Using external sounds to alert vehicle occupants of external events and mask in-car conversations

摘要

An audio processing system may selectively identify certain environmental sounds and playing back these sounds, or a representation of these sounds, in the vehicle's cabin. The audio processing system may filter the environmental sounds to identify a particular sound that matches an event such as a bouncing ball, squealing tires, footsteps, and the like. The audio processing system may then provide an audio alert to an occupant in the vehicle. For example, the system may process the identified sound (e.g., amplify and/or isolate the sound) and use a speaker to output the processed sound into the interior of the vehicle. In another embodiment, the audio processing system may use environmental sounds as an audio masking sound for creating privacy zones within the vehicle. The audio processing system may filter the environmental sounds to identify a continuous sound which is then output to generate the privacy zones.

主权项

1. A vehicular audio system comprising:
an audio detector configured to sense ambient sounds external to a vehicle; and an audio processing module configured to:
receive one or more signals representing the ambient sounds from the audio detector,process the ambient sounds to identify an event external to the vehicle and corresponding to at least one sound within the ambient sounds, wherein the at least one sound is generated by the event, andbased on determining that a current speed of the vehicle is above a threshold speed, output the at least one sound via a speaker configured to output sound into an interior of the vehicle, orbased on determining that the current speed is below the threshold speed, output a spoken description of the event via the speaker.