Haptic feedback for head-wearable speaker mount such as headphones or earbuds to indicate ambient sound
Haptic feedback is generated on a headphone to indicate contexts of ambient sound. In this way, noise-canceling headphones can alert the wearer to audible cues of potentially dangerous situations that otherwise would be suppressed by the noise cancelation feature of the headphones.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one head-wearable mount,
at least one speaker on the head-wearable mount;
at least one microphone on the head-wearable mount; and
at least first and second haptic generators on the head-wearable mount, wherein the apparatus is adapted to activate only the first haptic generator responsive to a first type of non-speech sound signal from the at least one microphone and to activate both the first and second haptic generators responsive to a second type of sound signal from the at least one microphone, wherein the first type of non-speech sound signal represents noise from a moving vehicle and the second type of non-speech sound signal represents Doppler-shifting noise.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is adapted to activate the haptic generator responsive to ambient sound sensed by the microphone.
3. A method, comprising:
providing at least one head-wearable mount, at least one speaker on the head-wearable mount, at least one microphone on the head-wearable mount, and at least first and second haptic generators on the head-wearable mount;
activating only the first haptic generator responsive to a first type of non-speech sound signal from the at least one microphone;
activating both the first and second haptic generators responsive to a second type of non-speech sound signal from the at least one microphone, wherein the first type of non-speech sound signal represents noise from a moving vehicle and the second type of non-speech sound signal represents Doppler-shifting noise.
4. The method of claim 3 , comprising activating the haptic generator responsive to ambient sound sensed by the microphone.