Active hearing protection device and method therefore

A hearing protection device for protecting an ear of a user while reducing an occlusion effect and/or an isolation effect induced by the hearing protection device, the device comprising:

• an earpiece for being located into the ear for occluding an ear canal of the ear, said earpiece having an inner-ear microphone (IEM) for being in fluid communication with the occluded ear canal, an outer-ear microphone (OEM) for being in fluid communication with an adjacent environment outside the ear, and a receiver for being in fluid communication with the occluded ear canal;
• and
• a controller connecting to the inner-ear microphone (IEM) to receive an internal signal therefrom over a predetermined frequency range and to the outer-ear microphone (OEM) to receive an external signal therefrom over the predetermined frequency range, said controller digitally actively processing the internal and external signals taking into account individual acoustic characteristics of the occluded ear canal and sending a processed signal to the receiver, the processed signal and the internal signal producing an actual signal having an actual sound pressure level distribution being uniformly attenuated over the predetermined frequency range relative to a corresponding virtual sound pressure level distribution of a virtual signal that would be heard by the ear of the user with an non-occluded ear, the actual signal compensating for occlusion (OE) and/or isolation (IE) effects of the earpiece.