Method and apparatus for in-ear canal sound suppression

摘要

An earpiece (100) and acoustic management module for in-ear canal suppression control are provided. A method for suppressing signals for a conference call, a vehicle, and a general communication event is also provided. The earpiece can include an Ambient Sound Microphone (111) to capture ambient sound, an Ear Canal Receiver (125) to deliver audio content to an ear canal, an Ear Canal Microphone (123) configured to capture internal sound, and a processor (121). The processor can generate a voice activity level (622) and suppress an echo, spoken voice, and media content in the electronic internal signal, and mix an electronic ambient signal with an electronic internal signal in a ratio dependent on the voice activity level and a background noise level to produce a mixed signal (323) that is delivered to the ear canal (131).

主权项

1. A method of listening to an audio content signal during a full duplex communication event, the method comprising the steps of:
delivering the audio content signal to an ear canal of a first user by way of an Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) to produce an acoustic audio content; capturing in the ear canal of the first user by way of an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) an electronic signal comprising the acoustic audio content and a spoken voice of the first user in a presence of the acoustic audio content; adaptively filtering the electronic signal using the audio content signal as a reference signal, to suppress the acoustic audio content in the electronic signal while preserving the spoken voice to produce a modified electronic signal; determining a voice activity level of vowels in the spoken voice of the first user based on the modified electronic signal, the voice activity level indicating a degree of voicing of the vowels in the spoken voice that identifies periodic vibrations of vocal cords by the first user; adjusting a gain of the audio content signal as a function of a measured background noise level and the voice activity level of the vowels with respect to the measured background noise level to form an adjusted signal, the adjusted signal being provided to the ear canal of the first user via the ECR during the full duplex communication event; and sending the modified electronic signal to at least one other user so that the acoustic audio content is sufficiently inaudible and simultaneously the spoken voice is audible to the at least one other user during the full duplex communication event.