A method for determining a wearing state of an earphone. Acceleration data are acquired using an acceleration sensor. A time characteristic of the acceleration data is ascertained, and curve segments are ascertained. The curve segments are each formed by first and second sections. A first wearing state of the earphone is determined, in which the earphone is worn on the ear, if a curve segment including a first section having a positive course and a second section having a negative course is ascertained, and if a first characteristic shape is ascertained for the curve segment. A second wearing state of the earphone is determined, in which the earphone is not worn on the ear, if a curve segment including a first section having a negative course and a second section having a positive course is ascertained, and if a second characteristic shape is ascertained for the curve segment.

A hearing aid device for augmenting environment sounds to alleviate a hearing loss of the user. The hearing aid device comprises a sensor to sense an input from the user in order to change one or more operating parameters of the hearing aid.

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.

An electronic device may include at least one microphone, a speaker, and a processor operatively connected to the at least one microphone and the speaker, wherein the processor may be configured to configure an operation frequency of the microphone as a first frequency and receive an external audio signal from the outside of the electronic device through the microphone operating in the first frequency, generate a first audio signal using the received external audio signal, acquire noise signal information, based on the first audio signal, output a second audio signal generated based on the noise signal information through the speaker, determine a second frequency, based on the generated second audio signal, and change the operation frequency of the microphone to the second frequency and receive the external audio signal from the outside of the electronic device through the microphone operating at the second frequency.

The disclosure relates in general to on-ear transition detection, and in particular to on-ear transition detection circuitry comprising: a monitoring unit operable to monitor a speaker current flowing through a speaker and/or a speaker voltage induced across the speaker, and to generate a monitor signal indicative of the speaker current and/or the speaker voltage; and an event detector operable to detect a qualifying disturbance in a sensor signal indicative of a qualifying pressure change incident on the speaker caused by the speaker transitioning from an on-ear state to an off-ear state or vice versa, wherein the sensor signal is, or is derived from, the monitor signal.

A hearing device, in particular hearing aid, contains a transmitter circuit for wireless signal transmission. The transmitter circuit contains an electrical resonant circuit having at least one controllable semiconductor switch, at least one capacitor and a transmitter coil. The at least one semiconductor switch is driven by a pulse phase modulator.

Power reduction through clock management techniques are disclosed. In one aspect, the clock management is applied to a clock signal on a SOUNDWIRE™ communication bus. In particular, a control system associated with a master device on the communication bus may evaluate frequency requirements of audio streams on the communication bus and select a lowest possible clock frequency that meets the frequency requirements. Lower clock frequencies result in fewer clock transitions and result in a net power saving relative to higher clock frequencies. In the event of a clock frequency change, the master device communicates the clock frequency that will be used prospectively to slave devices on the communication bus, and all devices transition to the new frequency at the same frame boundary. In addition to the power savings, exemplary aspects of the present disclosure do not impact an active audio stream.

One example discloses an apparatus for sound signal detection, comprising: a first wireless device including a first pressure sensor having a first acoustical profile and configured to capture a first set of acoustic energy within a time window; wherein the first wireless device includes a wireless signal input; wherein the first wireless device includes a processing element configured to: receive, through the wireless signal input, a second set of acoustic energy captured by a second pressure sensor, having a second acoustical profile, within a second wireless device and within the time window; apply a signal enhancement technique to the first and second sets of acoustic energy based on the first and second acoustical profiles; search for a predefined sound signal within the enhanced sets of acoustic energy; and initiate a subsequent set of sound signal detection actions if the search finds the sound signal.

A method of streaming an audio signal from an audio transmission device to first and second audio receiver devices via a Bluetooth link using a protocol that requires an audio data packet to be retransmitted if a positive packet receipt is not received. The first audio receiver device is synchronized to the audio transmission device to enable the first audio receiver device to receive an audio signal stream from the audio transmission device, the second audio receiver device is synchronized to the audio transmission device to enable the second audio receiver device to eavesdrop the audio signal stream to the first audio receiver device. When a positive packet receipt acknowledgement is not transmitted from the first audio receiver device to the audio transmission device, the audio transmission device repeats transmission of that audio data packet irrespective of whether the packet has been correctly received by the first audio receiver device.

Devices and methods of detecting a predetermined audio signal in audio signals are provided. A device includes a processor coupled to a clock signal generator, a power controller and an audio detector. The power controller controls a clock rate provided to the processor by the clock signal generator, to control the device to operate in a low power mode having a relatively low power consumption or in a normal power mode having a relatively high power consumption. The audio detector receives audio signals and detects, in the low power mode, probable presence of a predetermined audio signal in the audio signals. The power controller controls the device to switch from the low power mode to the normal power mode responsive to the detected presence of the predetermined audio signal by the audio detector.