Wireless Earbud Sensor Selection for Ambient Noise Voice Pickup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearable wireless audio devices face challenges in maintaining voice pickup quality due to ambient noise, particularly when one headphone is closer to the noise source, leading to imbalanced signal-to-noise ratios and high latency issues in truly wireless earbuds.
Innovation Solution
Implementing algorithms to monitor and compare energy levels of microphone inputs on both wearable devices, enabling seamless role switching and synchronized data transmission using Bluetooth Low-Energy audio topologies to optimize signal-to-noise ratios, and employing active noise reduction techniques to minimize wind noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If one headphone is used to obtain voice signals, then device complexity is reduced, but voice pickup quality deteriorates when the headphone is closer to ambient noise sources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines voice signals from multiple microphones on both left and right headphones, merging them into a single composite voice signal. This allows the system to maintain low complexity while improving voice pickup quality by selecting or combining signals based on ambient noise conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically switches between using the left headphone's microphone, the right headphone's microphone, or a combination of both, depending on real-time ambient noise detection. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by adjusting the configuration based on environmental conditions.
2Measurement precision
If the headphone closer to the user's mouth is selected for voice pickup, then signal strength is improved, but ambient noise interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors ambient noise levels at both headphones and uses this feedback to determine which microphone signal to use or how to combine them. This feedback mechanism allows the system to adapt to changing environmental conditions and maintain optimal voice pickup quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of signal selection based on ambient noise conditions, switching between different microphone configurations (left only, right only, or combined) to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio for voice pickup.
3Adaptability or versatility
If wireless data transmission is used between headphones, then system flexibility is improved, but transmission latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and processes audio data locally at each headphone before transmission, performing noise reduction and signal processing operations independently. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be transmitted wirelessly, thereby reducing latency while maintaining system flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary audio processing and noise reduction at each headphone before wireless transmission occurs. This preliminary action reduces the computational burden during transmission and minimizes overall system latency.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for selecting audio capture sensors of wearable devices in obtaining voice data. The method provides obtaining signals associated with the user's voice at first and second wearable devices, comparing energy levels of the first and second signals, and selecting one or more audio capture sensors based on the energy levels of each signal. Due to the symmetry of the acoustic energy produced by the user's voice to a first and second wearable device, any difference in energy level between the total energy obtained by the first wearable device and the total energy obtained by the second wearable device can be attributed solely to ambient noise. Thus, the device with the higher total energy has a lower signal-to-noise ratio and selection of an audio capture sensor of the other wearable device with a higher signal-to-noise ratio is provided to obtain voice data moving forward.