Wearable Audio Hear-Through Control via Motion Sensor Event Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Active hear-through systems in wearable audio devices often feed through unwanted sounds, such as abrupt or repetitive noise from user movements, which can be distracting and disrupt the intended ambient sound experience.
Innovation Solution
The system determines time instances associated with sound events using motion characteristics from inertial sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, predicting and modifying sound output by temporarily muting or reducing sound amplitude, and selectively overlaying recorded stable sound segments to improve the hear-through experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If active hear-through systems feed through all ambient sounds, then the user can hear important ambient noises, but unwanted distracting sounds from user movements are also transmitted
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary classification of ambient sounds into stable and dynamic types before they are fed through to the user. By pre-identifying dynamic sounds associated with user movements using motion sensor data, the system can selectively suppress these distracting sounds while allowing stable ambient sounds to pass through, thus resolving the contradiction between hearing important noises and blocking distracting sounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses motion sensors to continuously monitor user movement and provides feedback to the sound processing system. This feedback loop enables real-time identification of dynamic sounds caused by user movements, allowing the system to adaptively suppress these sounds while maintaining transmission of stable ambient noises, thereby resolving the technical contradiction.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the system suppresses all dynamic sounds, then distracting sounds are eliminated, but important transient ambient sounds may also be blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary classification of sounds as stable or dynamic based on motion characteristics before suppression. By using motion sensor data to predict and identify the temporal pattern of user-induced sounds, the system can selectively suppress only those dynamic sounds that correlate with user movements, while preserving other transient ambient sounds that do not match the motion pattern, thus avoiding false suppression of important sounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different processing qualities to different sound components: dynamic sounds correlated with user movements are suppressed, while stable and non-correlated transient sounds are preserved. This localized differentiation in sound processing quality allows the system to eliminate distracting sounds without blocking important ambient noises.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the system uses motion sensors to identify sound events, then distracting sounds can be targeted for suppression, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses motion sensors that serve multiple functions: they monitor user movements for distraction identification, provide timing information for sound event prediction, and enable adaptive suppression control. By making the motion sensors multi-functional, the system achieves effective distracting sound suppression without adding separate dedicated sensors or systems, thus minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the existing motion sensor data, already collected for other wearable device functions, to independently identify and suppress distracting sounds. The motion characteristics detected by the sensors serve themselves by providing the basis for sound event prediction and suppression control, eliminating the need for additional dedicated components and reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~6B
AI summary
An apparatus, method and computer program for controlling audio output is disclosed. The apparatus may comprise means for receiving data from one or more sensors representing one or more motion characteristics of a user and determining, based on the received data, one or more time instances associated with a sound event. The apparatus may also comprise means for controlling an active hear-through system of a wearable audio output device so as to temporarily modify, at a time of the one or more time instances, sound received by one or more input transducers associated with the active hear-through system that are output to an output transducer associated with the active hear-through system.