Frequency-Dependent Audio Attenuation for Harmful Signal Bursts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio communication technologies fail to adequately attenuate undesired content in audio signals, such as tone bursts and excessively loud speech, which can cause physical harm or discomfort to users, despite previous attempts to address these issues.
Innovation Solution
A signal conditioner apparatus with a signal processor that includes a speech level normalizer, audio limiter, and analyzer, which processes audio signals to detect and attenuate undesired content by applying frequency-dependent gains and thresholds, ensuring that the audio output is within safe limits for the user.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If audio signals are transmitted from communication networks, then users can receive audio content, but undesired content such as tone bursts and excessively loud speech can cause physical harm or discomfort to users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by analyzing the audio signal and detecting undesired content (tone bursts, excessively loud speech) before the signal reaches the user's ear. The system pre-identifies harmful segments and prepares attenuation parameters in advance, then applies gain reduction when harmful content is detected, preventing physical harm before it occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary signal processing system between the audio communication network and the user's ear. This intermediary apparatus analyzes the audio signal, detects harmful content, and applies frequency-dependent gain attenuation to filter out undesired content while preserving desired audio, thereby protecting users from physical harm.
2Reliability
If attenuation is applied to reduce harmful audio signals, then user protection is improved, but desired audio content may be distorted or lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing frequency-dependent gain attenuation rather than uniform attenuation across all frequencies. The system analyzes the frequency spectrum of the audio signal and applies selective gain reduction only to frequency regions containing harmful content (such as tone bursts at specific frequencies), while leaving other frequency regions unchanged, thus protecting users without distorting desired audio content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dynamics by dynamically adjusting the gain attenuation parameters based on real-time analysis of the audio signal. The system continuously monitors the signal for harmful content and adaptively modifies the attenuation level and frequency characteristics, increasing attenuation when harmful content is detected and reducing or eliminating attenuation when only desired content is present, thereby preserving audio quality while providing protection.
3Measurement precision
If complex signal analysis is performed to detect undesired content, then detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the audio signal analysis into distinct functional modules: a detection module that identifies harmful content characteristics (such as sudden level increases, frequency content, duration), a classification module that categorizes the detected content as desired or undesired, and an attenuation module that applies appropriate gain reduction. This segmented approach allows for efficient processing by focusing computational resources on specific analysis tasks rather than analyzing the entire signal uniformly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by implementing a tiered detection approach that first performs quick preliminary analysis to identify potential harmful content, then applies more detailed analysis only when necessary. The system uses simplified detection criteria for initial screening (such as detecting sudden level increases above a threshold) and only engages in more computationally intensive frequency spectrum analysis when preliminary indicators suggest harmful content is present, thereby reducing overall processing time while maintaining detection accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for attenuating undesired content in an audio signal and to an apparatus adapted to attenuate undesired content in an audio signal.The method hasreceiving an audio input signal (Si);providing a main audio signal (Sa) in dependence on the audio input signal (Si);determining an input level signal (Ln) indicating a signal level (Ln,i) of the main audio signal (Sa);applying a frequency-dependent gain to the main audio signal (Sa) to provide an audio output signal (So);providing an analysis signal (Sn) in dependence on the audio input signal (Si);determining a classification signal (Sc) indicating the presence in the analysis signal (Sn)determining a threshold control signal (St) indicating a frequency-dependent level threshold (72, 75, 76, Tf) for multiple frequency subbands; anddetermining the frequency-dependent gain in dependence on signal levels (Ln,i).