JP6880880B2 - Headphones - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to headphones.

In recent years, portable external devices such as smartphones have become widespread. In many cases, the user wears headphones and listens to music or the like output from the external device at a volume set by the user himself / herself. In addition, so-called noise-canceling headphones that reduce ambient sounds and allow users to listen to music and the like are also becoming widespread (see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2017-005413

Not limited to noise-canceling headphones, users wearing general headphones may be forced to listen to peripheral sounds while listening to music output from an external device. For this reason, it is conceivable that the ambient sound is picked up by a microphone and listened to together with the music or the like, but depending on the conditions, it becomes difficult to hear the music or the like.
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and one of the purposes thereof is to make it difficult to hear music or the like when listening to peripheral sounds together with music or the like output from an external device. The purpose is to provide technology to prevent it.

In order to achieve the above object, the headphone according to one aspect of the present invention emits sound based on a microphone that collects ambient sound and outputs a sound collection signal, and the sound collection signal and an input signal from an external device. It is characterized by including a sounding body that makes a sound and a volume changing unit that changes the volume of the picked-up signal according to the volume of the ambient sound picked up by the microphone.

It is a figure which shows the headphone which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a headphone. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the headphone which concerns on application / modification example.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a headphone 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in this figure, the headphone 1 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and includes a headphone unit 5L for the left ear, a headphone unit 5R for the right ear, and a headband 3 for connecting the headphone units 5L and 5R. Have.

The headband 3 is formed of an elastic metal, resin, or the like to form an outer shape that draws an arc in the longitudinal direction. In each of the headphone units 5L and 5R, an annular and elastic ear pad 10 is provided inside the arc in the headband 3.

In the headphone unit 5L, the sounding body 12L is provided substantially in the center of the annulus on the ear pad 10. A microphone 14L and a dial 16a are provided on the side surface of the cylinder in the headphone unit 5L, and the cord 18 is pulled out from the side surface.
The code 18 inputs a stereo signal supplied from an external device. In the present embodiment, the stereo signal is input by wire via the code 18, but it may be received wirelessly by infrared rays, wirelessly, or the like.
Further, in the headphone unit 5R, the sounding body 12R is provided at substantially the center of the annulus of the ear pad 10, and the microphone 14R is provided on the side surface of the cylinder.

Each of the sounding bodies 12L and 12R converts an electric signal into a sound which is vibration of air and outputs the sound, and a speaker is typically used.
The microphone 14L collects the peripheral sound of the headphone unit 5L. The same applies to the microphone 14R, which collects the peripheral sound of the headphone unit 5R.

The dial 16a is a knob for adjusting the volume set by the user. In the example shown in the figure, the volume is set by the user rotating the dial 16a. For example, a push button for increasing the volume and a push button for decreasing the volume are provided, and the number of times the push button is pressed or the pressing time of the push button is provided. The volume may be set according to the above.

When wearing the headphone 1, the user holds the headphone units 5L and 5R to widen the arc of the headband 3 and puts each of the ear pads 10 on his or her auricle. The ear pads 10 attached to each of the headphone units 5L and 5R generate a restoring force that tries to bring the ends closer to each other due to the elasticity of the headband 3, so that a lateral pressure is applied to the user's head. Due to this lateral pressure, the headphone 1 is held in a predetermined position when worn.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the headphone 1. As shown in this figure, the headphone 1 includes sounding bodies 12L, 12R, microphones 14L, 14R, code 18, volume changing unit 20, adjusting unit 30, multipliers 52L, 52R, adders 53L, 53R, amplifier 54L, and the like. Includes 54R, 55L and 55R.

In the headphone 1, the signal processing of the left channel and the signal processing of the right channel in the stereo signal are almost the same. Therefore, first, the system for processing the left channel will be described first.
Of the stereo signals input via the code 18, the signal Lin for the left channel is supplied to the adjusting unit 30. The adjusting unit 30 includes a multiplier 32L, 32R and a coefficient output unit 34, of which the multiplier 32L is the input end of the adder 53L by multiplying the signal Lin by the coefficient α supplied from the coefficient output unit 34. Supply to one side. The coefficient output unit 34 outputs the coefficient α according to the setting of the dial 16a.
The adder 53L adds the multiplication signal by the multiplier 52L to the multiplication signal by the multiplier 32L and supplies it to the amplifier 54L. The amplifier 54L amplifies the multiplication signal by the adder 53L at a predetermined amplification factor and supplies the multiplication signal to the sounding body 12L.

On the other hand, the microphone 14L collects the peripheral sound of the headphone unit 5L and supplies the sound collecting signal to the amplifier 55L. The amplifier 55L amplifies the sound pick-up signal from the microphone 14L and supplies it as a signal Lam to the volume changing unit 20 and the multiplier 52L, respectively. The multiplier 52L multiplies the signal Lam by the coefficient β supplied from the volume changing unit 20 and supplies the signal to the other end of the input end of the adder 53L.

The system for processing the right channel in the stereo signal is the same as that for the left channel. That is, the multiplier 32R in the adjusting unit 30 multiplies the signal Rin for the right channel by the coefficient α in the stereo signal input via the code 18, and the adder 53R multiplies the multiplier signal by the multiplier 32R with the multiplier. The multiplier signal by the 52R is added, and the amplifier 54R amplifies the addition signal by the adder 53R at a predetermined amplification factor and supplies it to the sounding body 12R.
On the other hand, the microphone 14R picks up the peripheral sound of the headphone unit 5R, and the amplifier 55R amplifies the sound picked up signal by the microphone 14R and supplies it as a signal Ram to the volume changing unit 20 and the multiplier 52L, respectively, and the multiplier 52R. Multiplies the signal Ram by the coefficient β and supplies it to the other end of the input end of the adder 53R.

