Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – For storage or transmission
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-13
2001-04-03
Hudspeth, David R. (Department: 2641)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
For storage or transmission
C704S271000, C381S056000, C381S066000, C379S406010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212496
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates to digital telephones, and more specifically to digital telephones with audio output that is customized to compensate for a user's individual hearing spectrum.
BACKGROUND
Conventional cellular phones provide an audio output which can be difficult to hear for a listener whose hearing is impaired. Increasing the output volume of the cellular phone is usually only partially effective when the listener's hearing is impaired. Typical hearing impairment occurs at select frequency bands. The hearing impairment may be complete or partial at any band. Uniform increasing of the output volume only addresses those bands which are partially impaired and so a uniform increase only partially aids the listener. In certain bands, which are completely impaired, the user still does not hear. The listener can also experience discomfort at the loudness of the output in bands which are not impaired in order to be able hear the other bands.
Conventional hearing aids typically provide selective amplification of sound to compensate for a user's specific hearing impairment.
Voice coder-decoders (“vocoders”) have been used in cellular phones to achieve compression in the amount of digital information necessary to represent human speech. A vocoder in a transmitting device derives a vocal tract model in the form of a digital filter and encodes a digital sound signal using one or more “codebooks”. Each codebook represents an excitation of the derived vocal tract filter in an area of speech. One typical codebook represents long-term excitations, such as pitch and voiced sounds. Another typical codebook represents short-term excitations, such as noise and unvoiced sounds. The vocoder generates a digital signal including vocal tract filter parameters and codebook excitations. The signal also includes information from which the codebooks can be reconstructed. In this way, the encoded signal is effectively compressed and hence uses less space than directly digitally representing every sound.
A receiving vocoder decodes a compressed digital signal using codebooks and the vocal tract filter. Based upon the parameters contained in the signal, the vocoder reconstructs the sound into an uncompressed digital sound. The digital signal is converted to an analog signal and output through a speaker.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure describes methods and apparatus implementing a technique for producing an audio output customized to a listener's hearing impairment through a digital telephone. A user initially sets user parameters to represent the user's hearing spectrum. In receiving a call, the digital telephone receives an input signal. The digital telephone adjusts the input signal according to the user parameters and generates an output signal based upon the adjusted input signal.
In a preferred implementation, a digital telephone includes a user parameter control element. The user parameter control element includes a memory for storing user parameters representing the user's hearing ability. The digital telephone receives a signal through a receiving element. A digital signal processor is connected to the user parameter control element and the receiving element. The digital signal processor includes a vocoder connected to the receiving element and a frequency transformation element. The digital signal processor shifts the signal from frequency bands in which the user parameters indicate the user's hearing is impaired to frequency bands in which the user parameters indicate the user's hearing is not impaired. The digital signal processor also amplifies the shifted signal in frequency bands in which the user parameters indicate the user's hearing is impaired. An output element connected to the digital signal processor outputs the amplified signal.
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Campbell Lowell
Robertson Daniel
Denso Corporation, Ltd.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Hudspeth David R.
Wieland Susan
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