96 results about "Sound masking" patented technology

A sound masking system for shaping the ambient noise level in a physical environment. The sound masking system comprises a networked and distributed system having a number of master units coupled together and to a control unit. One or more of the master units may include satellite sound masking units which function to reproduce the sound masking signal generated by the master sound masking unit. Each of the master units is addressable over the network by the control unit enabling the control unit to program the contour, spectral band, and gain characteristics of the sound masking output signal. The system may also include a remote control unit which provides the capability to tune and adjust each master sound masking unit in situ without requiring physical access through the ceiling installation.

A sound masking system and method for providing sound masking in networked workstations or offices. The sound masking system comprises a communication network, a plurality of sound masking devices adapted to emit a sound masking signal, and a remote controller. One or more of the sound masking devices includes a controller, and the controller includes an interface for receiving information from the communication network and a component for controlling or adjusting output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal, such as volume. The controller includes a component responsive to a user input for setting or varying output characteristics associated with the sound masking signal.

A sound masking system according to the invention is disclosed in which one or more sound masking loudspeaker assemblies are coupled to one or more electronic sound masking signal generators. The loudspeaker assemblies in the system of the invention have a low directivity index and preferably emit an acoustic sound masking signal that has a sound masking spectrum specifically designed to provide superior sound masking in an open plan office. Each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is oriented to provide the acoustic sound masking signal in a direct path into the predetermined area in which masking sound is needed. In addition, the sound masking system of the invention can include a remote control function by which a user can select from a plurality of stored sets of information for providing from a recipient loudspeaker assembly an acoustic sound masking signal having a selected sound masking spectrum.

A method for influencing noise in a space, such as an open-space office, whereby active sound suppression and / or sound masking is / are undertaken. In order to advantageously undertake active sound suppression or sound masking in a larger space, for example an open-space office, a plurality of sound actuators are provided distributed over the surface area of the space, and at least one sound sensor is disposed in the space, and two or more of the sound actuators are acted on differently, with regard to sound values detected by the sound sensor and / or with regard to a desired sound-related space division and / or as the result of person signals or object signals that are detected.

In a masking sound generation apparatus, a CPU analyzes a speech utterance speed of a received sound signal. Then, the CPU copies the received sound signal into a plurality of sound signals and performs the following processing on each of the sound signals. Namely, the CPU divides each of the sound signals into frames on the basis of a frame length determined on the basis of the speech utterance speed. Reverse process is performed on each of the frames to replace a waveform of the frame with a reverse waveform, and a windowing process is performed to achieve a smooth connection between the frames. Then, the CPU randomly rearranges the order of the frames and mixes the plurality of sound signals to generate a masking sound signal.

A system and method for generating a masking noise level and spectrum automatically adjusted to obtain a target masking noise spectrum in a room. The system comprises a white noise generator and a mask filter automatically determined according to a correction of an acoustical response of the room and to the target masking noise corrected by an ambient noise.

A sound masking system for a multi-occupant work area includes a masking signal generator generating incoherent masking sound signals loudspeaker modules interconnected in a daisy-chain fashion, with each loudspeaker module receiving the masking sound signals on input connections and transmitting them to a successive loudspeaker module on output connections. The connections on which the masking sound signals appear in each loudspeaker are shifted by the inter-loudspeaker connections, such that successive loudspeakers automatically emit different masking sound signals for improved diffuseness in the overall masking sound in the work area. Each loudspeaker module has one jack having the input connections and another jack having the output connections, and each jack receives a detachable cable such as telephone cable to connect adjacent loudspeaker modules. The masking sound signals are shifted by a cross connection network between the two jacks in each loudspeaker module.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may emit masking sounds during operation of the UAV to mask other sounds generated by the UAV during operation. The UAV may be used to deliver items to a residence or other location associated with a customer. The UAV may emit sounds that mask the conventional sounds generated by the propellers and / or motors to cause the UAV to emit sounds that are pleasing to bystanders or do not annoy the bystanders. The UAV may emit sounds using speakers or other sound generating devices, such as fins, reeds, whistles, or other devices which may cause sound to be emitted from the UAV. Noise canceling algorithms may be used to cancel at least some of the conventional noise generated by operation of the UAV using inverted sounds, while additional sound may be emitted by the UAV, which may not be subject to noise cancelation.

A sound masking device comprises a housing having an open end, a white noise generator within the housing, and a speaker to receive a white noise signal from the white noise generator and to emit a white noise corresponding to the white noise signal. The speaker is set back from the open end and positioned within the housing to emit the white noise toward the open end. The housing may comprise a shelf or shoulder around an inner surface of the housing located between the speaker and the open end.

