Frequency-specific determination of audio dose

1. A method for controlling the consumed audio dose of a user of a media player within a first and a second frequency range from the total frequency range relevant for the human ear, the first and the second frequency ranges being different, the method comprising:

determining the audio dose already consumed by the user within the first frequency range;

determining the audio dose within the first frequency range of a set of media tracks;

determining the audio dose already consumed by the user within the second frequency range;

determining the audio dose within the second frequency range of the set of media tracks;

determining, from the audio dose of the set of media tracks within the first frequency range and the already consumed audio dose of the user within the first frequency range, a potentially consumed audio dose for each of the media tracks of the set of media tracks within the first frequency range, wherein determining the potentially consumed audio dose for a media track within the first frequency range comprises

weighting the already consumed audio dose within the first frequency range by a first weight;

weighting the audio dose of the media track within the first frequency range by a second weight; and

determining a first weighted sum of the consumed audio dose and the audio dose of the media track in the first frequency range; wherein the first weighted sum corresponds to the potentially consumed audio dose for the media track within the first frequency range;

determining, from the audio dose of the set of media tracks within the second frequency range and the already consumed audio dose of the user within the second frequency range, a potentially consumed audio dose for each of the media tracks of the set of media tracks within the second frequency range, wherein determining the potentially consumed audio dose for a media track within the second frequency range comprises

weighting the already consumed audio dose within the second frequency range by the first weight;

weighting the audio dose of the media track within the second frequency range by the second weight; and

determining a second weighted sum of the consumed audio dose and the audio dose of the media track in the second frequency range; wherein the second weighted sum corresponds to the potentially consumed audio dose for the media track in the second frequency range; and

selecting a media track from the set of media tracks for play-back on the media player, the selected media track providing a potentially consumed audio dose in the first and the second frequency range and a predetermined value for the second frequency range, respectively.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency range is determined by

splitting the total frequency range into N sub-ranges; wherein N is greater than one; and

selecting one of the N sub-ranges as the first frequency range.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the N sub-ranges correspond to the Bark scale.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

determining a playlist for playing back media tracks on the media player by selecting a plurality of media tracks from the set of media tracks wherein the plurality of media tracks provides a potentially consumed audio dose in the first and the second frequency range which does not exceed a pre-determined value for the first frequency range and a pre-determined value for the second frequency range, respectively.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

determining the first and second weighted sum for a plurality of media tracks.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

updating the audio dose consumed by the user in the first and second frequency range, the updating being based on a separate leaky integration of the previously consumed audio dose and the audio dose of the selected media track in the first and second frequency range.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the consumed audio dose comprises

weighting the consumed audio dose with a weight associated with the time instance at which the audio dose was consumed; wherein the weight decreases with increasing anteriority of the consumed audio dose.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the audio dose of a media track within a frequency range comprises:

weighting the audio dose of the set of media tracks within the frequency range using weights associated with human auditory perception.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the audio dose of a media track comprises:

extracting a plurality of segments of the media track using a window function;

determining the audio doses for the plurality of segments of the media track; and

determining the audio dose of the media track as the sum of the audio doses of the plurality of segments of the media track.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

selecting a media category,

wherein the selection of a media track is restricted to media tracks from the selected category.

11. An electronic device, comprising

an audio rendering component operable to generate an audio dose to a user;

a memory operable to store a set of media tracks; and

a processor operable to

determine the audio dose already consumed by the user within a first frequency range from the total frequency range relevant for the human ear;

determine the audio dose within the first frequency range of the set of media tracks;

determine the audio dose already consumed by the user within a second frequency range from the total frequency range relevant for the human ear;

the first and the second frequency ranges being different,

determine the audio dose within the second frequency range of the set of media tracks;

determine, from the audio dose of the set of media tracks and the already consumed audio dose of the user within the first frequency range, a potentially consumed audio dose for each of the media tracks of the set of media tracks within the first frequency range, wherein for determining the potentially consumed audio dose for a media track within the first frequency range, the processor is operable to

weight the already consumed audio dose within the first frequency range by a first weight;

weight the audio dose of the media track within the first frequency range by a second weight; and

determine a first weighted sum of the consumed audio dose and the audio dose of the media track in the first frequency range; wherein the first weighted sum corresponds to the potentially consumed audio dose for the media track within the first frequency range;

determine, from the audio dose of the set of media tracks and the already consumed audio dose of the user within the second frequency range, a potentially consumed audio dose for each of the media tracks of the set of media tracks within the second frequency range, wherein for determining the potentially consumed audio dose for a media track within the second frequency range, the processor is operable to

weight the already consumed audio dose within the second frequency range by the first weight;

weight the audio dose of the media track within the second frequency range by the second weight; and

determine a second weighted sum of the consumed audio dose and the audio dose of the media track in the second frequency range; wherein the second weighted sum corresponds to the potentially consumed audio dose for the media track in the second frequency range; and

select a media track from the set of media tracks for play back on the media player, the selected media track providing a potentially consumed audio dose in the first and the second frequency range which does not exceed a pre-determined value for the second frequency range, respectively.

12. A non-transitory storage medium comprising a software program adapted for execution on a processor and for performing the method of claim 1 when carried out on a computing device.