Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – Application
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-06
2001-05-08
Knepper, David D. (Department: 2645)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
Application
C704S270000, C434S114000, C381S056000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06230139
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to appliances for use as aids for the deaf.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
It is important to be able to impart hearing or the equivalent of hearing to hearing impaired people who have total hearing loss. For those persons with total hearing loss, there are no direct remedies except for electronic implants. These are invasive and do not always function in a satisfactory manner.
Reliance on lip reading and sign language limits the quality of life, and life threatening situations outside the visual field cannot be detected easily.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention takes a novel approach to the provision of sound information to a user, using tactile stimulation, and using the resolving power of the brain to distinguish sounds from a tactile display which displays the sounds as a dynamic sonogram to the user.
There is anecdotal evidence that a blind person can “visualize” a rough “image” of his surroundings by tapping his cane and listening to the echoes. This is equivalent to the function of “acoustic radar” used by bats. Mapping of the human brain's magnetic activity has shown that the processing of the “acoustic radar” signal takes place in the section where visual information is processed.
Many people who have lost their sight can read Braille fairly rapidly by scanning with two or three fingers. The finger tips of a Braille reader may develop a finer mesh of nerve endings to resolve the narrowly spaced bumps on the paper. At the same time the brain develops the ability to process and recognize the patterns that the finger tips are sensing as they glide across the page.
In the present invention, this physical process is extended to hearing. A tactile sonogram display that resolves sound into frequency spectrum components and their intensities is provided to a user in real-time. A person with total hearing loss can thus develop pattern recognition skills to extract the verbal content of the sonogram.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a method of presenting audio signals to a user is comprised of receiving audio signals to be presented, separating the audio signals into plural discrete frequency components extending from a low frequency to a high frequency, translating each of the frequency components into control signals, and applying the control signals to an array of tactile transducers for sensing by the user.
In accordance with another embodiment, a tactile sonogram display is comprised of a microphone for receiving audio signals, a circuit for separating the audio signals into plural discrete frequency components extending from a low frequency to a high frequency, an array of tactile transducers for applying to a tactile sensing surface of a user, a circuit for generating driving signals from the components, and a circuit for applying the driving signals to particular ones of transducers of the array so as to form a tactile sonogram.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method of presenting audio signals to a user is comprised of receiving audio signals to be presented, separating the audio signals into plural discrete frequency components extending from a low frequency to a high frequency, translating each of the frequency components into control signals, and applying the control signals to an array of light emitting devices for sensing by the user, and mounting the array on the head of a user where it can be seen by the user without substantially blocking the vision of the user.
In accordance with another embodiment, a tactile sonogram display is comprised of a microphone for receiving audio signals, a circuit for separating the audio signals into plural discrete frequency components extending from a low frequency to a high frequency, an array of light emitting devices for mounting on the head of a user where it can be seen by the user without substantially blocking vision of the user, a circuit for generating driving signals from the components, a circuit for applying the driving signals to particular ones of light emitting devices of the array so as to form a visible sonogram.
The visual sonogram display can also be reduced to a single line of light sources with the linear position of light sources representing the different frequency components.
The distribution of frequencies along the line of light sources could have a linear (i.e. equal) frequency separation or a non-linear frequency separation such as a coarser separation in the low frequency range and a finer separation in the high frequency range. The non-linear separation should enhance the ability of the brain to comprehend the sound information contained in the sonogram that is displayed.
In such a single line of light sources mentioned above, the intensity of each frequency component can be represented by the output intensity (i.e. optical output power) of each light source corresponding to a specific frequency component. The intensity scale of each light source output could be linear in response to the intensity of the sound frequency component, or non-linear (e.g. logarithmic) in response to the intensity of the sound frequency component to enhance comprehension by the brain of the sound information contained in the sonogram that is displayed.
The linear array of light sources can be affixed to the frame of eyeglasses, in a position that does not interfere significantly with the normal viewing function of the eye. The alignment of the array can either be vertical or horizontal.
In order to facilitate easy simultaneous processing by the brain of the normal viewing function and the visual sonogram display, the linear array of light sources can be positioned so that the array is imaged on to the periphery of the retina. To enhance the visual resolution of the visual sonogram display, an array of micro-lenses designed to focus the array of light sources sharply on to the retina can be placed on top of the linear array of light sources.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4319081 (1982-03-01), Martin et al.
patent: 4334220 (1982-06-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4580133 (1986-04-01), Matsuoka et al.
patent: 4627092 (1986-12-01), New
patent: 5165897 (1992-11-01), Johnson
patent: 5388992 (1995-02-01), Franklin et al.
patent: 1075459 (1980-04-01), None
patent: 1148914 (1983-04-01), None
patent: 2096974 (1992-05-01), None
patent: 1316347 (1993-04-01), None
patent: 1320637 (1993-07-01), None
Hara Elmer H.
McRae Edward R.
Knepper David D.
Pascal & Associates
LandOfFree
Tactile and visual hearing aids utilizing sonogram pattern... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Tactile and visual hearing aids utilizing sonogram pattern..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Tactile and visual hearing aids utilizing sonogram pattern... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2519887