Methods and devices for automatic volume control of a far-end voice signal provided to a captioning communication service

A communication device comprising:

• a microphone configured to generate a near-end voice signal;
• communication elements configured to receive a received far-end voice signal through a network from a far-end communication device;
• and a processor operably coupled with the microphone and the communication elements, the processor configured to:
• transmit an audio stream signal including a remote captioning communication service;
• automatically control a volume level of an audio stream signal reproduced by the remote captioning communication service by generating a volume control command responsive to determining which of the near-end voice signal and the received far-end voice signal is active;
• and encode the audio stream signal with the volume control command in packets during transmission thereof to audio processing logic that is part of the remote captioning communication service;
• where the processor is operable to split the far-end voice signal into a first path to a speaker that includes an echo canceller and a second path without an echo canceller to include with the audio stream signal for transmission to the remote captioning communication service.

A method of operating a captioning communication service for hearing-impaired users, the method comprising:

• determining an active talker situation responsive to comparing a near-end voice signal from a near-end communication device and a received far-end voice signal from a far-end communication device;
• transmitting, to a remote captioning, service, an audio stream including the far-end voice signal that is split off from a path prior to being sent to a speaker of the near-end communication device;
• and automatically adjusting a volume level of the audio stream reproduced by
• the remote captioning communication service based on the determined active talker situation by reducing the volume level during a near-end only situation in comparison to a far-end only situation or a double-talk situation;
• where a processor in the near-end communication device canceller and a second path without an echo canceller to include with the audio stream signal for transmission to the remote captioning communication service.

A method of operating a captioning communication service for hearing-impaired users, the method comprising:

• determining an active talker situation responsive to comparing a near-end voice signal from a near-end communication device and a received far-end voice signal from a far-end communication device;
• and automatically adjusting a volume level of an audio stream reproduced by a remote captioning communication service based on the determined active talker situation including generating a volume control command indicating the active talker situation;
• and processing the audio stream according to the volume control command prior to being reproduced, wherein generating the volume control command is performed by the near-end communication device, and processing the audio stream is performed by the remote captioning communication service;
• where a processor in the near-end communication device is operable to split the far-end voice signal into a first path to a speaker that includes an echo canceller and a second path without an echo canceller to include with the audio stream signal for transmission to the remote captioning communication service.

A method of operating a captioning communication service for hearing-impaired users, the method comprising;

• determining an active talker situation responsive to comparing a near-end voice signal from a near-end communication device and a received far-end voice signal from a far-end communication device;
• and automatically adjusting a volume level of an audio stream reproduced by a remote captioning communication service based on the determined active talker situation;
• and packetizing the audio stream with a volume control command and sending the packets to the remote captioning communication service for the remote captioning service to adjust the volume level of the audio stream responsive to the volume control command;
• where a processor in the near-end communication device is operable to split the far-end voice signal into a first path to a speaker that includes an echo canceller and a second path without an echo canceller to include with the audio stream signal for transmission to the remote captioning communication service.

A captioning communication system, comprising:

• a near-end communication device including:
• a microphone configured to capture a near-end voice signal during a communication session with a far-end communication device;
• communication elements configured to receive a far-end voice signal from the far-end communication device during the communication session;
• a speaker configured to reproduce the far-end voice signal;
• an electronic display configured to display text captions during the communication session;
• and a processor operably coupled with the microphone, the communication elements, the speaker, and the electronic display;
• and a remote captioning communication service configured to generate a text transcription of the far-end voice signal during the communication session and transmit the text transcription in real time to the near-end communication device for the text captions to be displayed, wherein at least one of the near-end communication device and the remote captioning communication service is configured to operate:
• a volume control system configured to automatically adjust a volume of an audio stream including an echo portion and a far-end signal portion, the audio stream reproduced by a speaker of the remote captioning communication service at different volume levels responsive to a volume control command identifying which of the far-end voice signal and the near-end voice signal is active at a given time;
• and an echo modifier configured to add distortion to the echo portion to distort the echo portion such that the distortion causes the echo portion to be audibly distinguishable from the far when the audio stream is reproduced by the speaker of the remote captioning communication service;
• where the processor is operable to split the far-end voice signal into a first path to the speaker that includes an echo canceller and a second path without an echo canceller to include with the audio stream signal for transmission to the remote captioning communication service.