Headset Far-Field Microphone Audio Mixing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Audio headsets used in computer gaming often overwhelm environmental sounds with multi-channel surround sound, requiring users to remove the headset to engage in conversations, as existing designs typically cancel out ambient noises.
Innovation Solution
The integration of far-field microphones in the headset, positioned to detect environmental sounds outside the earphones, and a multi-channel sound generation system that mixes these detected sounds with source media sounds to allow users to perceive targeted environmental sounds while wearing the headset.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If multi-channel surround sound is used in the headset, then the audio experience for gaming is enhanced, but environmental sounds are canceled out and users cannot hear conversations or notifications
Solution Approach 1:
The audio system is segmented into multiple independent channels: gaming audio channels (surround sound) and environmental sound channels (microphone inputs). This segmentation allows each channel type to be processed and delivered independently, preventing the gaming audio from masking environmental sounds while maintaining immersive surround sound experience for game content.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple audio sources (gaming console audio and environmental microphone audio) into a unified multi-channel output that is delivered through the headset speakers. The mixing process combines these distinct audio streams in a way that preserves the clarity of environmental sounds while maintaining the immersive quality of gaming audio.
2Adaptability or versatility
If near-field microphones are used to record user speech, then A/V chat functionality is enabled, but far-field environmental sounds cannot be detected
Solution Approach 1:
The headset incorporates multiple microphone types (near-field and far-field) that serve different functions. The near-field microphones handle close-range speech capture for A/V chat, while far-field microphones capture environmental sounds from a distance. This multi-functional microphone system allows the headset to excel at both conversational audio and environmental awareness without compromise.
Solution Approach 2:
Far-field microphones act as intermediaries between the external environment and the user's auditory experience. These microphones specifically capture distant sounds (conversations, notifications) that would otherwise be inaudible through the headset, mediating between the gaming audio environment and real-world sounds.
3Illumination intensity
If the headset blocks environmental sounds to provide immersive gaming audio, then gaming audio quality is improved, but users must remove the headset to engage in conversation
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables continuous capture and playback of environmental sounds throughout the gaming session. Far-field microphones continuously monitor the acoustic environment, and the mixed audio output continuously delivers both gaming and environmental sounds to the user, eliminating the need to interrupt gaming or remove the headset for communication.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides acoustic feedback to the user by capturing environmental sounds with far-field microphones and playing them back through the headset speakers. This feedback loop allows users to hear their surroundings (conversations, notifications) while wearing the headset, creating a closed-loop system that maintains both immersion and awareness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users to realistically hear environmental sounds, such as conversations or notifications, without removing the headset, by using far-field microphones and sound processing techniques to enhance the directional quality of environmental sounds within the multi-channel audio experience.
Implementation Method 1
A headset includes two far-field microphones respectively mounted to two earphones of the headset. The far-field microphones are positioned and oriented on the earphones such that the microphones detect sound originating outside the earphones when a user wears the headset.
Implementation Method 2
Each of the two earphones includes a speaker. The different signal channels in the multi-channel audio signal are distributed among the speakers to produce enhanced sound.
Data Source
AI summary
In an audio headset having one or more far-field microphones mounted to the headset; and one or more speakers mounted to the headset environmental sound may be recorded using the one or more far-field microphones and mixed with source media sound to produce a mixed sound. The mixed sound may then be played over the one or more speakers.