This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan applications serial no. 91213715, filed Sep. 02, 2002 and serial no. 92112279, filed May 06, 2003.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a headphone, and more particularly to a headphone with microphone comprising a feedback active noise controlling circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, the electronic products are getting popular, and the stereo product has become a significantly popular device for entertainment, wherein the headphone provides a convenient function for listening to the music. In order to provide a better stereo effect, a noise-cancellation method has to be applied to eliminate the environment noise accompanying together with the music sound. Based on the different noise-cancellation methods, the headphone is roughly classified into two different types, one is a passive noise-cancellation headphone and the other one is an active noise-cancellation headphone.
Since the passive noise-cancellation headphone relies solely on the sound isolating material to reduce the environment noise, its noise-cancellation capability mainly depends on the physical properties such as thickness, structure design and joint capability of the material used, thus the headphone is generally to be of large size and heavy weight. The material for making the passive noise-cancellation headphone almost do not have any capability to isolate the low frequency noise, for example, generated by the engine and the fan. In contrast, the active noise-cancellation headphone does not have this limitation, thus it is widely accepted by the consumers.
In the active noise cancellation headphones that are presently available on the market, it is common that one microphone sensor is disposed in front of the left speaker and the right speaker, respectively. With this approach, no matter where microphone sensors are disposed, only one microphone sensor senses the noise signal in front of the corresponding speaker, and therefore the performance of the microphone sensor is highly critical. Besides it is necessary to choose the microphone sensor that is highly sensitive and also expansive, in order to ensure the microphone sensor to maintain the original sound quality. It is also important to avoid the microphone sensor from easily getting damaged by the soldering process that would have adverse impact on the yield and cost when mass-produced. As the microphone sensors of the feedback active noise-cancellation headphone are disposed on the area in front of the speaker within a distance range of 0.5˜1 cm, there is a possibility of causing a serious near-field effect. Accordingly, even when a highly sensitivity microphone sensor is used, it is still adversely impacted by the near-field effect that occurs in front of the speaker, thus the noise reduction performance is significantly deteriorated.
Since the active noise controlling circuit in the conventional feedback active noise-cancellation headphone does not consider to separate the gain adjustment circuit of the audio input signal generated by the music apparatus such as the radio from the gain adjustment circuit of the noise perceiving signal obtained from the environment noise detected by the microphone sensors, and therefore the original spectrum of the music is impacted when the gain of the noise perceiving signal is adjusted for improving the anti-noise effect. Further, the low frequency cracked noise may be generated, or causes the problem of discomfort to the ear due to the sound level of the music bursts abruptly as the user turns on the power of the active noise controlling circuit while listening to the music.
To solve the problems mentioned above and other defects, the present invention provides a feedback active noise cancellation headphone. With two or more than two microphone sensors disposed in front of the left and the right speakers of the headphone, the noise controlling circuit generates an inverse phase soundwave more accurately for countering the low frequency noise so that the active noise reduction performance of the active noise cancellation headphone can be effectively promoted. Thus, the sound reception quality of the microphone sensors can be effectively improved.
The present invention further provides a feedback active noise controlling circuit, wherein an adder whose gain can be separately adjusted, is used to respectively amplify an audio compensating signal from an audio compensating circuit and an environment noise signal from a bandpass controller, so as to reduce or eliminate the problem impacted by the adjustment of the anti-noise gain.
In order to achieve the above objectives and other advantages, the present invention provides a feedback active noise cancellation headphone. The feedback active noise cancellation headphone comprises a plurality of microphone sensors, an active noise controlling circuit, and speakers. A plurality of microphone sensors is used to detect environment noise in front of the speaker, and converts the environment noise to a noise perceiving signal and transmits the noise perceiving signal to the active noise controlling circuit. The active noise controlling circuit generates a noise cancellation signal according to the received noise perceiving signal, so that the speaker can generate a soundwave signal with a phase reversed to the environment noise for countering the low frequency environment noise.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two or three microphone sensors may be evenly disposed on the peripheral area in front of the speaker. The noise perceiving signal sent to the active noise controlling circuit is generated by the microphone sensors, which are connected in parallel.
