Method and apparatus for tactile transduction of acoustic signals from television receivers

Apparatus for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said apparatus comprising:

• means for providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• signal processing means responsive to said audio signal for passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• wideband tactile transducer means connected to receive said low frequency components from said signal processing means for providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the low frequency components passed by said signal processing means;
• wherein said tactile transducer means comprises a loudspeaker of the permanent magnet moving coil type having a speaker armature for providing said tactually perceptible vibrations;
• wherein said loudspeaker includes a diaphragm vibratable with said armature, and wherein a major portion of said diaphragm is removed to minimize sound waves produced by said diaphragm.

Apparatus for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said apparatus comprising:

• means for providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• signal processing means responsive to said audio signal for passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• wideband tactile transducer means connected to receive said low frequency components from said signal processing means for providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the low frequency components passed by said signal processing means;
• wherein said tactile transducer means comprises a loudspeaker of the permanent magnet moving coil type having a speaker armature for providing said tactually perceptible vibrations;
• and further comprising weighted means secured to said armature for lowering the resonant frequency of said armature.

Apparatus for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said apparatus comprising:

• means for providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• signal processing means responsive to said audio signal for passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• wideband tactile transducer means connected to receive said low frequency components from said signal processing means for providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the low frequency components passed by said signal processing means;
• wherein said means for providing an electrical audio signal comprises:
• a television receiver for receiving a television signal having an audio component, wherein said audio component corresponds to said electrical audio signal;
• and
• transmitting means for transmitting said electrical audio signal to said processing means;
• and
• wherein said television receiver is equipped with captioning means for displaying titles representing speech in said audio component.

Apparatus for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said apparatus comprising:

• means for providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• signal processing means responsive to said audio signal for passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• wideband tactile transducer means connected to receive said low frequency components from said signal processing means for providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the low frequency components passed by said signal processing means;
• and further comprising:
• means responsive to said audio signal for passing high frequency components thereof at frequencies above approximately 2,000 Hz;
• and
• narrow band transducer means responsive to said high frequency component for providing tactually perceptible vibration at a single frequency with an amplitude related to the amplitudes of said high frequency components.

In combination:

• a television receiver for receiving television signals having an audio signal component, said television receiver being equipped with captioning means for displaying titles representing speech in said audio signal component;
• and
• means responsive to said audio signal component for providing tactile vibrations at frequencies equal to frequency components in said audio signal component over a frequency range including at least 50 Hz to 800 Hz. tactile vibrations at frequencies equal to frequency components in
• wherein said means for providing tactile vibrations comprises an electrical signal to mechanical vibration transducer, a housing, means mounting said transducer in said housing to damp out vibrations transmitted between the transducer and housing, and contact means secured to said transducer to vibrate therewith and extending outside said housing to transmit said vibrations to a human body portion.

In combination:

• a television receiver for receiving television signals having an audio signal component, said television receiver being equipped with captioning means for displaying titles representing speech in said audio signal component;
• and
• means responsive to said audio signal component for providing tactile vibrations at frequencies equal to frequency components in said audio signal component over a frequency range including at least 50 Hz to 800 Hz;
• wherein said means for providing tactile vibrations comprises a small d.c. or stepping motor having a rotor in the form of a drive shaft arranged to rotate alternately in opposite directions in response to said audio signal component, the rotation of said drive shaft being limited to a few degrees in each of said directions.

In combination:

• a television receiver for receiving television signals having an audio signal component, said television receiver being equipped with captioning means for displaying titles representing speech in said audio signal component;
• and
• means responsive to said audio signal component for providing tactile vibrations at frequencies equal to frequency components in said audio signal component over a frequency range including at least 50 Hz to 800 Hz;
• wherein said means for providing tactile vibrations comprises a loudspeaker having an armature providing said vibrations in response to said audio signal component.

In combination:

• a television receiver for receiving television signals having an audio signal component, said television receiver being equipped with captioning means for displaying titles representing speech in said audio signal component;
• and
• means responsive to said audio signal component for providing tactile vibrations at frequencies equal to frequency components in said audio signal component over a frequency range including at least 50 Hz to 800 Hz;
• and further comprising a vibrator responsive to high frequency components in said audio signal above approximately 2,000 Hz for providing tactile vibrations at a single frequency with an amplitude related to the amplitudes of said high frequency components.

A method for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• in response to said audio signal, passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the passed low frequency components;
• wherein the step of providing tactually perceptible vibrations includes rotating a small motor drive shaft in alternating directions at frequencies corresponding to the passed low frequency components of said audio signal and through angular displacements representing the amplitudes of said passed low frequency components of said audio signal.

A method for providing tactually perceptible vibrations corresponding to sound, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing an electrical audio signal containing a broad band of audio frequency components representing sound events;
• in response to said audio signal, passing only low frequency components thereof, said low frequency components including the range of 50 Hz to 800 Hz and excluding at least all frequencies above 2,000 Hz;
• and
• providing tactually perceptible vibrations at frequencies equal to the passed low frequency components;
• wherein said step of providing tactually perceptible vibrations includes oscillatorially vibrating the armature of a loudspeaker of the type having a permanent magnet and moving coil;
• and further comprising the step of removing a major portion of the vibratable diaphragm of said loudspeaker to minimize soundwave production by said diaphragm.