessen the impact of the noise, such that one or more users that hear audio based on output of the signals hear higher-quality audio.

Processing audio to account for environmental noise

A system and method includes an audio device, such as an earbud or headphones, that includes one or more loudspeakers for outputting audio. The audio device further in includes one or more microphones that are positioned near an ear of a user. An acoustic barrier may be formed between a surface of the device and the ear of the user; properties of this barrier may, however, vary from user to user. The system determines these properties on a per-user basis and compensates for any differences therein.

Audio device with adaptive equalization

This disclosure describes, in part, techniques for processing audio data. For instance, an electronic device may include an automatic gain controller (AGC) that determines AGC gains for amplifying or attenuating an audio data. To determine the AGC gains, the AGC uses information from a residual echo suppressor (RES) and/or a noise reductor (NR). The information may indicate RES gains applied to the audio data by the RES and/or NR gains applied to the audio data by the NR. In some instances, to determine the AGC gain, the AGC determines time-constant parameter(s) using the information. The AGC then uses the time-constant parameter(s) to determine an input signal level for the audio data and/or the AGC gain. In some instances, to determine the AGC gain, the AGC operates in an attack mode or a release mode based on the information.

Techniques for processing audio data

Growing community of inventors

Foster City, CA, United States of America

Kuan-Chieh Yen