The present invention further provides a feedback active noise controlling circuit. The feedback active noise controlling circuit comprises a bandpass controller, an audio compensating circuit, an adder and a current converting repeater.
The bandpass controller receives the noise perceiving signal, which is obtained from the environment noise detected by the microphone sensors, and tunes the gain and the phase of the noise perceiving signal spectrum, so as to generate an environment noise signal.
The audio compensating circuit receives the audio input signal generated by the music apparatus, and generates an audio compensating signal whose high frequency attenuation is higher than its low frequency attenuation, so that it is capable of compensating the low frequency music to substantially reduce or eliminate the low frequency noise.
The adder comprises a first input terminal and a second input terminal whose gain can be separately adjusted. Wherein, the first input terminal is electrically coupled to the bandpass controller for receiving the environment noise signal mentioned above and for properly processing the received environment noise signal to generate a noise cancellation signal, which is used to drive the speaker for generating a soundwave signal with a phase reversed to the environment noise, so as to counter or reduce the low frequency environment noise. The second input terminal is electrically coupled to the audio compensating circuit for receiving the audio compensating signal mentioned above, and for amplifying the received audio compensating signal so as to generate an audio output signal, which is then transmitted to the speaker to output the music.
The current converting repeater receives a signal synthesized from the noise cancellation signal and the audio output signal, and converts it to a current signal for driving the speaker.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the feedback active noise controlling circuit further comprises a power delay circuit. The power delay circuit receives a power supplied to the feedback active noise controlling circuit. The power delay circuit delays the power supply over a predetermined time before supplying the power to the current converting repeater when the power is turned on, so as to eliminate the weird sound that occurs when the power of the feedback active noise controlling circuit is turned on.
The power delay circuit mentioned above comprises a delay circuit and a transistor. The delay circuit is, for example, composed of a resistor and a capacitor, which are serially connected, for generating a delay control signal when the power is turned on. The transistor comprises a collector, an emitter, and a base, wherein the base is electrically coupled to the delay circuit mentioned above for receiving the delay control signal, and for delaying the power supply from the collector to the emitter in response to the delay control signal.
The feedback active noise controlling circuit further comprises a switch unit for controlling the power supplied to the feedback active noise controlling circuit. In the event when the power of the feedback active noise controlling circuit is cut off, the switch unit directs the audio input signal generated by the music apparatus to the speaker directly. Therefore, a user will be able to hear the music using the headphone even when the power of the feedback active noise controlling circuit has been cut off.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the audio compensating circuit of the feedback active noise controlling circuit comprises a first resistor, a second resistor, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a third resistor, wherein all of the components mentioned above comprise a first terminal and a second terminal, respectively. The first terminal of the first resistor receives the audio input signal generated by the music apparatus and outputs an audio compensating signal through the second terminal of the first capacitor. The components are connected in a way as follows. The second terminal of the first resistor is grounded, the first terminal of the second resistor is electrically coupled to the first terminal of the first resistor, the first terminal of the first capacitor is electrically coupled to the second terminal of the second resistor, the first terminal of the second capacitor is electrically coupled to the second terminal of the first capacitor, the first terminal of the third resistor is electrically coupled to the second terminal of the second capacitor and the second terminal of the third resistor is grounded.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the noise perceiving signal that is derived from environment noise is detected by a plurality of microphone sensors that are connected in parallel. In the feedback active noise controlling circuit of the present invention, the noise cancellation signal generated according to the noise perceiving signal is output to the speaker, so as to generate a soundwave signal with a phase reversed to the environment noise for countering or reducing the low frequency environment noise.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
However, after the microphone sensor 120 converts the collected low frequency environment noise into a noise perceiving signal, and transmits it to the active noise controlling circuit 130, the active noise controlling circuit 130 generates a noise cancellation signal according to the received noise perceiving signal and transmits it to the speaker 110, so as to generate a soundwave signal with a phase reversed to the environment noise for countering or reducing the low frequency environment noise detected by the microphone sensor 120. Since a sound energy vortex (flow) 150 is generated in front of the speaker 110 due to the near-field effect of such placement, and the microphone sensor 120 is disposed near to the neighborhood area in front of the speaker 110 and is just located inside the sound energy vortex (flow) 150 in front of the speaker 110. Therefore, due to the impact of the near-field effect, the microphone sensor 120 cannot clearly and accurately accept the low frequency environment noise in real time and is unable to transmit it to the active noise controlling circuit 130 to generate the inverse phase soundwave accurately for countering the low frequency noise.
