Bose Corporation

Bose Corproation

Xiang-Ern Sherwin Yeo

Alaganandan Ganeshkumar

Mehmet Ergezer

Douglas George Morton

Pepin Torres

Rodrigo Sartorio Gomes

Audio systems, methods, and processor instructions are provided that detect voice activity of a user and provide an output voice signal. The systems, methods, and instructions receive a plurality of microphone signals and combine the plurality of microphone signals according to a first combination and a second combination. The first combination produces a primary signal having enhanced response in the direction of the user's mouth, and the second combination produces a reference signal having reduced response in the direction of the user's mouth. The primary signal and the reference signal are added and subtracted to produce a voice-enhanced signal and a voice-reduced signal, respectively. The voice-enhanced signal and the voice-reduced signal are compares and an output voice signal is provided based upon the comparison.

Audio systems and methods for voice activity detection

A headphone, headphone system, and speech enhancing method is provided to enhance speech pick-up from the user of a headphone and includes receiving a plurality of signals from a set of microphones and generating a primary signal by array processing the microphone signals to steer a beam toward the user's mouth. A noise reference signal is also derived from one or more microphones via a delay-and-sum technique, and a voice estimate signal is generated by filtering the primary signal to remove components that are correlated to the noise reference signal.

Audio signal processing for noise reduction

Audio systems, methods, and processor instructions are provided that detect voice activity of a user and provide an output voice signal. The systems, methods, and instructions receive a plurality of microphone signals and combine the plurality of microphone signals according to a first combination and a second combination. The first combination produces a primary signal having enhanced response in the direction of the user's mouth, and the second combination produces a reference signal having reduced response in the direction of the user's mouth. The primary signal and the reference signal are added and subtracted to produce a summation signal and a difference signal, respectively. The summation signal and the difference signal are compares and an output voice signal is provided based upon the comparison.

Methods and apparatus are provided for improving wake-up word (or trigger word) detection by an audio device. After initially detecting a WUW, an audio device validates the detected WUW using inputs from one or more other systems such as voice activity detection (VAD), on-head detection, or other headphone data. Other headphone data includes inputs received via sensors on the audio device that provide contextual information associated with a state of the user. Based on the inputs from other systems, the audio device is able to identify unintended WUW activations and increase WUW detection accuracy.

Wake-up word detection

A headphone system is provided that includes a first earpiece, a first front microphone coupled to the first earpiece to receive a first acoustic signal, a first rear microphone coupled to the first earpiece to receive a second acoustic signal, the second acoustic signal being toward the rear of a user's head relative to the first acoustic signal, and a detection circuit coupled to the first front and rear microphones and configured to compare a front signal derived from the first front microphone to a rear signal derived from the first rear microphone and to selectively indicate that the user is speaking based at least in part upon the comparison.

Systems and methods of detecting speech activity of headphone user

A headphone, headphone system, and speech enhancing method is provided to enhance speech pick-up from the user of a headphone and includes receiving a plurality of signals from a set of microphones and generating a primary signal by array processing the microphone signals to steer a beam toward the user's mouth. A noise reference signal is also derived from one or more microphones, and a voice estimate signal is generated by filtering the primary signal to remove components that are correlated to the noise reference signal.

The technology described in this document can be embodied in a method that includes receiving, at one or more processing devices of a headset that includes a sidetone generation circuit, an input signal representing ambient audio, and determining, by the one or more processing devices of the headset, that at least a portion of the input signal represents voice activity that satisfies a threshold condition. The method also includes, responsive to determining that the voice activity in the input signal satisfies the threshold condition, a control signal configured to cause the sidetone generation circuit to generate sidetone signals, and generating, by an acoustic transducer of the headset, an audio signal that represents, at least in part, the sidetone signals generated in accordance with the control signal.

Dynamically adjustable sidetone generation

A headphone system is provided that includes a left and right earpiece having a left and right microphone, respectively, to receive left and right acoustic signals and provide left and right signals for processing. The left and right signals are added to provide a principal signal, and the left and right signals are subtracted to provide a reference signal. A detection circuit compares the principal signal to the reference signal and selectively indicates whether a user is speaking.

The technology described in this document can be embodied in an apparatus that includes an input device, a sidetone generator, and an acoustic transducer. The input device includes a set of two or more microphones, and is configured to produce digitized samples of sound captured by the set of two or more microphones. The sidetone generator includes one or more processing devices, and is configured to receive digitized samples that include at least one digitized sample for each of two or more microphones of the set. The sidetone generator is also configured to process the received digitized samples to generate a sidetone signal. The acoustic transducer is configured to generate an audio feedback based on the sidetone signal.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Xiang-Ern Sherwin Yeo