JPH09248282A - Throat vibration sensor and signal output equipment from organism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to detect a plurality of organism signals by simple equipment with low noise. SOLUTION: This throat vibration sensor 11 is equipped with a band shaped elastic body 2 surrounding a neck or a head and having both ends to approach a throat and acceleration sensors on both ends of the elastic body 2. The acceleration sensors abut on a throat to detect the organism vibration generating at the throat and output vibration signals. An extraction circuit which received the vibration signals performs frequency analysis and separates them into voice signals, pulse signals, and other components (such as respiration signals).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a throat vibration sensor for simultaneously outputting a plurality of biological signals and a biological signal output device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent game machines using a computer, a physiological signal of a player is fed back to a game development process to progress the game. The change of the pulse is adopted as one of the physiological signals at this time, and the light (wavelength around 670 nm or around 910 nm) emitted from the light source by the power source is incident on the human body and changed by the blood flow. The amount of light is detected by the light receiving element. The heartbeat cycle of each moment of the player is constantly measured, and the pulse rate per minute is obtained for each beat from the reciprocal of the heart rate.

A change in respiratory rate is adopted as another physiological signal, and a strain gauge is attached to the abdomen of a human body, and the respiratory rate is detected from the change in output voltage of the strain gauge deformed by the movement of the peritoneum. Or just stick the thermistor just before the nostril,
The respiratory rate was detected from the cycle of the change in resistance. Still another physiological signal is the change in the voice uttered by the human body, but the voice is detected by a normal microphone.

[0004]

In the conventional detection of physiological signals, a pulse sensor is used for pulse rate, a strain gauge or thermistor is used for respiration rate, and a microphone is used for voice. It was necessary to attach different sensors and equipment for each type of. Microphones that record audio tend to pick up noise from the outside, and the adopted audio signal has low accuracy. Therefore, detection of a plurality of physiological signals has been troublesome. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to simultaneously detect a plurality of physiological signals with high accuracy by a simple device.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
The support member brings the acceleration sensor into contact with the throat. The acceleration sensor comes into contact with the throat, detects biological vibration at the throat, and outputs a vibration signal in a wide frequency band. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the support member is composed of a band-shaped elastic body that surrounds the neck or the head and has both ends approaching the throat. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the throat vibration sensor, the support member, and the vibration signal are frequency-analyzed, and the sound signal, the heartbeat signal, and other components such as the respiratory signal are separated and output. And an extraction circuit for This allows multiple physiological signals to be detected simultaneously with a simple device.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, a perspective view of a neck-hanging type throat vibration sensor 11 is shown, and 2 is a collar-shaped elastic body as a supporting member, such as metal, plastic, or rubber. Acceleration sensors 4 and 5 are attached to each. In this example,
Although the acceleration sensor 4 is a piezoelectric acceleration sensor and the acceleration sensor 5 is a semiconductor acceleration sensor, the same type may be used. The acceleration sensors 4 and 5 have different frequency ranges to be covered. For example, one acceleration sensor 4 has a wide range of 1 Hz to several KHz, and the other acceleration sensor 5 includes DC in a low frequency range. A slider 20 is provided at the center of the elastic body 2 to adjust the size by sliding and fixing the elastic body 2 according to the thickness of the neck. In FIGS. 2 and 3, 1 is the neck of the human body, 3 is the head of the human body, and a state in which a throat vibration sensor 11 is applied to the neck 1 is shown.

The neck 1 of the human body has a respiratory trachea, vocal cords for vocalization, thick veins and arteries, and the surface of the neck 1 vibrates as the trachea works and the vocal cords vibrate during breathing or vocalization. Further, the heartbeat is largely transmitted to the thick veins and arteries, and the pumping action of the heart causes the heartbeat to vibrate and the surface of the neck 1 vibrates. When both ends of the elastic body 2 are spread and hung around the neck 1, the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 just come into soft contact with the throat.

Since the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 are small and hard, they are mounted by being embedded on the sponge bases 6 and 7 so that their surfaces are flat, so that the contact with the throat is lightened. The piezoelectric acceleration sensor 4 is composed of a piezo element, and when the piezo crystal is deformed or strained by an external force (vibration of the surface of the neck 1), a weak potential fluctuation is generated at both ends. On the other hand, the semiconductor acceleration sensor 5 is an acceleration sensor manufactured by three-dimensionally processing a silicon substrate, and the DC component of acceleration can be taken out as a potential through a change in resistance. The fluctuation of the potential detected by these acceleration sensors is a vibration signal, and the vibration signals from the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 are taken out from the cable 8 to the outside. The acceleration sensors 4 and 5 detect the vibration of a wide range of frequencies in response to the vibration of the throat and detect the vibration signal S.
And S1 are output.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a headphone type throat vibration sensor 11, 12 is a U-shaped elastic body, and acceleration sensors 4, 5 are attached to both ends thereof. The U-shaped elastic body 12 is in the shape of a headphone set, and when both ends of the elastic body 12 are spread and hung on the head 3, the acceleration sensors 4, 5 are formed as shown in FIGS. Just touches the throat softly. By fixing the acceleration sensor section with double-sided adhesive tape or the like in this state, stable measurement can be performed throughout the game. The U-shaped elastic body can be replaced with the headphone set itself.

