Multiple Acoustic Port Audio for Far-Field Privacy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Audio devices used in noisy public or semi-public environments often fail to provide desired privacy and comfort, as users may not want to wear earplugs or headsets and desire to hear surrounding audio while listening to device audio.
Innovation Solution
An audio device with multiple speakers that measures audio and privacy characteristics to optimize output based on metrics such as privacy, quality, and power, using an open ear private audio (OEPA) algorithm to maximize acoustic contrast and minimize leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If audio devices play audio in public environments, then audio output quality is improved, but privacy is compromised due to audio leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The audio device segments the acoustic space by creating distinct zones: a near-field zone for the user and a far-field privacy zone. Multiple speakers are distributed to generate different audio fields in these zones, allowing high-quality audio delivery to the user while preventing audio leakage in the surrounding environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by optimizing audio characteristics specifically for the user's ear position while maintaining different acoustic properties in the surrounding environment. The audio output is tailored to provide high fidelity at the user's location while minimizing audible output in other directions, thus achieving both quality and privacy.
2Measurement precision
If multiple speakers are used to improve audio quality, then audio output quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multiple speakers in the audio device serve multiple functions simultaneously: they deliver high-quality audio to the user, create acoustic contrast between near and far fields, and enable dynamic optimization of audio output. This multi-functionality justifies the increased number of speakers by making each component contribute to both quality and privacy objectives.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the operation of multiple speakers based on real-time measurements of audio characteristics and privacy metrics. The speakers can be independently controlled to optimize audio output quality while maintaining privacy, reducing the need for permanent complex hardware configurations and allowing adaptive simplification based on usage conditions.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If audio output is optimized for privacy, then privacy is improved, but audio quality may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The audio device incorporates feedback mechanisms that continuously measure both audio characteristics at the user's ear and privacy characteristics in the surrounding environment. This feedback loop allows the system to dynamically adjust speaker output to maintain high audio quality for the user while simultaneously ensuring privacy requirements are met, resolving the trade-off between quality and privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes acoustic parameters dynamically based on the balance between quality and privacy requirements. By adjusting parameters such as speaker amplitude, phase, and frequency distribution, the system can optimize audio output for the user's position while controlling audio leakage in other directions, achieving both high quality and privacy protection simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
In some aspects, an audio device may measure one or more audio characteristics at one or more ears of the user. The audio device may measure one or more privacy characteristics in a privacy zone surrounding the user. The audio device may determine one or more audio output metrics of the audio device based at least in part on the one or more audio characteristics and the one or more privacy characteristics, wherein the one or more audio output metrics include one or more privacy metrics, one or more quality metrics, one or more power metrics, or any combination thereof. The audio device may optimize the audio output based on the one or more audio output metrics.