Headset Noise Reduction via Orientation Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing active noise cancellation systems fail to distinguish between desired speech and external noise, leading to the cancellation of desired speech and a poor user experience, requiring users to turn off noise reduction to hear announcements in environments like waiting rooms.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for a headset that acquires a reference noise signal, determines the initial and real-time direction of desired speech using orientation tracking, filters out the desired speech signal, and outputs an inverse noise signal for speaker playback, allowing the user to hear desired speech without external noise interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If existing ANC filter processes all external noise uniformly, then external noise is suppressed, but desired speech is also cancelled
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the external noise signal into two distinct components: desired speech and undesired noise. This is achieved through direction-of-arrival estimation and spatial filtering, which separate sounds based on their directional characteristics. The ANC system then applies different processing to each component, preserving desired speech while canceling undesired noise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by treating different spatial regions differently. Desired speech coming from specific directions (identified through orientation tracking and DOA estimation) is preserved with high fidelity, while noise from other directions is suppressed. This directional selectivity ensures that the noise reduction function adapts to the local acoustic environment and user orientation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If noise reduction function is activated, then external noise is cancelled, but user cannot hear desired speech announcements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adaptation by continuously tracking the user's orientation and updating the desired speech direction accordingly. The system dynamically adjusts the spatial filter coefficients based on real-time orientation data from sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer), ensuring that the preserved speech direction always aligns with the user's current facing direction. This dynamic adjustment maintains natural interaction without requiring manual user configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the processed audio output is continuously monitored and compared with the original reference noise signal. The adaptive filter coefficients are adjusted based on this feedback to optimize the separation between desired speech and undesired noise, ensuring that the user hears clear speech while noise suppression remains effective.
3Device complexity
If ANC filter uses fixed coefficients, then system complexity is reduced, but noise cancellation accuracy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing filter coefficient sets corresponding to different orientation states. Instead of computing coefficients in real-time during audio processing, the system pre-computes these coefficients based on anticipated user orientations and orientations detected during calibration phases. This preliminary preparation reduces computational complexity during real-time operation while maintaining high cancellation accuracy through selective coefficient application.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure provides a method and an apparatus for noise reduction, and a headset. The method of noise reduction includes: acquiring a first reference noise signal; acquiring an initial direction of desired speech in response to a trigger signal; acquiring a real-time direction of desired speech based on a real-time orientation of the headset and the initial direction of desired speech, the real-time orientation being obtained by orientation tracking for the headset; filtering out a desired speech signal from the first reference noise signal to acquire an undesired noise signal, the desired speech signal being extracted in the real-time direction of desired speech; and filtering the undesired noise signal to output an inverse noise signal for speaker playback. Thus, using the method of noise reduction, not only the undesired noise in the ambient noise can be cancelled, but also the desired speech signal can be retained.