The invention relates to an order sudden peak magnitude-based method for quantitatively evaluating whistler-type noise of an AT transmission gear. According to the method, the fact that the subjective evaluation sensitiveness of human on the whistler-type noise is not only greatly affected by the magnitude of whistler, but also closely related to background noise according to analysis on the whistler-type noise spectrum of an AT vehicle transmission and the research on sound mask effect, so that the method is proposed. The method quantitatively evaluates the whistler level of a gear through the difference value between the order noise of the AT transmission gear and the background noise, and can objectively and accurately reflect the evaluation acceptability to the whistler-type noise of the AT transmission gear by a user. The scheme solves the problems of evaluation misjudgment caused by the individual difference of evaluating personnel and difficulty in setting of an early-stage target in subjective evaluation.

This invention relates to an audio test system and a method of mobile communication terminals, in which, the sytem includes: a radio communication base station simulator, an audio test analyzer, a system control platform, a noise eliminating chamber, a preamplifier and an acoustic simulation device, said method includes test to the evaluation values of transmission loudness and receiving loudness, noise of idle channels, transmission flexibility / frequency character, receiving flexibility / frequency character, evaluation value of side sound mask, loss of stability, echo control of acoustics and T-R distortion, and also includes evaluation value of side sound mask, out-of-band signals and suppression to environmental noise of listeners.

A unique, fully integrated, fully programmable, and highly flexible sound distribution system and methodology for providing masking sound, background music, and paging capabilities in up to eight zones of a building or space is provided. The methodology embodied in the system includes internal masking sounds that are uniquely pre-filtered to provide efficient and effective masking of distracting sounds within selectable zones of the space with a minimum masking sound dB sound level and with a pleasant sounding and non-annoying masking sound. The system also incorporates the capacity to be controlled from a remote or local telephone to adjust the volume level in any zone serviced by the system by issuing appropriate DTMF codes from the telephone's keypad. Unique bi-tone diagnostic functions are provided for assuring that the entire system is correctly wired and installed and for troubleshooting operational anomalies. ⅓ octave equalization is provided to compensate for known frequency response characteristics of the flat panel radiators of the system and to compensate for varying room acoustics to provide a low special variation of sound among the various zones of the space. The result is a high quality high fidelity sound that is consistent from zone to zone.

The invention relates to a method for generating a sound masking signal based on time reversal. In the method, a corresponding sound masking signal is acquired according to a target sound source signal and has a long-time amplitude spectrum similar to that of the target sound source signal and extremely low speech intelligibility. The method comprises the following steps of: picking up the target sound source signal by using a microphone or a microphone array and performing preprocessing to acquire a clean target sound source signal; performing framing based on a specific time window length according to the acquired target sound source signal; and performing time reversal on a time domain of each frame of signal according to y(t)=x(-t) to acquire the sound masking signal corresponding to a target sound source, wherein x(t) represents a frame of signal, and the y(t) represents an output signal of the frame. The time reversal sound masking signal has the long-time amplitude spectrum similar to that of the target sound source signal; the method has advantages in energy masking; and the time reversal sound masking signal is completely unintelligible or is partially intelligible and cannot become a new interference sound source.

Methods and apparatuses for addressing open space noise are disclosed using both dynamic and static sound masking. In one example, an adaptive sound masking system and method portions undesired sound into time-blocks and estimates frequency spectrum and power level, and continuously generates masking noise with a matching or predetermined spectrum and loudness or power level to mask the undesired sound. In another example, a static sound masking system and method portions undesired sound into time-blocks and estimates frequency spectrum and power level, and generates a static noise-masking signal with a matching spectrum and power level to mask the undesired sound.

A method of alleviating the sound masking effects of wind noise on a cyclist wearing a safety helmet comprising the following steps: designing an ear cover shield having a generally smooth exterior side; positioning the cover shield adjacent to but generally spaced from an ear of the cyclist so that wind is generally deflected from the ear so that the noise of air rushing over the ear is substantially reduced, and the cyclist is better able to hear proximate sound especially that sound generated from directions which he cannot readily see; and, positioning and holding the cover shield adjacent to the ear most preferably by adjustably attaching it to a strap on the helmet. When wearing a cover shield, even in a strong wind, a cyclist is able to hear a vehicle approaching from the rear so that he can accordingly move close to the side of a roadway and ensure that his cycle moves in a straight, unswerving path.

The invention provides a sound masking signal generating method and system. The method includes the steps that one or more sample sound signals are extracted, and a sound sample characteristic model base is built; a target sound source signal is obtained; sound recognition is conducted on the target sound source signal, and one or more sample sound signals with recognition similarity reaching a preset threshold value are selected from the sound sample characteristic model base; scrambling combination is conducted on the selected sample sound signals, and sound masking signals are obtained. The sound masking signals generated by the method have similar sound characteristics with the target sound source signal, are low in speech intelligibility, do not contain any information of the target sound source signal, and have larger advantages in masking efficiency and security.

