Compressive hear-through in personal acoustic devices

A method comprising:

• estimating an ambient noise level based on a first input signal captured by a first microphone disposed at a first earbud or earcup of an active noise reduction (ANR) headphone and a second input signal captured by a second microphone disposed at a second earbud or earcup of the ANR headphone;
• determining that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds a threshold level;
• and
• responsive to determining that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds the threshold level, generating, for an ANR signal flow path disposed in each of the first and second earbud or earcup, a gain adjustment signal in accordance with the estimated ambient noise level, such that (i) acoustic outputs from the first and second earbuds or earcups are controlled by the gain adjustment signal and (ii) a degree of ANR processing is controlled by the gain adjustment signal so that an output sound level perceivable by the user increases with an increase in the estimated ambient noise level.

An apparatus comprising:

• a noise reduction headphone that includes:
• a first earbud or earcup, and
• a second earbud or earcup;
• a controller comprising one or more processing devices, the controller configured to:
• estimate an ambient noise level based on a first input signal captured by a first microphone disposed at the first earbud or earcup and a second input signal captured by a second microphone disposed at a second earbud or earcup,
• determine that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds a threshold level, and
• responsive to determining that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds the threshold level, generate for an ANR signal flow path disposed in each of the first and second earbud or earcup, a gain adjustment signal in accordance with the estimated ambient noise level, such that (i) acoustic outputs from the first and second earbuds or earcups are controlled by the gain adjustment signal and (ii) a degree of ANR processing is controlled by the gain adjustment signal so that an output sound level perceivable by the user increases with an increase in the estimated ambient noise level;
• and
• an acoustic transducer in each of the first and second earbud or earcup, the acoustic transducer configured to generate the corresponding acoustic output.

One or more machine-readable storage devices having encoded thereon computer readable instructions for causing one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

• estimating an ambient noise level based on a first input signal captured by a first microphone disposed at a first earbud or earcup of an active noise reduction (ANR) headphone and a second input signal captured by a second microphone disposed at a second earbud or earcup of the ANR headphone;
• determining that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds a threshold level;
• and
• responsive to determining that the estimated ambient noise level exceeds the threshold level, generating, for an ANR signal flow path disposed in each of the first and second earbud or earcup, a gain adjustment signal in accordance with the estimated ambient noise level, such that (i) acoustic outputs from the first and second earbuds or earcups are controlled by the gain adjustment signal and (ii) a degree of ANR processing is controlled by the gain adjustment signal so that an output sound level perceivable by the user increases with an increase in the estimated ambient noise level.