Also in this case, since the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 are small and hard, they are mounted on the sponge bases 6 and 7 fixed to both sides of the elastic body 12 to reduce the contact with the throat. The vibration signals from the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 are taken out from the cable 8 to the outside. Further, here, when the elastic bodies 9 and 10 which are softer are attached to both ends of the elastic body 12 and the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 and the sponge bases 6 and 7 are attached thereon, the contact with the throat becomes softer. A circular soft sponge 13 may be attached to the center of the elastic body 12 to stabilize the attachment of the elastic body 12 to the head 3.

One of the acceleration sensors, for example the acceleration sensor 4
Responds to the vibration of the throat, that is, the vibration that responds to the movement of the pulse, the voice vibration of utterance or screaming, and other vibrations, and detects the vibration of a wide range of frequencies and outputs the vibration signal S. The other acceleration sensor 5 is a low frequency component or DC associated with breathing.
It detects various throat movements including components and outputs a signal S1 and also provides control (baseline) data for evaluating the vibration signal S. Acceleration sensor 4,
5, the elastic body 2 (12) and the cable 8 constitute a basic throat vibration sensor 11.

Now, as shown in FIG. 7, the vibration signal S is composed of a pulse signal Ss due to pulsation vibration and a voice signal So due to vocalization or screaming voice vibration. Also, the signal S
1 is composed of a respiratory signal component due to a breathing motion and a component due to other throat movements. The respiratory signal Sk is generated by respiratory vibration whose main element is the movement of the throat of approximately 0.2 to 0.5 Hz. The pulse signal Ss is caused by the heartbeat vibration and is generated by the pulse vibration of about 1 Hz. The voice signal So is a wide range of vibration from approximately 60 Hz to 8 KHz, and is generated by the vibration of the voice due to an intentional utterance or an abrupt scream accompanied by the elevation of emotion.

In FIG. 7, the vibration signals S and S1 output from the throat vibration sensor 11 are sent to the extraction circuit 15. The extraction circuit 15 analyzes the frequency spectrum, separates the respiratory signal Sk, the pulse signal Ss, and the audio signal So into components and outputs them to the outside. The throat vibration sensor 11 and the extraction circuit 15 constitute a biological signal output device 18. Now, the respiratory signal Sk, the pulse signal Ss, and the audio signal So are fed back to the game machine 16, for example. The player operates the controller 17 to play the game on the screen of the game machine 15, and the vibration sensor 11 of the throat is hung on the neck of the player.

Therefore, the respiratory signal S of the player's biological signal
k, the pulse signal Ss, and the audio signal So are fed back to the game machine 16 as feedback signals simultaneously or selectively. In this way, multiple physiological signals can be easily and accurately retrieved simultaneously. In the present application, in particular, the sound signal does not detect the sound wave or voice emitted from the mouth as the vibration of the air but directly detects the vibration of the throat, so that the detection energy becomes large and the influence of noise is increased with respect to other external sounds. It can be kept to a minimum.

In this embodiment, two acceleration sensors having different frequency characteristics are used and attached to both ends of the elastic body. However, these two sensors are gathered on one side of the elastic body and the other end is fixed. Of course, it does not exclude the use of parts. Further, if acceleration sensors having frequency characteristics and sensitivities suitable for pulse vibration, voice vibration, and respiratory vibration are respectively adopted, at least three acceleration sensors will be used. On the other hand, it is fully conceivable to perform all the operations with one acceleration sensor in a game in which accuracy does not matter. In the present proposal, these may be any.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a neck-mounted type throat vibration sensor of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a state in which a neck hanging type throat vibration sensor is put on.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a state where a neck-hanging type throat vibration sensor is mounted.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a headphone type throat vibration sensor of the first invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state where a headphone type throat vibration sensor is applied.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which a headphone type throat vibration sensor is applied.

FIG. 7 is a block circuit diagram of a biological signal output device of a second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Neck 2, 12 Elastic body 3 Head 4, 5 Acceleration sensor 6, 7, 13 Sponge 8 Cable 9, 10 Elastic body 11 Throat vibration sensor 15 Extraction circuit 16 Game machine 17 Controller 18 Biological signal output device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vibration sensor for a throat, wherein an acceleration sensor is brought into contact with the throat by a supporting member, and the acceleration sensor detects a biological vibration of the throat and outputs a vibration signal. 2. The support member is made of a band-shaped elastic body that surrounds a neck or a head and has both ends approaching the throat, and the acceleration sensor is provided at both ends or one of the elastic bodies. The throat vibration sensor according to claim 1. 3. An acceleration sensor is brought into contact with the throat by a support member, and the acceleration sensor detects a biological vibration of the throat and outputs a vibration signal, and a frequency analysis is performed on the vibration signal, A biological signal output device comprising an audio signal, a heartbeat signal, and an extraction circuit for separating and outputting other components such as a respiratory signal.