A method and device for masking noise from a dialysis machine, as an example of a medical device, includes tubing or a fluid container, or both, being connectable to a patient for flowing fluid to or from the patient, and one or more sensors configured to detect one or more patient parameters. The dialysis machine further includes a controller configured to determine a sleep state of the patient based on the one or more patient parameters detected by the plurality of sensors, and adjust a masking sound in response to the sleep state of the patient. The masking sound is activatable in response to noise generated during operation of the dialysis machine.

A sound masking system according to the invention is disclosed in which one or more sound masking loudspeaker assemblies are coupled to one or more electronic sound masking signal generators. The loudspeaker assemblies in the system of the invention have a low directivity index and preferably emit an acoustic sound masking signal that has a sound masking spectrum specifically designed to provide superior sound masking in an open plan office. Each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is oriented to provide the acoustic sound masking signal in a direct path into the predetermined area in which masking sound is needed. In addition, the sound masking system of the invention can include a remote control function by which a user can select from a plurality of stored sets of information for providing from a recipient loudspeaker assembly an acoustic sound masking signal having a selected sound masking spectrum.

A system is described herein that comprises a collar device including a sound masking component, the collar device including one or more collar device sensors for detecting physiological data of an animal. The system includes one or more environmental sensors configured to detect environmental data of the animal's environment and to transmit the environmental data to the collar device. The collar device comprises one or more applications running on at least one processor for detecting an occurrence of one or more events using at least one of the physiological data, the environmental data, and outcome data. The one or more applications are configured to use information of the one or more events to select a sound masking signal for delivery after the occurrence of the one or more events The system includes a sound masking component for delivering the sound masking signal.

A sound mask is disclosed. The sound mask defines through holes. Rotational axis of the through holes are inclined relative to a surface normal of the sound mask. The sound mask is used in a sound box for obtaining a width sound field and a good distinguishing ability of sound source.

A speech reproduction device for reproducing speech based on a received speech signal so that the reproduced speech is intelligible in a clear speech zone and unintelligible in a masked speech zone includes an audio processing module configured for receiving the speech signal; a set of speech loudspeakers configured for reproducing the speech based on one or more speech loudspeaker signals; and a set of masking sound loudspeakers configured for producing a masking sound based on one or more masking sound loudspeaker signals, wherein the masking sound masks the speech in the masked speech zone; wherein the audio processing module includes a speech signal analysis module configured for producing one or more analysis signals based on spectral and / or temporal characteristics of the speech signal; wherein the audio processing module includes a masking sound generator configured for producing one or more masking sound signals based on the one or more analysis signals.

A system and method of providing sound reinforcement in a classroom, an office, a conference room, an auditorium, or any other suitable venue. The system includes at least one microphone, a receiver, a sound masking signal generator, a system controller, and a plurality of spatially distributed loudspeakers. The microphone detects the speech of a talker, generates at least one voice signal corresponding to the detected speech, and provides the generated voice signal to the receiver. The sound masking signal generator generates at least one sound masking signal having a specified sound masking spectrum. The system controller receives the voice signal and the sound masking signal from the receiver and the sound masking signal generator, respectively, and provides the voice and sound masking signals to the loudspeakers over respective channels. The loudspeakers emit acoustic voice and sound masking signals simultaneously and directly into the venue to obtain a more uniform sound field coverage for the acoustic voice signals and more uniform levels of the acoustic sound masking signals throughout the venue.

The invention provides a sound leakage protection system based on the sound masking principle. The system comprises a sound monitoring unit, a sound disturbing unit and a center control management unit. The invention further provides a sound leakage protection method based on the sound masking principle. The method comprises steps as follows: the sound monitoring unit is adopted to collect a sound signal, and A-weighting sound pressure level intensity is obtained; whether the sound signal is a voice signal is judged, if the sound signal is the voice signal and the A-weighting sound pressure level intensity exceeds a preset threshold value in a period, a warning signal is emitted; the center control management unit performs analysis and feature extraction on the voice signal, generates a disturbing signal and sends the disturbing signal to the sound disturbing unit; the sound disturbing unit adopts the disturbing signal to perform sound disturbing on each area. According to the method and the system, a masking signal processed in real time has higher relevance with a target voice, the masking effect is better, and general privacy can be protected better.

A method for preventing overhearing of private conversations in public spaces is disclosed. The method comprises detecting the social activity of the people in the public space and assessing the social situation and adapting the degree of sound masking and / or sound absorption at the desired locations to suit the assessed social situation. The method can be useful in public environments such as airports, city centers, club, bars, cafes and shopping centers where it is required to prevent over-hearing of private conversations.

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a first microphone device, a speaker, a memory circuit, and a processor. The first microphone device is configured to generate first data based on a first sound. The memory circuit at least stores acoustic data. The processor is coupled to the first microphone device and the speaker. The processor generates second data based on the first data and the acoustic data. The speaker generates a second sound based on the second data. The acoustic data includes the frequency-response of human ear and sound-masking data.