Adaptive Binaural Filtering for Remote Audio Spatial Cues
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Solution Overview
Problem
Listening devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants perform poorly in noisy environments due to the artificial sound quality of remote microphones, which lack interaural time and level differences, and existing solutions are either processing-intensive or sensitive to motion.
Innovation Solution
A listening system that combines remote signal sources with locally-captured audio signals using adaptive binaural filtering, matching acoustic cues to enhance sound realism and improve spatial localization, especially in noisy environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If remote microphones are used to transmit sound directly from distant talker, then intelligibility in noisy environments is improved, but sound quality becomes artificial and lacks spatial localization cues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines remote microphone signals with local earpiece microphone signals to create a hybrid audio input. The remote mic provides clean speech signals from distant talkers, while the local mic captures ambient sound and spatial cues. These signals are merged and processed together to maintain both intelligibility and natural spatial characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing stage that analyzes both remote and local signals to extract and preserve spatial localization cues. This intermediary processing layer ensures that the final output maintains natural spatial characteristics while benefiting from the noise reduction provided by remote microphones.
2Ease of manufacture
If diotic presentation of remote microphone signal is used, then implementation is simple, but interaural time and level differences are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from static diotic presentation to dynamic binaural processing. The system dynamically adjusts the processing of remote microphone signals based on spatial information derived from local earpiece microphones, creating time-varying interaural differences that enable accurate spatial localization while maintaining implementation feasibility.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If beamforming is used to achieve noise reduction with external microphones, then noise reduction is achieved, but system complexity increases and sensitivity to motion arises
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the local earpiece microphones to capture a copy of the ambient acoustic environment, including spatial characteristics. This copied local signal is then used to process and enhance the remote microphone signals, achieving noise reduction without requiring complex beamforming algorithms or multiple external microphones, thereby reducing system complexity and motion sensitivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A listening system includes one or more remote signal sources that generate one or more electronic signals, which correspond to sound in an ambient environment. A first ear microphone detects a first combination of audio signals including ambient sound and one or more propagated audio signals, corresponding to the one or more electronic signals, received at a first ear of a listener. The system includes first ear playback device and a processing device to apply a first set of audio filters including an audio filter to process a respective electronic signal of the one or more electronic signals with a first error signal, which is based on an output of the first ear microphone, to generate a first output signal to the first ear playback device, wherein acoustic cue components of the first output signal match corresponding acoustic cue components of the first combination of audio signals.