Active sound desensitization to tonal noise in a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10224017-B2
Application number	US-201715498134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2017
Priority date	Apr 26, 2017
Publication date	Mar 5, 2019
Grant date	Mar 5, 2019

Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for active sound desensitization to tonal noise in a vehicle. An example vehicle includes an electric motor, a microphone, speakers, and an active sound desensitizer. The active sound desensitizer (a) randomizes channels of the speakers based on multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles, (b) determine upper and lower frequency band limits for a band-limited filter, (c) generate a desensitizing sound based on the upper and lower frequency band limits and the randomized channels, and (d) broadcast the desensitizing sound via the speakers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle with an electric motor comprising:
a microphone;
speakers; and
an active sound desensitizer configured to:
randomize channels of the speakers based on multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles;
determine upper and lower frequency band limits for a band-limited filter;
generate a desensitizing sound based on the upper and lower frequency band limits and the randomized channels; and
broadcast the desensitizing sound via the speakers.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the microphone is positioned to be near a head of a driver when the driver is sitting in a driver's seat.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles are based on a sound map of audio captured by the microphone.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , including a profile generator configured to generate the multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles by inverse modeling and filtering the sound map.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the active sound desensitizer is to determine a target tonal frequency based on vehicle operation data provided by electronic control units.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the vehicle operation data include a rotation speed of the electric motor.

7. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the upper and lower frequency band limits are positioned asymmetrically around the target tonal frequency.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the upper frequency band limit is greater than or equal to a constant value multiplied by the target tonal frequency.

9. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the lower frequency band limit is a variable value based on background noise characteristic of the vehicle.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the lower frequency band limit is determined by:
determining, from a plurality of one-third octave frequency bands, a first one-third octave frequency band containing the target tonal frequency;
comparing noise levels in the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands with a noise level of the first one-third octave frequency band; and
identifying a second one of the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands that is a lowest one of the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands with the noise level that is less than the first one-third octave frequency band.

11. A method comprising:
randomizing, with a control circuit, output to channels of speakers based on multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles, the multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles based on a sound map of audio in a cabin of a vehicle captured by a microphone;
determining, with the control circuit, upper and lower frequency band limits for a band-limited filter;
generating a desensitizing sound based on the upper and lower frequency band limits and the randomized channels; and
broadcasting the desensitizing sound via the speakers.

12. The method of claim 11 , including generating the multiple uncorrelated broadband sound profiles by inverse modeling and filtering the sound map.

13. The method of claim 11 , including determining a target tonal frequency based on vehicle operation data provided by electronic control units, the vehicle operation data including a rotation speed of an electric motor of the vehicle, the upper and lower frequency band limits being positioned asymmetrically around the target tonal frequency.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the upper frequency band limit is greater than or equal to a constant value multiplied by the target tonal frequency; and
the lower frequency band limit is a variable value based on background noise characteristic of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the lower frequency band limit includes:
determining, from a plurality of one-third octave frequency bands, a first one-third octave frequency band containing the target tonal frequency;
comparing noise levels in the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands with a noise level of the first one-third octave frequency band; and
identifying a second one of the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands that is a lowest one of the plurality of one-third octave frequency bands with the noise level that is less than the first one-third octave frequency band.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lee Ming-Ran
• Cheng Ming-Te
• Krishnaswami Ramasunder
• Na Liqun
• Li Mingfeng

Classifications

• B60L1/00 Primary

  Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00) · CPC title

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• B60R16/0373

  Voice control (in general G10L) · CPC title

• H04R3/04

  for correcting frequency response · CPC title

• G10K2210/3044

  Phase shift, e.g. complex envelope processing · CPC title