An audio system for an ear mountable playback device comprises a speaker, an error microphone predominantly sensing sound being output from the speaker and a feed-forward microphone predominantly sensing ambient sound. The audio system further comprises a voice activity detector which is configured to record a feed-forward signal from the feed-forward microphone. Furthermore, an error signal is recorded from the error microphone. A detection parameter is determined as a function of the feed-forward signal and the error signal. The detection parameter is monitored and a voice activity state is set depending on the detection parameter.

Disclosed are an active noise reduction acoustic unit and a sound-producing unit, the active noise reduction acoustic unit includes a casing; a baseplate which is arranged in the casing and separates the casing into a first accommodating cavity and a second accommodating cavity; the first accommodating cavity and the second accommodating cavity are in communication with each other, the second accommodating cavity being provided therein with a feedback microphone, and the feedback microphone being configured to pick up noise signals; and the first accommodating cavity is provided therein with a moving iron speaker which can vibrate and produce sound according to the noise signals.

A headphone device comprising active noise cancellation means (ANC) having a feedback (FB) signal path, a feed forward (FF) signal path and a sidetone signal path, where the headphone is provided with a control member (1, 11) that can be displaced or rotated between opposite positions, where the control member (1, 11) is configured such that the gain of the FF signal path and the gain of the sidetone signal path are controllable by the control member (1, 11) in such manner that when the control member (1, 11) is at one extreme position, the gain of the FF signal path is maximum and the gain of the sidetone signal path is minimum and when the control member (1,11) is at the opposite extreme position, the gain of the FF signal path is minimum and the gain of the sidetone signal path is maximum.

An electronic system includes a fan module, an embedded controller, a reference microphone, an error microphone, an active noise cancellation controller, and a micro speaker module. The reference microphone is configured to output a wide-band noise signal associated with the operation of the fan module. The error microphone is configured to output an error signal by detecting the noise level during the operation of the electronic system. According to the wide-band noise signal, the error signal and the fan information provided by the embedded controller, the active noise cancellation controller calculates the narrow-band noises and the wide-band noises generated by the fan module, and drives the micro speaker module accordingly for providing a noise cancellation signal. The error signal may be reduced to zero by adaptively adjusting the noise cancellation signal for canceling the noises generated during the operation of the electronic system.

To promote further improvement in usability. A signal processing apparatus (10) includes an acquisition unit (111) that acquires an acoustic characteristic in a user's ear, isolated from the outside world, an NC filter unit (1122) that generates sound data having a phase opposite to an ambient sound leaking into the user's ear, a correction unit (1123) that corrects the sound data by using a correction filter, an a determination unit (1121) that determines a filter coefficient of the correction filter based on the acoustic characteristic.

A system and method for quieting unwanted sound. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide a system and method, for example implemented in a premises-based or home audio system, for quieting unwanted sound at a particular location.

The present invention provides an improved noise separation hybrid type ANC system, which includes a reference audio receiving device, an error audio receiving device, an audio output device, and an audio processing device. The audio processing device includes a feed-forward noise cancellation filter module, a feedback noise cancellation filter module, a mixer, a noise shaper, a first infinite impulse response filter, and a second infinite impulse response filter. When the noise bandwidth detector detects irregular noise, it adjusts the coefficient of the first infinite impulse response filter to set it as a low-pass filter; when regular noise is detected, the coefficient of the second infinite impulse response filter is adjusted to set it as a band-pass filter.

A face mask can both actively cancel sounds and passively attenuate sounds spoken by the user to prevent the sounds from reaching non-intended recipients positioned near the user. The mask can not only reduce the user's voice from escaping the mask but can also be used to reduce external sounds from reaching inside the mask. Thus, a user can wear the mask in public and talk on their phone without disturbing others around them. The mask can include at least one microphone and at least one audio speaker disposed inside and/or outside the mask. Sounds received by the microphone can be processed by a microphone and computing electronics to provide an output to the audio speaker that can appropriately attenuate the sound received by the microphone, via acoustic cancelation. The mask can not only be used to cancel sounds but may also be used to amplify sounds when desired.

Active noise cancellation systems, components, and methods are provided with single-source forward cancellation using a direction-dependent filter response. One illustrative active sound cancelling device includes: a primary external microphone that produces a primary receive signal; a secondary external microphone that produces a secondary receive signal, the primary and secondary receive signals representing ambient audio that potentially includes sound having a predominate direction of arrival; a speaker that converts an output signal into internal audio to at least partly cancel said sound, the output signal including a forward cancellation signal; a forward filter that operates solely on the primary receive signal to produce the forward cancellation signal; and a direction finder that operates on the primary and secondary receive signals to derive an estimate of said predominate direction of arrival, the direction finder adjusting the forward filter to implement a filter response corresponding to said estimate.

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, devices, and apparatuses for synchronized mode transitions are presented. A first device configured to be worn at an ear includes a processor configured to, in a first contextual mode, produce an audio signal based on audio data. The processor is also configured to, in the first contextual mode, exchange a time indication of a first time with a second device. The time indication is exchanged based on detection of a first condition of a microphone signal. The processor is further configured to, at the first time, transition from the first contextual mode to a second contextual mode based on the time indication.