Ambient sound enhancement based on hearing profile and acoustic noise cancellation

A method for sound enhancement by an against the ear audio device that can produce anti-noise for acoustic noise cancellation, the method comprising:

• amplifying and reproducing ambient sound by an against the ear audio device in accordance with a hearing profile of a user of the against the ear audio device, wherein the ambient sound is in an acoustic environment of the against the ear audio device;
• producing by an acoustic noise cancellation processor of the against the ear audio device an anti-noise signal while reproducing the ambient sound;
• while reproducing the ambient sound and producing the anti-noise signal, detecting by an ambient sound analyzer of the against the ear audio device that the ambient sound changes from quiet to loud, the ambient sound analyzer comprises at least one of a noise profile analyzer or an automatic sound event detector;
• and
• in response to detecting that the ambient sound changes from quiet to loud, automatically raising by the processor a level of the anti-noise signal being produced.

An audio headset having acoustic noise cancellation capability, the audio headset comprising:

• a left headphone speaker;
• a right headphone speaker;
• a processor;
• and
• memory having stored therein instructions that configure the processor to
• a) drive the left headphone speaker or the right headphone speaker so as to amplify and reproduce ambient sound in accordance with a hearing profile of a user of the headset, wherein the ambient sound is in an acoustic environment of the headset,
• b) drive the left headphone speaker or the right headphone speaker to produce anti-noise in accordance with an anti-noise signal that is produced by an acoustic noise cancellation process, while reproducing the ambient sound;
• c) while the ambient sound is being reproduced according to a) and the anti-noise is being produced according to b), automatically detect by at least one of a noise profile analyzer or an automatic sound event detector that the ambient sound changes from quiet to loud, and
• d) in response to detecting that the ambient sound changes from quiet to loud, automatically raise a level of the anti-noise signal that is driving the left headphone speaker or the right headphone speaker.