Apparatuses, systems, methods, and software for bodily function sound anonymization.

A capacitive microphone and method of fabricating the same are provided. One or more holes can be formed in a first printed circuit board (PCB). A diaphragm can be surface micromachined onto an interior surface of the first PCB at a region having the one or more holes. Interface electronics can also be interconnected to the interior surface of the PCB. One or more spacer PCBs can be attached to a second PCB to the first PCB, such that appropriate interconnections between interconnect vias are made. The second PCB and first PCB with spacers in between can be attached so as to create a cavity in which the diaphragm and interface electronics are located.

A gas detection device includes an enclosure having an interior chamber, an audio loudspeaker in acoustic communication with the interior chamber of the enclosure, and a gas sensor configured to detect a gas within the interior chamber of the enclosure. The device may include a ventilation port configured to permit two-way gaseous communication between the interior chamber and an atmosphere external to the enclosure, where the atmosphere comprises the gas. The audio loudspeaker is configured to generate a pressure within the interior chamber. The pressure causes a portion of the external atmosphere to be drawn into the interior chamber via the ventilation port. The gas sensor may include an emitter and a receiver. The gas detection device can be integrated into a mobile electronic device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

An audio processing integrated circuit chip, such as codec chip, includes at least one port output circuit configured to generate an audio signal to drive an external audio device and a PC beep circuit configured to receive a PC beep signal and to apply the received PC beep signal to an input of the at least one port output circuit. The chip further includes a control circuit configured to detect activity of the PC beep signal and to enable and/or disable the at least one port output circuit responsive to the detected activity.

The present application discloses a control circuit, an electronic cigarette and method for controlling the electronic cigarette. A control circuit comprises at least one airflow sensor, a microcontroller, a battery, an audio module and an indication unit; the airflow sensor for collecting an airflow signal, converting the airflow signal into a smoking signal and sending the smoking signal to the microcontroller, the microcontroller is used for controlling the audio module to give out hookah-simulating water sounds according to the received smoking signal and simultaneously controlling the indication unit to display a smoking color; and the microcontroller is further used for controlling the indication unit to display different indication colors according to different charging states of the battery. Therefore water sounds can be given out by means of electronic simulation, and the function of electronically simulating real hookah water sounds is conducive to usage of the electronic cigarette and smoking cessation.

Voice-controlled devices that include one or more speakers for outputting audio. In some instances, the device includes at least one speaker within a cylindrical housing, with the speaker aimed or pointed away from a microphone coupled to the housing. For instance, if the microphone resides at or near the top of the cylindrical housing, then the speaker may point downwards along the longitudinal axis of the housing and away from the microphone. By pointing the speaker away from the microphone, the microphone will receive less sound from the speaker than if the speaker were pointed toward the microphone). Because the voice-controlled device may perform speech recognition on audio signals generated by the microphone, less sound from the speaker represented in the audio signal may result in more accurate speech recognition, and/or a lesser need to perform acoustic echo cancelation (AEC) on the generated audio signals.

Provided is an electroacoustic converter film including thin film electrodes provided on both surfaces of a polymeric composite piezoelectric body in which piezoelectric body particles are dispersed in a viscoelastic matrix formed of a polymer material that exhibits viscoelasticity at normal temperature, and protective layers formed on the thin film electrodes. The electroacoustic converter film further includes electrode lead-out metal foils laminated on the thin film electrodes, and the electrode lead-out metal foils allows connection to wiring through soldering when electrodes are led out from the thin film electrodes.

An audio signal analysis method is provided for detecting the opening and closing of a medicine bottle cap in a robust manner using a micro speaker and a microphone along with associated mixed signal electronics. It is also used for robust tamper detection and for monitoring liquid medication consumption accurately. In a preferred embodiment an un-modulated OFDM signal is used that covers the entire operating audio spectrum. In another embodiment, Complimentary code based phase encoding of the subcarrier phases is used to reduce the peak to average power of the OFDM signal, thereby enabling higher transmit power of the audio signal to mitigate against interference. A suitable wireless device can be co-located with the mixed signal electronics for sending the bottle usage, medication reminder alarm, and tamper status to the medication compliance monitoring system or to the user's cell phone. In some embodiments of the patent, electrical capacitance sensing is used to determine if the bottle is opened or closed.

A capacitive microphone and method of fabricating the same are provided. One or more holes can be formed in a first printed circuit board (PCB). A diaphragm can be surface micro-machined onto an interior surface of the first PCB at a region having the one or more holes. Interface electronics can also be interconnected to the interior surface of the PCB. One or more spacer PCBs can be attached to a second PCB to the first PCB, such that appropriate interconnections between interconnect vias are made. The second PCB and first PCB with spacers in between can be attached so as to create a cavity in which the diaphragm and interface electronics are located.

A cup that harnesses the positive psychological effects of cartoon to encourage and motivate a user to consume a beverage served in the cup. The cup has a beverage container and a sound-emitting base that is attached to the bottom of the container. The cup contains a capacitive liquid sensing system: two electrodes forming a capacitor that are flush mounted in the bottom of the beverage container, two spring loaded connectors that bridge between the electrodes and a capacitive liquid sensor that is contained in the base. The base further includes a power source, a processing unit, a memory module, an audio circuitry and an audio output device. When the beverage container is filled with a beverage, a resultant capacitance change activates playback of audio files saved in the memory module, which contains pre-recordings of cartoon voice.