Method, system and item

1. A method of enabling a hearer to hear desired sound while also being able to be aware of ambient sound, comprising providing a first non-sound signal representative of said desired sound, deriving a second non-sound signal representative of said ambient sound without phase shift, combining the first and second non-sound signals in providing a combined non-sound signal, converting said combined non-sound signal into sound, and further comprising providing, for said second non-sound signal, a single threshold representative of a single threshold, for the volume and/or frequency of said ambient sound, or providing for said second non-sound signal, both of a lower threshold and an upper threshold representative of a single threshold, representative of a lower threshold and an upper threshold for the volume and/or frequency of said ambient sound, and providing, by phase-shifting, a third non-sound signal representative of a partially cancelling, ambient sound signal, and combining the first, second and third non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

2. A method according to claim 1 , and further comprising variably adjusting said single threshold, or said lower threshold and/or said upper threshold for said second non-sound signal.

3. A method according to claim 1 , and further comprising emitting an alert upon exceeding of said single threshold, or of said lower threshold and/or said upper threshold for said second non-sound signal.

4. A method according to claim 1 , and further comprising variably adjusting said second non-sound signal to represent adjustment of the volume and/or frequency of said ambient sound.

5. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising providing a fourth non-sound signal representative of a fully cancelling ambient sound signal and combining the first, second, third and fourth non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

6. A method according to claim 1 , and in the form of selective sound cancellation of the ambient sound giving differentiation between wanted and unwanted sounds in the ambient sound.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein said third non-sound signal has been preset before said providing thereof.

8. A method according to claim 7 , wherein a user selects which sound to cancel by choosing the preset non-sound signal from among a range of differing, preset non-sound signals.

9. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the preset non-sound signal is synthesizable.

10. A method according to claim 6 , wherein a user selects which sound to cancel by varying one or more sound-cancelling parameters.

11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more sound-cancelling parameters are:

amount of phase shift;

time delay;

individual frequencies;

volume;

equaliser (hi, hi-mid, mid, lo-mid, and/or lo);

compression;

gating;

spectral enhancement;

threshold;

range;

gain;

ratio;

attack;

release;

minimum;

maximum;

sensitivity,

vocal, or

reverberation or any combination thereof.

12. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the sound into which said combined non-sound signal is converted is transmitted to a listening person in a space and through air in said space and containing said person.

13. A system for enabling a hearer to hear desired sound while also being able to be aware of ambient sound, comprising a first outputting device adapted to output a first non-sound signal representative of said desired sound, a second outputting device adapted to output a second non-sound signal representative of said ambient sound without phase shift, a third inputting arrangement adapted to provide, by phase-shifting, a third non-sound signal representative of a partially cancelling, ambient sound signal, a combining arrangement adapted to combine the first, second and third non-sound signals to provide a combined non-sound signal, and a converting device adapted to emit sound converted from said combined non-sound signal, wherein said second outputting device is adapted to provide a single threshold or both of a lower threshold and an upper threshold for said second non-sound signal.

14. A system according to claim 13 , wherein said second outputting device is variably adjustable to adjust variably said single threshold, or said lower threshold and/or said upper threshold.

15. A system according to claim 13 , and further comprising an alerting device able to communicate with said second outputting device to alert to exceeding of said single threshold, or of said lower first threshold and/or said upper threshold.

16. A system according to claim 13 , wherein said second outputting device is variably adjustable to adjust variably said second non-sound signal′.

17. A method of enabling a hearer to hear desired sound while also being able to be aware of ambient sound, comprising: providing a first non-sound signal representative of said desired sound, deriving a second non-sound signal representative of said ambient sound without phase shift, combining the first and second non-sound signals in providing a combined non-sound signal, converting the combined non-sound signal into sound, and further comprising variably adjusting said second non-sound signal to represent variable adjustment of the frequency of said ambient sound, and providing, by phase-shifting, a third non-sound signal representative of a partially cancelling, ambient sound signal, and combining the first, second and third non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

18. A method according to claim 17 , wherein said adjusting is automatic.

19. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the sound into which said combined non-sound signal is converted is transmitted to a listening person in a space and through air in said space and containing said person.

20. A method of enabling a hearer to hear desired sound while also being able to be aware of ambient sound, comprising: providing a first non-sound signal representative of said desired sound, deriving a second non-sound signal representative of said ambient sound without phase shift, combining the first and second non-sound signals in providing a combined non-sound signal, converting said combined non-sound signal into sound, and providing for the sound to be heard a single threshold, or both of a lower threshold and an upper threshold, for the volume and/or the frequency of the sound to be heard, and further comprising providing, by phase-shifting, a third non-sound signal representative of a partially cancelling, ambient sound signal, and combining the first, second and third non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

21. A method according to claim 20 , and further comprising variably adjusting said single threshold, or said lower threshold and/or said upper threshold for said second non-sound signal.

22. A method according to claim 20 , and further comprising emitting an alert upon exceeding of said single threshold, or of said lower threshold and/or said upper threshold for said second non-sound signal.

23. A method according to claim 20 , and further comprising variably adjusting said second non-sound signal to represent adjustment of the volume and/or frequency of said ambient sound.

24. A method according to claim 20 and further comprising providing a third non-sound signal representative of a partially cancelling, ambient sound signal, and combining the first, second and third non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

25. A method according to claim 24 and further comprising providing a fourth non-sound signal representative of a fully cancelling ambient sound signal and combining the first, second, third and fourth non-sound signals in providing said combined signal.

26. A method according to claim 24 , and in the form of selective sound cancellation of the ambient sound giving differentiation between wanted and unwanted sounds in the ambient sound.

27. A method according to claim 26 , wherein said third non-sound signal has been preset before said providing thereof.

28. A method according to claim 27 , wherein a user selects which sound to cancel by choosing the preset non-sound signal from among a range of differing, preset non-sound signals.

29. A method according to claim 28 , wherein the preset non-sound signal comprises one or more sound-cancelling parameters.

30. A method according to claim 26 , wherein a user selects which sound to cancel by varying one or more sound-cancelling parameters.

31. A method according to claim 30 , wherein the one or more sound-cancelling parameters are:

amount of phase shift;

time delay;

individual frequencies;

volume;

equaliser (hi, hi-mid, mid, lo-mid, and/or lo);

compression;

gating;

spectral enhancement;

threshold;

range;

gain;

ratio;

attack;

release;

minimum;

maximum;

sensitivity,

vocal, or

reverberation or any combination thereof.