Voice Communication Device, Signal Processing Device and Hearing Protection Device Incorporating Same

A method for processing signals comprising

• transforming a received signal into the subband domain;
• passing the received signal into a first signal path and a second signal path, the first signal path being decoupled from the second signal path;
• applying automatic gain control to the signal in the first signal path only;
• determining filters in one or more signal processing means in the first signal path, combining the filters to generate one or more overall filters which are applied to the signal in the second signal path to generate a processed signal;
• and
• synthesising the processed signal into a fullband representation.

A hearing protection device comprising a signal processing device comprising

• a signal analyser for transforming a received signal into the subband domain;
• a first signal path and a second signal path, the first signal path being decoupled from the second signal path, whereby the first signal path and second signal path are arranged to pass the received signal;
• only the first signal path includes automatic gain control, the first signal path further includes one or more signal processing means to determine filters therein, the signal in the first signal path being passed from the automatic gain control to the one or more signal processing means to enable determination of the filters, the filters determined by the one or more signal processing means being combined to generate one or more overall filters which are applied to the signal in the second signal path to generate a processed signal;
• and a signal synthesiser for synthesising the processed signal into a fullband representation.