The volume changing unit 20 supplies the adders 53L and 53R with a coefficient β having a magnitude corresponding to the amplitude (volume) of the signals Lam and Ram. Specifically, the volume changing unit 20 sets the coefficient β to “1” when the average volume of the signals Lam and Ram is less than the threshold value, and sets the coefficient β to the threshold value when the average volume is equal to or more than the threshold value. The coefficient β is reduced as the difference between the two increases.

Next, the operation of the headphone 1 will be described.
At the start of use, the coefficient α set on the dial 16a is supplied to the multipliers 32L and 34R by the coefficient output unit 34. At the start of use, the volume changing unit 20 outputs an initial value (for example, “1” as described above) as a coefficient β.
Therefore, the stereo signal Lin (Rin) supplied from the external device is multiplied by the multiplier 32L (32R) according to the setting of the operation of the dial 16a by the user, while the microphone 14L (14R) is used. The coefficient β “1” is multiplied by the multiplier 52L (52R) by the signal obtained by amplifying the sound collection signal.
Since the sounding body 12L (12R) sounds based on the signal obtained by adding the multiplication signal of the multiplier 32L (32R) and the multiplication signal of the multiplier 52L (52R), the user can use the external device at the volume set by himself / herself. You will hear the ambient sound along with the stereo sound of.

When the user is listening to the stereo sound and the volume picked up by the microphones 14L and 14R becomes louder than the threshold value, the volume changing unit 20 sets the coefficient β, and the larger the difference from the threshold value, the more “ Make it smaller than 1 ”. Therefore, the level of the signal supplied to the other of the input ends of the adder 53L (53R) becomes small.

For example, suppose a user wears headphones that do not adjust the volume of peripheral sounds and plays an instrument while listening to stereo sound from an external device. In this case, if the volume of the instrument played by oneself is relatively loud, the peripheral sound will be relatively loud even though the volume setting of the stereo sound from the external device is constant. A situation may occur in which the sound becomes difficult to hear.
On the other hand, when the headphone 1 according to the present embodiment is worn, if the volume of the musical instrument played by the player is relatively high, the volume of the peripheral sound is changed to be low, so that the stereo sound of the external device can be heard. It is possible to prevent it from becoming difficult to take.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various applications and modifications as described below are possible, for example. It should be noted that one or a plurality of arbitrarily selected modes of application / modification described below can be appropriately combined.

As shown in FIG. 3, the coefficient β may be supplied to the coefficient output unit 34.
In this configuration, if the coefficient β is less than “1”, the coefficient output unit 34 changes the coefficient α from the value corresponding to the setting of the dial 16a and outputs the coefficient α.
If the coefficient β is less than “1”, the coefficient output unit 34 may greatly change the coefficient α from the value corresponding to the setting of the dial 16a, or may change it so as to be smaller. A configuration with a large change makes it easier to hear the stereo sound of an external device, and a configuration with a small change makes it easier to hear the peripheral sound.

Further, the microphones 14L and 14R may be used for a function of canceling ambient sounds (noise canceling). Specifically, the sound pick-up signal by the microphone 14L is reversed in phase (polarity is inverted), the reverse phase signal and the signal Lin are added, and the sound collection signal by the microphone 14R is reversed in phase, and the reverse phase is obtained. The signal and the signal Rin may be added to each other. According to this configuration, it is possible to reduce the ambient sound perceived by the user.
Even if the noise canceling function is provided, if the ambient sound picked up by the microphones 14L and 14R is equal to or higher than the threshold value, the configuration is changed so that the volume of the ambient sound is reduced. Absent.

Further, in the embodiment, the microphone 14L for the left channel and the microphone 14R for the right channel are provided, but only one of the microphones 14L and 14R may be provided. That is, a signal obtained by multiplying the amplified signal of only one of the microphones 14L or 14R by the coefficient β may be added to the multiplier signal of the multiplier 32L and the multiplication signal of the multiplier 32R, respectively.

In the above-described embodiment, the following aspects are grasped from the viewpoint of preventing the music or the like from becoming difficult to hear when the peripheral sound is heard together with the music or the like output from the external device.

First, a microphone that picks up ambient sound and outputs a pick-up signal, a sounding body that emits sound based on the pick-up signal and an input signal from an external device, and a peripheral sound picked up by the microphone. A headphone characterized by including a volume changing unit that changes the volume of the sound pick-up signal according to the volume is grasped.

The headphone may include an adjusting unit that adjusts the volume of the input signal and supplies it to the sounding body, and the volume changing unit may be configured to change the volume of the input signal adjusted by the adjusting unit.

1 ... Headphones, 3 ... Headband, 5L, 5R ... Headphone unit, 10 ... Ear pads, 12L, 12R ... Sounding body, 14L, 14R ... Microphone, 20 ... Volume change section, 30 ... Adjustment section.

Claims (1)

With a microphone that picks up ambient sounds
An adjustment unit that adjusts the volume of the input signal from an external device to the set volume,
If the volume of the ambient sound picked up by the microphone is equal to or higher than the threshold value, the volume change unit for changing the volume of the pick-up signal of the microphone to a low level and changing the volume of the input signal from the set volume,
A sounding body that produces sound based on an input signal whose volume has been adjusted by the adjusting unit and a sound collecting signal whose volume has been changed.
Headphones characterized by being equipped with.

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