Patent ID: 8340309

Claim:
A noise suppressing headset comprising: an earpiece connected to a housing, wherein the earpiece is configured for wear on an ear of a user; a microphone array in the housing, wherein a first microphone of the array is separated from a second microphone of the array by a distance, wherein acoustic noise energy of acoustic signals received by the microphone array is equivalent in each of the first microphone and the second microphone and acoustic speech energy of the acoustic signals is relatively different in each of the first microphone and the second microphone, the acoustic signals originating in an environment of the user; an acoustic vibration sensor in the housing, the acoustic vibration sensor comprising, a protrusion that extends from the housing to contact a skin surface of the user, wherein the acoustic vibration sensor detects human tissue vibration associated with near-end speech of the user, wherein the acoustic vibration sensor comprises a diaphragm positioned adjacent a first port and a second port of the housing; a noise suppression system executing on a processor in the housing, the processor coupled to and using signals from the microphone array and the acoustic vibration sensor to separately identify voiced speech and unvoiced speech of the acoustic signals and denoise the acoustic signals; and a dynamic audio enhancement system executing on the processor and increasing intelligibility of far-end speech, the far-end speech comprising speech received in a far-end signal from a far-end source via a communications channel coupled to the earpiece and the microphone array.