System and method of detecting a user's voice activity using an accelerometer

A system detecting a user's voice activity comprising:

• a headset including a pair of earbuds, wherein the pair of earbuds includes at least one earbud microphone and at least one accelerometer to detect vibration of the user's vocal chords;
• a voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the headset, the VAD to generate a VAD output based on (i) acoustic signals received from the at least one earbud microphone and (ii) data output by the at least one accelerometer,
• wherein the VAD generates a microphone VAD (VADm) output based on the acoustic signals and generates an accelerometer VAD (VADa) output based on the data output by the at least one accelerometer, wherein the VAD output is based on the VADm output and the VADa output,
• wherein the VAD generates the VAD output by:
• detecting speech included in the acoustic signals, and setting the VADm output to indicate that speech is detected in the acoustic signals,
• detecting the vibrations of the user's vocal chords from the data output by the at least one accelerometer, and setting the VADa output to indicate that the user's voiced speech is detected,
• computing the coincidence of the VADm output being set to indicate detected speech in acoustic signals and the VADa output being set to indicate detected vibrations of the user's vocal chords, and
• setting the VAD output to indicate that the user's voiced speech is detected if the coincidence is detected and setting the VAD output to indicate that the user's voiced speech is not detected if the coincidence is not detected;
• and
• a noise suppressor coupled to the headset and the VAD, the noise suppressor to suppress noise based on the VAD output.