Abstract: A wake up alarm providing device (10) is provided, comprising a sound producing unit (11) and a control unit (12), coupled to the sound producing unit (11). The sound producing unit (11) is arranged to provide an audible wake up signal during an alert period. The control unit (12) controls the wake up signal to comprise a diffuse sound during a first part of the alert period and to comprise a localized sound during a subsequent part of the alert period.

Abstract: A multi-channel acoustic echo canceller arrangement comprises a microphone (111) providing a microphone signal having contributions from at least two audio sources (107, 109) to be cancelled. An echo canceling circuit (113, 115) performs echo cancellation of the two audio sources (107, 109) based on channel estimates for channels from each of the audio sources (107, 109) to the microphone (111). An estimation circuit (117) generates each of the channel estimates as a combination of a previous channel estimate and a channel estimate update where the combination includes applying a relative weight to the channel estimate update relative to the previous channel estimate. A weight processor 119 varies the relative weight in response to a time value. The arrangement may provide improved echo-cancellation for scenarios wherein the rendering of sound from the audio sources (107, 109) is time varying, such as when time varying decorrelation filters are used.

Abstract: The invention proposes extracting one or more speech signals (151-154) as well as one or more ambient signals (131) from sound signals captured by microphones, wherein each of the speech signals corresponds to a different speaker. The invention proposes to transmit both the one or more speech signals (151-154) and the one or more ambient signals (131) to a rendering side, as opposed to sending only speech signals. This enables to reproduce the speech and ambient signals in a spatially different way at the rendering side. By reproducing the ambient signals a feeling of “being together” is created. In an embodiment, the invention enables reproducing two or more speech signals spatially from each other and from the ambient signals so that speech intelligibility is increased despite the presence of the ambient signals.

Abstract: A wake up alarm providing device (10) is provided, comprising a sound producing unit (11) and a control unit (12), coupled to the sound producing unit (11). The sound producing unit (11) is arranged to provide an audible wake up signal during an alert period. The control unit (12) controls the wake up signal to comprise a diffuse sound during a first part of the alert period and to comprise a localized sound during a subsequent part of the alert period.

Abstract: A multi-channel acoustic echo canceller arrangement comprises a microphone (111) providing a microphone signal having contributions from at least two audio sources (107, 109) to be cancelled. An echo canceling circuit (113, 115) performs echo cancellation of the two audio sources (107, 109) based on channel estimates for channels from each of the audio sources (107, 109) to the microphone (111). An estimation circuit (117) generates each of the channel estimates as a combination of a previous channel estimate and a channel estimate update where the combination includes applying a relative weight to the channel estimate update relative to the previous channel estimate. A weight processor 119 varies the relative weight in response to a time value. The arrangement may provide improved echo-cancellation for scenarios wherein the rendering of sound from the audio sources (107, 109) is time varying, such as when time varying decorrelation filters are used.

Abstract: The invention proposes extracting one or more speech signals (151-154) as well as one or more ambient signals (131) from sound signals captured by microphones, wherein each of the speech signals corresponds to a different speaker. The invention proposes to transmit both the one or more speech signals (151-154) and the one or more ambient signals (131) to a rendering side, as opposed to sending only speech signals. This enables to reproduce the speech and ambient signals in a spatially different way at the rendering side. By reproducing the ambient signals a feeling of “being together” is created. In an embodiment, the invention enables reproducing two or more speech signals spatially from each other and from the ambient signals so that speech intelligibility is increased despite the presence of the ambient signals.