Tooth-magnet microphone for high noise environments
OwnerChris M. Wieland, Mark E. Yagerinventors
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Abstract
A microphone structure and method of operation that senses a user's speech as represented by vibrations of the jaw sensed by an electrically passive component mounted on a user's tooth. A permanent magnet is attached to the user's tooth and vibrates as the user's tooth and jaw vibrate in response to the user's speech (or other sounds). A coil senses changes in the magnetic flux in proportion to the vibration of the magnet and thus senses the user's speech. No wired connection is required to sense the vibrations of the tooth/jaw as compared to prior techniques and no electrical power is required within the user's mouth as compared to prior techniques.
Claims18
A microphone comprising:
- a permanent magnet attached to a user's tooth wherein the permanent magnet vibrates with the tooth to which it is attached;
- a coil positioned external to the user's mouth and proximate the permanent magnet wherein the coil is configured to convert changes of magnetic flux produced by vibrations of the permanent magnet into electrical signals representing sounds produced by the user.
A method for sensing sounds generated by a speaker, the method comprising:
- attaching a permanent magnet to a tooth of the speaker wherein the permanent magnet is attached so as to vibrate with the speaker's tooth in response to sounds generated by the speaker;
- positioning a coil external to the speaker's mouth and proximate the permanent magnet;
- and
- sensing electrical signals generated by the coil responsive to changes in magnetic flux generated by vibrations of the permanent magnet such that the sensed electrical signals are representative of the sounds produced by the speaker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.