| 摘要 |
A noise abatement system for dental procedures conceived to protect the hearing of dental staff members composed of office managers, dental operators including at least one of dentist, dental hygienist, dental assistant, dental technician and any other dental staff member in the dental operatory, and of patients, comprises a pair of headphones composed of one left and one right phones [1] connected to each other via a flexible strap [2], an audio signal processor (ASP) [7] with a receiver [17] and an on/off talk button [13] with a transmitter and circuitry [21]. Dental operators and patients can toggle an operator/patient switch [8] in a water- and dust-resistant casing of the pair of headphones to switch between operator mode and patient mode. In operator mode, the ASP receives the audio signals captured from the surrounding environment by one left and one right microphones [3], processes the captured audio signals and sends audible speech frequencies to the ears through one left and one right speakers [4] mounted in the casing of the one left and one right phones, while actively abating [15] the high-frequency noise generated by dental tools. In patient mode, the ASP is turned off and the sounds from the surrounding environment are passively abated by the water- and dust-resistant casing, the high-frequency insulating material [6] inside the water- and dust-resistant casing and the cushion [5]; however, if any of the dental operators or the patient enables a talk button [19] belonging to the on/off talk button, the patient will be able to hear speech frequencies from any operator in the surrounding environment and vice versa. Thus, a high-frequency noise-abating system is provided to dental facilities, practitioners and technicians that prevents dental staff members, as well as patients, from being exposed to unwanted noise generated by dental tools. At the same time, dental staff members can communicate among each other during the dental procedure, or operation of dental tools, while the pair of headphones is functioning; dental operators can also communicate with the patient by pushing the talk button. This system also allows each dental staff member and patient to mix in auxiliary audio signals including at least one of music, soothing sounds, white noise, radio, TV and/or any audio signal generated by an external audio source [14]; when in patient mode, this auxiliary audio signal gets muted when any dental operator or patient pushes the talk button in order to have a conversation with each other. |
| 主权项 |
1. A headphone system for protecting people from high-frequency noises including higher, dental tool-ranged frequency noises generated by dental tools, the headphone system comprising:
a patient headphone comprising:
first and second earphones, each of the first and second earphones comprising a high-frequency insulating material passively abating the high-frequency noises;a patient microphone connected to one of the first and second earphones and receiving environmental sound including the high-frequency noises and lower, speech-ranged frequencies and outputting an audio output signal corresponding to the environmental sound;a patient speaker coupled to the one of the first and second earphones and directing sound into an ear of the patient wearing the patient headphone a patient input device operated by the patient and switchable between on and off states; and a dental operator input device operated by a dental operator and switchable between on and off states; and an audio signal processor (ASP) connected to the patient input device, to the dental operator input device, and to the patient headphone and receiving the audio output signal from the patient microphone, wherein the ASP filters the higher, dental tool-ranged frequencies from the audio output signal while passing the lower, speech-ranged frequencies in the audio output signal to generate a filtered output signal that is provided to the patient speaker to generate the sound to the ear of the patient when either of the patient input device and the dental operator input device is switched to the on state by either the patient or the dental operator and the ASP disables outputting any signal including the audio output signal from the patient microphone to the patient speaker when both of the patient and dental operator input devices are switched to the off state by the patient and by the dental operator. |
