Abstract: A communications headset has a microphone boom that is moveable through various distances from the user's mouth, in which movement of the boom operates electrical, mechanical or acoustic mechanisms to adjust the transmit sensitivity of the headset such that the ratio of the amplitude of the output signal of the headset to the amplitude of the sound pressure at the vicinity of the user's mouth is maintained relatively constant, independently of the position of the microphone boom.

Abstract: A communications headset has a microphone boom that is moveable through various distances from the user's mouth, in which movement of the boom operates electrical, mechanical or acoustic mechanisms to adjust the transmit sensitivity of the headset such that the ratio of the amplitude of the output signal of the headset to the amplitude of the sound pressure at the vicinity of the user's mouth is maintained relatively constant, independently of the position of the microphone boom.

Abstract: Systems and methods for a noise canceling microphone and microphone system are disclosed. The system generally includes a housing with a printed circuit board forming a surface of the housing. Electrical terminals are located on an exterior side of the printed circuit board. A diaphragm is disposed within the housing. A first port in the housing remote from the printed circuit board provides access to one face of the diaphragm first face and a second port disposed in the housing remote from the printed circuit board provides access to a second face of the diaphragm.

Abstract: A headset is disclosed. The headset includes an earpiece, a voice conducting and connecting system and a microphone connected to the voice conducting and connecting system, the microphone being capable of operating in a directional configuration and in an omnidirectional configuration.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a dual-mode earphone is provided, comprising a first earbud including a speaker with a diaphragm and at least one acoustic port in front of the diaphragm, and a cap in front of the speaker. The speaker or the cap is configured to move relative to the other for opening and closing the acoustic port in one embodiment and a movable seal is provided in another embodiment. The earphone further includes a second earbud housing operably coupled to the first earbud opposite the speaker. A method for providing acoustic equalization in a dual-mode earphone is also disclosed.

Abstract: A miniaturized acoustic boom structure includes a microphone boom housing having a wind screen and a microphone pod configured to hold a microphone. The microphone pod has an outer surface secured to an inner surface of the microphone boom housing, an interior having one or more surfaces configured to form an acoustic seal around at least a portion of the periphery of the microphone, and first and second pod port openings. The first and second pod port openings provide sound wave access to opposing sides of a diaphragm of the microphone, and are shaped and spaced away from the first and second microphone ports of the microphone so that an acoustic path length between the first and second pod port openings is greater than an acoustic path length between the first and second microphone ports.

Abstract: Personal audio method and devices, such as headphones, telephone handsets and headsets, with reduced audio leakage are disclosed. The personal audio device generally comprises a housing having a first portion and a second portion and a transducer disposed in the housing and having a first and second opposing sides. A rear volume is defined between the housing second portion and the transducer second side, and a front volume is defined between the housing first portion and the user's ear. The housing has a front acoustic port acoustically connecting the front volume to ambient air and a rear acoustic port acoustically connecting an otherwise sealed rear volume to ambient air. The front and rear acoustic ports may be configured so that their extent is small, e.g., less than 20 or more preferably 10 times the square root of their total acoustic radiating area. The front and rear acoustic ports may be configured so that their acoustic centers are separated by a small distance, e.g.

Abstract: Personal communication method and apparatus, such as telephone handsets and headsets, with acoustic stray field cancellation are disclosed. The personal communications device employs an echo canceling receiver generally including two displacement sources that are not in phase formed by at least one driver, an acoustic cavity corresponding to each displacement source, and an acoustic output port corresponding to and in acoustic connection with each displacement source via the corresponding acoustic cavity such that the acoustic length between the acoustic centers of the two ports is less than the distance between the acoustic center of each port and the acoustic center of the corresponding displacement source to which the port is acoustically connected. In another embodiment, the ports may be such that both ports are located on a same side of a surface of at least one of the displacement sources.

Abstract: A headset is disclosed. The headset includes an earpiece, a voice conducting and connecting system and a microphone connected to the voice conducting and connecting system, the microphone being capable of operating in a directional configuration and in an omnidirectional configuration.

Abstract: A communications headset with a movable microphone boom that extends to different distances from the mouth, where the movement of the boom operates electrical, mechanical or acoustic means to adjust the transmit and/or receive sensitivity of the headset.

Abstract: A sound sensing apparatus such as a communication headset uses a microphone and an acoustic valve controlled by a movable boom to operate in at least a compact and an extended-boom mode, with the valve variously coupling the microphone to different openings on the boom or the main body functioning as the acoustic sensing point.

Abstract: A transducer for detecting vibrations in an object. Multiple pickup coils are utilized which are sensitive to both the vibrations in the string plane and the vibrations perpendicular to the string plane. This system subtracts the signals from the first and second pickups to create a signal representing the vibrations in the string plane and combines the signals from the first pickup and the second pickup for determining the string vibrations perpendicular to the string plane. In one embodiment of the invention, the transducer uses one pole of the pickup as a bridge saddle for supporting the guitar string. The saddle pole of the pickup is constructed from a magnetically permeable material. The saddle pole causes the lines of magnetic flux to be carried in large part by the guitar string and allows for a reduction in the total magnetic energy requirement for the pickup's permanent magnet to reduce the cross talk between adjacent string sensors within a polyphonic pickup.

Abstract: The present invention relates to musical instruments and methods and apparatus for producing notes of a musical scale with real strings. More particularly, it relates to the division by frets, of the fingerboard, or neck, of a fretted stringed musical instrument, to obtain a desired musical scale with a specific set of strings. One embodiment of the invention is described in which the 12-tone equal-tempered scale is accurately produced on a guitar with steel strings having sufficient bending stiffness to cause audible intonation errors inherent in steel-stringed guitars of prior art. According to another embodiment of the invention, the musical scale is additionally tempered to approximate the 12-tone, equal-tempered scale while minimizing audible beats that occur when playing intervals and chords due to inharmonic frequency components inherent in tones generated by vibrating guitar strings. Manufacturing methods with respect to wound strings, and with respect to boundary conditions, are also explained.

Abstract: A loudspeaker system includes an upper frequency assembly that radiates acoustical energy having spectral components in the audio frequency range above a predetermined upper frequency, typically at the high end of the bass frequency range between 150 and 200 Hz. The assembly includes a ported enclosure with a front face enclosing a loudspeaker driver with a cone adjacent to the front face of diameter slightly less than at least one of the height and width of the enclosure.