Approach for detecting alert signals in changing environments

• Main Authors: Hutchings Jeffrey, Kreifeldt Richard Allen, Iyer Ajay
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 29.08.2017
• Subjects: ACOUSTICS; DEAF-AID SETS; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKEACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PHYSICS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS; SPEECH ANALYSIS OR SYNTHESIS; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING; SPEECH RECOGNITION; TRANSMISSION

In an audio system, an audio signal is preprocessed to provide an input signal to a fast detector and a slow detector, the input signal comprising alert signals and ambient sounds. The slow detector determines the ambient sound level of the input signal which is output to an alert signal detector. The alert signal detector uses the ambient sound level to compute an adaptive threshold level using an adaptive threshold function. The fast detector determines the envelope level of the input signal which is output to the alert signal detector. The alert signal detector compares the envelope level to the adaptive threshold level to determine if an alert signal is present in the input signal. The adaptive threshold level varies depending on the ambient sound level of the input signal and the alert signal detection of the audio system automatically adapts to changing acoustic environments having different ambient sound levels.