An apparatus and method for cancelling a noise of an audio signal in an electronic device are provided. The electronic device includes a communication module configured to provide a voice call service with a counterpart electronic device, a memory configured to store one or more noise cancellation variables, and a processor configured to, when a call with the counterpart electronic device is configured through the communication module, select a noise cancellation variable corresponding to a reception signal strength from the memory and cancel an audio signal noise based on a noise cancellation variable corresponding to the reception signal.

A sound system is provided with a headphone that includes a transducer and at least one microphone. The sound system also includes an equalization filter and a loop filter circuit. The equalization filter is adapted to equalize an audio input signal based on at least one predetermined coefficient. The loop filter circuit includes a leaky integrator circuit that is adapted to generate a filtered audio signal based on the equalized audio input signal and a feedback signal indicative of sound received by the at least one microphone, and to provide the filtered audio signal to the transducer.

An audio customization system responsive to one or more inputs that enhance aspects of an audio output and one or more inputs that diminish aspects of an audio output. The system is set up to be able to lessen the influence of ambient audio or in some situations enhance ambient audio over source audio. The system may specify aspects of audio to be modified by specification of filtering algorithm, characterization of audio samples, monitored distortion, user selection, location specification or environmental specification.

A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes an adaptive noise canceling (ANC) circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone is also provided proximate to the speaker to provide an error signal indicative of the effectiveness of the noise cancellation. A secondary path estimating adaptive filter is used to estimate the electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer so that source audio can be removed from the error signal. A level of the source audio with respect to the ambient audio is determined to determine whether the system may generate erroneous anti-noise and/or become unstable.

A method may include adaptively generating an anti-noise signal for countering the effects of ambient audio sounds at an acoustic output of the transducer by adapting a response of an adaptive filter that filters a reference microphone signal in conformity with an error microphone signal and the reference microphone signal to minimize the ambient audio sounds in the error microphone, generating a scaled anti-noise signal by applying a scaling factor to the anti-noise signal, further adjusting the response of the adaptive filter independent of a source audio signal by altering an input to the coefficient control block of the adaptive filter to compensate for the scaling factor, and combining the scaled anti-noise signal with the source audio signal to generate an audio signal provided to the transducer.

A method performed by an audio system comprising a headset. The method sends a playback signal containing user-desired audio content to drive a speaker of the headset that is being worn by a user, receives a microphone signal from a microphone that is arranged to capture sounds within an ambient environment in which the user is located, performs a speech detection algorithm upon the microphone signal to detect speech contained therein, in response to a detection of speech, determines that the user intends to engage in a conversation with a person who is located within the ambient environment, and, in response to determining that the user intends to engage in the conversation, adjusts the playback signal based on the user-desired audio content.

A method performed by a wearable audio output device worn by a user is provided for controlling external noise attenuated by wearable audio output device. A speech is detected from a user wearing the wearable audio output device, wherein the audio output device has active noise reduction turned on. It is determined, based on the detecting, that the user desires to speak to a subject in the vicinity of the user. In response to the determining, a level of noise reduction is reduced to enable the user to hear sounds external to the audio output device. It is determined that the user desires to speak to the subject by detecting at least one condition of a plurality of conditions.

Noise cancellation systems and methods are provided that receive a reference signal representative of a noise to be reduced and provide a noise cancellation signal based upon the reference signal. Some examples include a feedback signal representative of a residual noise in the environment. At least one of the reference signal, the noise cancellation signal, or the feedback signal is filtered to remove components based upon a rotational rate of a rotating equipment associated with the environment, such as an engine of a vehicle. Accordingly, the noise cancellation system may not interfere with sounds related to the engine.

An audio system has an ambient sound enhancement (ASE) function, in which an against-the-ear audio device having a speaker converts a digitally processed version of an input audio signal into amplified sound. The amplification may be in accordance with a stored hearing profile of the user. The audio system also has an acoustic noise cancellation (ANC) function that may be combined in various ways with the ASE function, and that may be responsive to voice activity detection. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

A method performed by a wearable audio output device worn by a user is provided for controlling external noise attenuated by wearable audio output device. A speech is detected from a user wearing the wearable audio output device, wherein the audio output device has active noise reduction turned on. It is determined, based on the detecting, that the user desires to speak to a subject in the vicinity of the user. In response to the determining, a level of noise reduction is reduced to enable the user to hear sounds external to the audio output device. It is determined that the user desires to speak to the subject by detecting at least one condition of a plurality of conditions.