Patent ID: 7822212
Filing Date: 2010-10-26
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
1. A system for amplifying a sound in an auditory environment, the system comprising: a microphone that transforms said sound to an electric sound signal; a band-pass filter unit, connected to said microphone, receiving said sound signal, filtering the sound signal according to a frequency pass band determined by an upper cutoff frequency and a lower cutoff frequency, and outputting the filtered sound signal; and an amplifier receiving said filtered sound signal, determining an amplification gain as a function of the pass band width, amplifying said filtered sound signal according to said amplification gain, and outputting the filtered and amplified sound signal to a loudspeaker; where the band-pass filter unit includes a plurality of band-pass filters, each of said plurality of band-pass filters with a distinct pass band bounded by a set of lower and upper cutoff frequencies, and where the band-pass filter unit also includes a switch that switches between said plurality of filters such that only one of said plurality of band-pass filters is applied to filter the sound signal at any time, and also switches between a plurality of distinct amplification gains of said amplifier, where each distinct amplification gain is associated with a distinct pass band such that a distinct amplification gain may only be applied to amplify the filtered sound signal when its associated pass band is switched to filter the sound signal.