Advanced communication earpiece device and method

Abstract

An earpiece device (10, 110, 210, 210′) provides advanced communication to the user thereof, for controlling a total sound dose (TND), including an audio output from an audio source (16) reaching an ear of the user occluded at the outer ear canal (15) by an in-ear device (14), for allowing an external ambient sound to be heard by the ear of the user, and for allowing a voice (NSV) of the user to be transmitted to a telecommunication transmission link (TTL). The present invention also contemplates a method of operation of the earpiece device (10, 110, 210, 210′).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to earpiece devices and is more particularly concerned with an earpiece device providing advanced communication to the user thereof, and method of operation thereof.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The noisy environment in our industrial society is a health hazard to numerous workers as well as to people engaged in recreational activities generating loud noises, or simply listening to music with varying volume settings from individual digital music players such as an Ipod™, MP3 players or the like, via a set of earphones or the like.[0003]Many documents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,952 granted to Widegren et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,151,835 granted to Yonovitz et al., US patent publication No. 2009 / 0208024 A1 to Farver and European patent No. EP 1,816,892 B2 to Ruwisch aim at limiting the harm produced by the continuous estimated noise / sound reaching the user's ear which could induce permanent partial hearing loss. These methods a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is an earpiece device that can accurately measure the amount of noise or sound dose that reaches the user's ears. It uses a custom-fitted device that improves sound quality and measuring accuracy by occluding the ear canal. The device also takes into account the user's relative fatigue and can detect if the earpiece is being worn or not. Additionally, it allows the user to selectively disable the audio signal and hear the external ambient noise through a headphone speaker. The device also allows for the user to mix or crossfade the background sound with the audio source to create a unique listening experience.

Problems solved by technology

The noisy environment in our industrial society is a health hazard to numerous workers as well as to people engaged in recreational activities generating loud noises, or simply listening to music with varying volume settings from individual digital music players such as an Ipod™, MP3 players or the like, via a set of earphones or the like.

Furthermore, these estimated integrations do not take into consideration the fact that the human ear rests, or recuperates from auditory fatigue over time, especially when the sound pressure level or the ambient noise is relatively low.

In such cases, the users essentially become acoustically disconnected, at least partially, from surrounding ambient sounds and / or noises, which could cause dangerous situations.

In order to be in hearing contact with the environment, the users need to either significantly reduce the sound or playback volume of the PMP or remove at least one of the two headphones, which might become annoying, especially if that kind of situation occurs frequently.

Images