Earhealth monitoring system and method II
Methods of operating an audio device are provided. A method includes measuring sound pressure levels (SPL ECM ) for acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) during a time increment Δt and calculating a SPL_Dose Δt during the time increment Δt using SPL ECM .
1. A method, comprising:
determining, during a time increment Δt, a SPL_Dose Δt based on sound pressure levels (SPL ECM1 ) associated with a first acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) of a device,
wherein measurements corresponding to the SPL ECM1 are free field equivalent values; and
wherein the SPL_Dose Δt indicates a cumulative exposure to the SPL ECM1 .
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring the SPL ECM1 associated with the first acoustic energy received by the ECM.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring, during the time increment At, sound pressure levels SPL ECM2 of a second acoustic energy received by an ear canal receiver (ECR) of the device.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising calculating a calibration relationship between an intensity of the second acoustic energy with a pressure measurement.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether an ECR of the device is operating.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising calculating, during the time increment Δt, a sound pressure level (SPL ECR ) for an acoustic signal directed to the ECR.
7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising measuring sound pressure levels SPL ECM of a third acoustic energy received by the ECM of the device.
8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising updating SPL ECM using the calibration relationship to generate SPL ECM-UPDATE .
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating an input audio signal at the ECM or an ambient sound microphone of the device.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining when the device is in a charger or a communication cradle.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising setting an update epoch as an in-cradle epoch if the device is in the charger or the communication cradle.
12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising inputting the input audio signal to the device if the device is determined to not be in the charger or the communication cradle.
13. A system, comprising:
an audio device that performs operations comprising:
calculating, during a time increment Δt, a SPL_Dose Δt based on sound pressure levels (SPL ECM1 ) associated with a first acoustic energy received by an ear canal microphone (ECM) of the audio device,
wherein measurements corresponding to the SPL ECM1 are free field equivalent values; and
wherein the SPL_Dose Δt indicates a cumulative exposure to the SPL ECM1 .
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise measuring the SPL ECM1 associated with the first acoustic energy when the audio device remains in a position.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise calculating a rate of change for the SPL ECM1 .
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise determining whether the rate of change is less than a predetermined amount.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise increasing an update epoch if the rate of change is less than the predetermined amount.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise determining an update epoch, wherein the update epoch is a time since a last SPL_Dose Δt was calculated.
19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise
determining a time period for sampling the SPL ECM1 .
20. An audio device that performs operations comprising:
determining, during a time increment At, a SPL_Dose Δt based on sound pressure levels (SPL ECM1 ) associated with acoustic energy received by the audio device,
wherein measurements corresponding to the SPL ECM1 are free field equivalent values; and
wherein the SPL_Dose Δt indicates a cumulative exposure to the SPL ECM1 .