Dynamic debuzzer for speakers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020162818-A1
Application number	US-201916670793-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 31, 2019
Priority date	Nov 15, 2018
Publication date	May 21, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The implementations describe a method and a system to perform the method to reduce buzzing in a speaker by obtaining a signal having an audio content, determining a first value of spectral density of the audio content at a first resonance frequency, the first resonance frequency associated with a mechanical motion of at least one member of a speaker assembly, determining a second value of spectral density of the audio content at a second resonance frequency, the second resonance frequency associated with a port of the speaker assembly, determining, responsive to the first value and the second value, that the signal is to produce buzzing of the speaker at the second resonance frequency, producing a modified signal by limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency, and providing the modified signal to the speaker.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a speaker enclosed in a speaker assembly, the speaker assembly having a port; a processing device coupled to the speaker, wherein the processing device is configured to execute a dynamic algorithm to attenuate audio distortions of an audio signal that are amplified by a port resonance of the port, the dynamic algorithm to:
receive the audio signal, the audio signal having an audio content;
determine a first value representing spectral density of the audio content at a first resonance frequency, wherein the first resonance frequency is associated with a mechanical motion of at least one member of the speaker assembly, wherein the first resonance frequency is lower than a second resonance frequency, wherein the second resonance frequency is associated with the port resonance of the port;
attenuate the audio distortions by limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency to produce a modified audio signal; and output the modified audio signal to the speaker.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to attenuate the audio distortions, the dynamic algorithm is to apply a static notch filter at the first resonance frequency, wherein the static notch filter has fixed parameters.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to attenuate the audio distortions, the dynamic algorithm is to apply a dynamic notch filter at the first resonance frequency, wherein the dynamic notch filter has adjustable parameters, wherein the adjustable parameters are set as a function of masking energy present around the second resonance frequency of the port resonance of the port.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the speaker assembly is a side-firing speaker box with the port on a side of the side-firing speaker box, the speaker is a side-firing speaker disposed on an adjacent side of the side with the port, and wherein at least one of a length or a width of the port corresponds to an integer number of half-wavelengths of sound associated with the second resonant frequency.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency comprises reducing spectral density of the audio content in at least one range of frequencies within a full width of the first resonance.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first resonance frequency is in a range between approximately 300 Hz and 1.5 kHz.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the speaker is a microspeaker comprising a sound-producing membrane, wherein the sound-producing membrane has a perimeter of less than 5 inches.

8 . An apparatus comprising,
a source to generate a signal having an audio content; a spectrum analyzer to determine a first value representing spectral density of the audio content at a first resonance frequency, wherein the first resonance frequency is associated with a mechanical motion of at least one member of a speaker assembly having a speaker and a port, the spectrum analyzer further to determine a second value representing spectral density of the audio content at a second resonance frequency, wherein the second resonance frequency is associated with a port of the speaker assembly; and a notch filter to modify the signal by limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a memory device to store speaker calibration data, the calibration data comprising a threshold level of spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency that is sufficient to mask buzzing of the speaker at the second resonance frequency.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the notch filter is a dynamic notch filter having adjustable parameters, the apparatus further comprising a controller to modify the adjustable parameters of the dynamic notch filter in response to the first value, the second value, and the speaker calibration data.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the adjustable parameters of the dynamic notch filter comprise a strength of the dynamic notch filter.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the adjustable parameters of the notch filter comprise a width of the dynamic notch filter.

13 . A method to reduce buzzing in a speaker, the method comprising:
obtaining a signal having an audio content; determining a first value representing spectral density of the audio content at a first resonance frequency, wherein the first resonance frequency is associated with a mechanical motion of at least one member of a speaker assembly, wherein the speaker assembly is integrated into an electronic device; determining a second value representing spectral density of the audio content at a second resonance frequency, wherein the second resonance frequency is associated with a port of the speaker assembly; determining, responsive to the first value and the second value, that the signal is to produce buzzing of the speaker at the second resonance frequency; producing a modified signal by limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency to a degree determined responsive to the first value and the second value; and providing the modified signal to the speaker.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein determining that the signal is to produce buzzing comprises retrieving speaker calibration data from memory, the calibration data comprising a threshold level of spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency sufficient to produce buzzing of the speaker at the second resonance frequency.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein producing the modified signal comprises transmitting the signal through a static notch filter.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein producing the modified signal comprises transmitting the signal through a dynamic notch filter having adjustable parameters.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the adjustable parameters comprises a strength of the dynamic notch filter, and wherein producing the modified signal further comprises adjusting the strength of the dynamic notch filter responsive to the first value, the second value, and a speaker calibration data.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein the adjustable parameters comprise a width of the dynamic notch filter, and wherein producing the modified signal further comprises adjusting the width of the dynamic notch filter responsive to the first value, the second value, and the speaker calibration data.

19 . The method of claim 13 wherein determining the first value and the second value is repeated after a set time interval.

20 . The method of claim 13 wherein limiting spectral density of the audio content at the first resonance frequency comprises reducing spectral density in at least one range of frequencies within a full width of the first resonance.

Assignees

• Maxim Integrated Products

Inventors

• Polleros Robert
• Nigam Vivek Prakash

Classifications

• H04R1/025

  Arrangements for fixing loudspeaker transducers, e.g. in a box, furniture · CPC title

• G10L25/18

  the extracted parameters being spectral information of each sub-band · CPC title

• H04R1/2826

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title

• H04R3/04 Primary

  for correcting frequency response · CPC title

• H04R1/2842

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title