Noise-Reduction Headphone Alarm Detection for Directional Safety Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Noise reduction headphones block ambient sounds, including danger signals like vehicle whistles, compromising user safety, and transparency modes are inadequate in noisy environments.
Innovation Solution
An audio information processing method that collects environmental sounds, identifies alarm sounds, determines their direction, and plays a sound to notify the user, using location information and energy gain to ensure the sound is heard.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If noise reduction headphones block ambient sounds, then noise reduction performance is improved, but user safety deteriorates due to inability to hear danger signals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary alarm sound detection system that sits between the blocked ambient sounds and the user. The system detects alarm sounds through sensors (microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope), processes them to determine direction and characteristics, then notifies the user through the headphones. This intermediary system allows the noise reduction to remain active while still providing critical safety information through a dedicated detection and notification channel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the passive mechanical acoustic transmission (ambient sounds reaching the user's ear directly) with an active electronic detection and notification system. Instead of relying on physical sound waves to reach the user through the headphones, the system uses sensors to detect alarm sounds, processes the signal electronically to determine direction and characteristics, then generates an artificial notification signal that alerts the user. This substitution enables safety functionality that overcomes the physical barrier of noise reduction.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If transparency mode is used to allow ambient sounds through, then user safety is improved, but noise reduction performance deteriorates and cannot ensure safety in noisy environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the critical safety function (alarm sound detection) from the general audio transmission function. Instead of using transparency mode which passes all ambient sounds through, the system selectively extracts only alarm sounds from the ambient environment using sensor detection and signal processing. This extraction approach maintains noise reduction performance by blocking non-critical sounds while providing safety functionality through the extracted alarm sound detection capability.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If alarm sound detection and directional audio notification are implemented, then user safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements multi-functionality by having the noise reduction headphones perform both their primary noise reduction function and the secondary alarm sound detection and notification function. The same device (headphones) that provides noise reduction also houses the sensors (microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope) and processes alarm sound detection. This universal approach avoids adding separate dedicated safety devices, thereby limiting the increase in overall system complexity while still providing comprehensive safety functionality.
Data Source
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AI summary
An audio information processing method, an electronic device, a system, a computer program product, and a computer-readable storage medium are disclosed. The audio information processing method includes: obtaining audio information, where the audio information is obtained by collecting sounds of an environment in which an electronic device is located; determining that the audio information includes an alarm sound; determining first location information of the alarm sound based on the audio information; determining a first sound, where the first sound includes second location information, both the first sound and the second location information are used to indicate an acoustic source direction of the alarm sound; and playing the first sound. The audio information is obtained by collecting the sounds of the environment in which the electronic device is located. When the audio information includes an alarm sound, the first sound used to indicate the acoustic source direction of the alarm sound is played. Therefore, it can be ensured that when an alarm sound appears around a user, the user can hear the alarm sound from the first sound played by headphones worn by the user.