A technology is provided that reduces noise heard when a user sits in a seat of an aircraft, without using earphones or headphones. A sound system includes: a control system that generates a control signal for canceling noise in a place close to a head of a user using a seat of an aircraft, from a signal of the noise (noise signal); and a noise-cancellation speaker system including speaker units that emit sound based on the control signal (first noise-cancellation speaker unit, . . . , M-th noise-cancellation speaker unit), the noise-cancellation speaker system being installed at the place close to the head of the user using the seat, wherein assuming that a direction in which the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit faces the user is an m-th noise-cancellation user direction, the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit is disposed such that sound emitted from the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit in the m-th noise-cancellation user direction is canceled in a place other than the place close to the head of the user using the seat, due to bending around of sound emitted from the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit in an opposite direction to the m-th noise-cancellation user direction.

A headset has at least two functions of an active noise control (ANC) function, an ambient sound hear through (HT) function, or an augment hearing (AH) function. The headset includes a first microphone and a second microphone. The first microphone is configured to collect a first signal. The first signal indicates a sound in a current external environment. The second microphone is configured to collect a second signal. The second signal indicates an ambient sound in an ear canal of a user wearing the headset. The headset can be a left earphone or a right earphone. Processing modes or processing strengths of the left earphone and the right earphone may be the same or different. The headset obtains a target mode based on a scene type of the current external environment; and obtains a second audio signal based on the target mode, the first signal, and the second signal.

An illustrative hearing device may be at least partially inserted into an ear canal and may include an acoustic transducer having a membrane configured to generate sound waves, a housing enclosing a first chamber and a second chamber acoustically coupled by the membrane, a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the first chamber into the ear canal, an acoustic port acoustically coupling the second chamber to an ambient environment outside the ear canal, and a mechanical resonator configured to resonate with sound waves at a resonance frequency. The second chamber may be acoustically coupled to the mechanical resonator.

A headgear is described that includes an air purifier, a microphone, and a control unit. The control unit analyses a signal output by the microphone to determine a magnitude of wind. The control unit then controls a flow rate of the air purifier in response to the determined magnitude.

Methods, hearing systems and neural networks for audio signal processing are described. A hearing system comprises a neural network. An input audio signal is processed into an output audio signal at least partially by means of a processing unit of the hearing system. The audio signal processing of the input audio signal includes executing audio signal processing by the neural network for performing a step of the audio signal processing, determining a confidence parameter resembling the reliability of the audio signal processing by the neural network and steering the audio signal processing in dependence of the confidence parameter. A particularly suitable neural network is configured to solve a regression-based acoustic processing task and additionally determining the confidence parameter.

An earpiece of a headset uses a first signal and a second signal received from an in-ear microphone and an outside microphone, respectively, to enhance microphone signals. The in-ear microphone is positioned at a proximal side of the earpiece with respect to an ear canal of a user, and the outside microphone is positioned at a distal side of the earpiece with respect to the ear canal. A processing unit includes a filter, which digitally filters out in-ear noise from the first signal using the second signal as a reference to produce a de-noised signal to thereby enhance the microphone signals.

The present disclosure provides a hearing protection method capable of blocking external high-sound-pressure-level energy, including: a second sound pressure energy threshold being greater than a first sound pressure energy threshold; when an external sound energy value is greater than the first sound pressure energy threshold and is less than the second sound pressure energy threshold, enabling a preset active noise cancellation function; and when the external sound energy value is greater than the second sound pressure energy threshold, disabling the preset active noise cancellation function, and blocking high-sound-pressure-level energy by means of passive noise cancellation. The present disclosure can block the external high-sound-pressure-level energy.

An on/off head detection system uses magnetic field intensity to determine a configuration, position and/or orientation of a headphone, including whether a headphone is on or off a wearer's head. The system includes a magnetic field sensor configured to detect a magnetic field emitted by a magnetic field source associated with an earpiece of the headphone. A control module determines an intensity of the magnetic field and whether the intensity of the magnetic field has reached a threshold. An operational mode associated with the headphone or an associated device is performed in response to the intensity of the magnetic field reaching the threshold.

Methods and apparatuses for user sound exposure limiting are disclosed. In one example, an accumulated sound dose exposure from a headset speaker is determined for a plurality of sequentially monitored time intervals during a current listening session, wherein the current listening session comprises a total session time. It is determined whether a predicted sound dose exposure for the total session time exceeds or falls below a permitted sound dose exposure limit, the predicted sound dose exposure determined from the accumulated sound dose exposure. A threshold intervention level at which a time-weighted-average limiter at a headset applies attenuation to an audio signal output at a headset speaker is adjusted.

A headset having a talk-through microphones incorporates an audio circuit that disconnects or compresses a signal representing sounds detected by the talk-through microphones in response to the audio circuit detecting the onset of a peak in the signal that exceeds a predetermined voltage level, and that does so with a rate of change in voltage level that exceeds a predetermined rate of change in voltage level. The duration of the disconnection or compression may be controlled by a timing circuit set to a predetermined period of time that may be retriggerable while amidst the predetermined period of time.