General purpose device to assist the hard of hearing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9747814-B2
Application number	US-201514887644-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2015
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

An approach to notifying a person who is hard of hearing of audible events based on a configurable device. The device has microphones and associated buttons mounted on its surface. The user programs the device by depressing a selected button longer than a preconfigured time to place the device in listen mode. The user generates the desired audible event and the device records the audible event. The selected button is depressed again to instruct the device to associate the audible event with a visual alarm indicator of colored/flashing lights and/or a text projection. The device listens for the audible event and activates the visual alarm indicator when the device detects the audible event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for notifying a person who is hard of hearing of audible events, the method comprising:
selecting one or more audible events for visual alarm activation wherein each of the one or more audible events is associated with a unique at least one of one or more visual alarm indicators associated with a device;
detecting at least one of the one or more audible events, wherein the detecting comprises determining a direction of the audible event based on the audible event frequency;
responsive to detecting the at least one of the one or more audible events, activating the unique at least one of the one or more visual alarm indicators associated with the at least one of the one or more audible events; and
responsive to receiving an acknowledgment associated with the at least one of the one or more audible events, deactivating the at least one of the one or more visual alarm indicators.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the one or more audible events comprises:
instructing the device to record a sound;
generating the sound; and
instructing the device to associate the sound with an audible event.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing notification of emergencies based on detecting an alarm greater than a preconfigured sound level and associating the alarm with a preconfigured visual alarm indicator.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the alarm is an audible output from at least one of a smoke detector alarm, a fire alarm, an air raid alarm, a natural disaster alarm and a noxious gas alarm.

5. An apparatus for notifying hard of hearing individuals of audible events, the apparatus comprising:
a power supply for powering the apparatus;
one or more microphones for detecting one or more audible events and generating an associated independent visual alarm for the one or more audible events, wherein each of the one or more microphones are tuned to a different frequency;
one or more buttons wherein at least one of the one or more buttons are associated with at least one of the one or more microphones for configuring the associated microphone to detect a selected audible event and for acknowledging any of the associated independent visual alarms;
one or more visual indicators wherein at least one of the one or more visual indicators is configured to activate, based on the associated independent visual alarm, when the selected audible event is detected;
a control computer for controlling one or more inputs associated with the one or more buttons, one or more inputs associated with the one or more microphones and one or more outputs associated with the one or more visual indicators; and
a spherical shell for mounting the power supply, the one or more microphones in a radially distributed pattern around a surface of the spherical shell, the one or more buttons, the one or more visual indicators and the control computer, wherein the spherical shell is attached to a base suitable for placement on a flat surface.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the shell has a plurality of facets and the one or more microphones are attached to a portion of the plurality of facets and one of the plurality of facets is a base suitable for placement on a flat surface.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more visual indicators are at least one of different colored lights, flashing lights, strobe lights, a text projector and a display.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the buttons are momentary contact buttons.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein any sound louder than a preconfigured level is associated with a preconfigured audible event.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the control computer determines a function of the one or more buttons based on how long the one or more buttons is depressed.

11. A system for notifying hard of hearing individuals of audible events, the system comprising:
a plurality of apparatuses wherein each apparatus comprises:
a power supply for powering the apparatus;
one or more microphones for detecting one or more audible events and generating an associated independent visual alarm for the one or more audible events, wherein each of the one or more microphones are tuned to a different frequency;
one or more buttons wherein at least one of the one or more buttons is associated with at least one of the one or more microphones for configuring the one or more microphones to detect a selected audible event and for acknowledging any of the associated independent visual alarms;
one or more visual indicators wherein at least one of the one or more visual indicators is configured to activate, based on the associated independent visual alarm, when the selected audible event is detected;
a network component for providing communications to other apparatuses;
a control computer for controlling a first one or more inputs associated with the one or more buttons, a second one or more inputs associated with the one or more microphones, outputs associated with the one or more visual indicators and communications associated with the network component; and
a spherical shell for mounting the power supply, the one or more microphones in a radially distributed pattern around a surface of the spherical shell, the one or more buttons, the one or more visual indicators and the control computer, wherein the spherical shell is attached to a base suitable for placement on a flat surface.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the shell has a plurality of facets and the one or more microphones are attached to a portion of the plurality of facets and one of the plurality of facets is a base suitable for placement on a flat surface.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more visual indicators are at least one of different colored lights, flashing lights, strobe lights, a text projector and a display.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein any sound louder than a preconfigured level is associated with a preconfigured audible event.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein a first apparatus activates at least one of the one or more visual indicators based on notice from the control computer received from a second apparatus.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bariska Jr Arthur J
• Masser Joel L
• Mckenzie Kevin D
• Tedesco Eileen P

Classifications

• G09B21/009 Primary

  Teaching or communicating with deaf persons (G09B21/04 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G08B7/06

  using electric transmission {, e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources} · CPC title

• A61F11/04

  Methods or devices for enabling ear patients to achieve auditory perception through physiological senses other than hearing sense, e.g. through the touch sense {(electronic stimulation of auditory nerves A61N1/36036)} · CPC title

• H04R29/008

  Visual indication of individual signal levels (visual indication of stereophonic sound image H04S7/40) · CPC title

• G08B5/22

  using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission · CPC title