Self-Adaptive Announcement Gain Offsets for In-Car Audio
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio systems in vehicles struggle to ensure clear perception of navigation announcements amidst entertainment sounds, as the loudness adjustment methods fail to account for individual auditory perceptions and varying noise levels, leading to inadequate signal level differences for drivers.
Innovation Solution
A method that dynamically adjusts the loudness of announcement sound signals relative to entertainment sound signals using self-adaptive gain offsets, which learn from user corrections and adapt based on psychoacoustic models and content recognition, ensuring optimal auditory perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a fixed announcement gain offset is used based on mean loudness, then the system complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but the adaptability to individual auditory perceptions and varying noise levels deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic gain offsets that automatically adjust based on detected auditory events and user corrections, transforming the static fixed offset system into an adaptive dynamic system that responds to individual user needs and environmental conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where user corrections to announcement levels are detected and used to refine future gain offset calculations, enabling the system to learn and adapt to individual auditory perceptions over time
2Loss of information
If the signal level difference between announcement and entertainment signals is increased, then the comprehensibility of announcements is improved, but the loss of information in the entertainment signal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively adjusting the gain of specific frequency bands and time segments of the announcement signal based on the detected entertainment content and auditory events, rather than applying a uniform adjustment across all frequencies and time
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses periodic analysis of the entertainment signal to detect auditory events and adjusts announcement levels in periodic intervals synchronized with these events, maintaining entertainment quality while ensuring announcement comprehensibility at critical moments
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for adjusting a loudness of an announcement sound signal relative to a loudness of an entertainment sound signal, the method comprising the following steps: - determining the loudness of the entertainment sound signal, and - adjusting the loudness of the announcement sound signal relative to the entertainment sound signal by determining a self-adaptive gain offset of the announcement sound signal relative to the entertainment sound signal, the self-adaptive gain offset adapting to the auditory perception of a user to which the entertainment sound signal and the announcement sound signal are output. The method may be used in ear audio systems in combination with navigation systems. Thus, the audio system can learn from the volume settings made by the user.