Patent ID: 8326635

Claim:
An earpiece, comprising: an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to capture ambient sound; an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to capture internal sound in an ear canal; at least one Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) configured to deliver at least one of the ambient sound from the ASM or audio content to the ear canal; a transceiver coupled to a paired communication device, the transceiver configured to receive a notice from the paired communication device indicating a message on the paired communication device; and a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver, the ASM, the ECR, and the ECM, the processor configured to monitor a background noise level proximate to the earpiece, wherein, the processor parses a header in the notice and when at least one keyword in the header matches a predetermined keyword in an acceptance list, the processor is configured to: deliver an audio notification identifying a presence of the message via the ECR; manage an audible delivery of at least a portion of the message to the ear canal via the ECR when an indication is received from a user of the earpiece responsive to the delivered audio notification; and record a response to the message using the ECM of the earpiece to form an ECM signal where the ECM signal has a reduced ambient noise relative to the background noise level, and send the recorded response to one or more people, wherein the processor delays delivery of the audio notification until the background noise level falls below a predetermined threshold.