Electronic device having hearing aid compatibility
View Patent ↗An electronic device having hearing aid capability is disclosed. The electronic device includes a linear resonance actuator (LRA). The LRA is configured to produce both vibrations and a hearing aid compatible magnetic field. A processor coupled to the LRA is operable to control the LRA to generate a magnetic field for inductively coupling the electronic device to a hearing aid when a hearing aid compatibility (HAC) mode is enabled, wherein the generated magnetic field is encoded with audio information which corresponds to an audio signal.
1. An electronic device, comprising:
a vibrator comprising a linear resonance actuator (LRA) including a movable magnetic mass, a spring biasing the movable magnetic mass, and a voice coil;
a drive circuit coupled to the LRA and configured to generate a drive signal for driving the movable magnetic mass of the LRA; and
a processor coupled to the LRA configured to:
control the voice coil of the LRA to generate a magnetic field for inductively coupling the electronic device to a hearing aid when a hearing aid compatibility (HAC) mode is enabled, wherein the generated magnetic field is encoded with audio information which corresponds to an audio signal; and
cause the drive circuit to generate the drive signal to cause the movable magnetic mass of the LRA to vibrate in a vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass.
2. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a filter configured to attenuate a frequency component of the audio signal corresponding to a vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA to generate a filtered audio signal when the HAC mode is enabled, wherein the generated magnetic field is encoded with audio information which corresponds to the filtered audio signal.
3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA is about 100 Hz to about 300 Hz.
4. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the filtered audio signal and the magnetic field have a frequency range between a lower limit of about 100 to about 300 Hz and an upper limit of about 20,000 Hz.
5. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the drive circuit is also coupled to the filter, wherein the drive signal generated by the drive circuit corresponds to the filtered audio signal.
6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA is about 100 Hz to about 300 Hz.
7. The electronic device of claim 2 , further comprising:
a speaker; and
wherein the drive circuit is also coupled to the speaker, wherein the drive circuit is configured to generate a drive signal corresponding to the audio signal for driving the speaker to generate an audible audio output, and wherein the drive circuit is configured to generate a drive signal corresponding to the filtered audio signal for driving the LRA to generate the magnetic field when the HAC mode is enabled.
8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA is about 100 Hz to about 300 Hz.
9. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the LRA is positioned proximate to the speaker.
10. A method, comprising:
providing an electronic device comprising a vibrator, the vibrating a comprising a linear resonance actuator (LRA) comprising a movable magnetic mass, a spring biasing the movable magnetic mass, and a voice coil;
when in a vibration mode, generating via a drive signal to cause the movable magnetic mass of the LRA to vibrate in a vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass; and
when a hearing aid compatibility (HAC) mode is enabled, generating an audio signal and controlling the voice coil of the LRA to generate a magnetic field for inductively coupling to a hearing aid, wherein the magnetic field is encoded with audio information which corresponds to the audio signal.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
filtering the audio signal to attenuate a frequency component of the audio signal corresponding to a vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA to generate a filtered audio signal when the HAC mode is enabled, generate a filtered audio signal, wherein the generated magnetic field is encoded with audio information which corresponds to the filtered audio signal.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the vibration frequency range of the movable magnetic mass of the LRA is about 100 Hz to about 300 Hz.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the filtered audio signal and the magnetic field have a frequency range between a lower limit of about 100 to about 300 Hz and an upper limit of about 20,000 Hz.
14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating a filtered drive signal corresponding to the filtered audio signal; and
sending the filtered drive signal to the LRA to drive the LRA to generate the magnetic field.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the filtered drive signal is configured such that the movable magnetic mass of the LRA does not vibrate.
16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising disabling a speaker when the HAC mode is enabled.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending the audio signal to a speaker when the HAC mode is disabled.