As the embodiments shown in
The bandpass controller 510 receives a noise perceiving signal SNI, which is generated by a plurality of microphone sensors 51 and 52 that are connected in parallel upon detecting environmental noise. Next, the bandpass controller 510 tunes the gain and the phase of the noise perceiving signal SNI to generate an environment noise signal SNO which is then output to the first input terminal 801 of the adder 80 where the environment noise signal SNO is amplified into a noise cancellation signal. Then, the noise cancellation signal is further converted into a current signal by the current converting repeater 70 to drive the speaker through the RB/GR transmission line, so that the speaker can generate a soundwave signal with a phase reversed to the environment noise for countering or reducing the low frequency environment noise.
The second input terminal 802 of the adder 80 receives an audio input signal LIN generated by the music apparatus (not shown), so that the expected music can be output from the speaker. Further, the gain of the second input terminal 802 and the first input terminal 801 mentioned above of the adder 80 can be separately adjusted, so that the sound level of the music is not impacted when tuning the gain of the environment noise signal SNO to improve the noise reduction efficiency.
However, since the noise perceiving signal SNI derived from the environment noise detected by the plurality of microphone sensors 51 and 52 usually comprises the music expected to be heard by the user, the 100 Hz˜1K Hz musicmay also be partially eliminated in accompanying with the noise signal. In order to prevent this phenomenon and the user can hear the music with the original quality and does not recognize any change of the music while the operation of the feedback active noise controlling circuit 500 is performed, an audio compensating circuit 520 is added prior to the second input terminal 802 of the adder 80 where the audio input signal LIN is input, so that the music which may be partially eliminated can be compensated. The compensating method is described as follows. The audio input signal LIN generated by the music apparatus is received first, and an audio compensating signal LC whose high frequency attenuation is higher than its low frequency attenuation is generated by the audio compensating circuit 520, so as to compensate the attenuation of the low frequency music, and it is then input into the second input terminal 802 of the adder 80.
As shown in
Therefore, the feedback active noise controlling circuit 500 can compensate the music that may be partially eliminated. Further, since the gain of the audio input signal LIN and the noise perceiving signal SNI can be separately tuned, the gain of the audio input signal LIN is not impacted by the adjustment of the anti-noise gain. Therefore, it can provide a stable sound level music regardless of the level of the sound volume. In other words, the low frequency cracked sound will not occur even when the level of the sound is increased.
Further, the present invention provides a solution to resolve the problem that the weird tone is output from the speaker as the circuit is not in a steady state at the moment when the power is just being turned on. As shown in
As shown in
When the power V+ electrically coupled to the first terminal 911 of the resistor 91 is turned on (i.e. V+ supplies the required power to other circuits), the capacitor 92 is charged so as to generate a delay control signal. The delay control signal delays the power supply over a predetermined period of time before turning on the transistor 90, so that the power POW output from the emitter 903 of the transistor 90 is delayed supplying to the current converting repeater 70 shown in
As shown in
An experiment is conducted to confirm the effect of the noise reduction of the feedback active noise cancellation headphone which uses a plurality of microphone sensors. The feedback active noise cancellation headphone 400 shown in
Although the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment thereof, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed description.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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91213715 | Sep 2002 | TW | national |
92112279 | May 2003 | TW | national |