Patent ID: 8781142

Claim:
A method for improving auditory experience for a user, the method comprising: receiving ambient sound by way of one or more microphones positioned about a user; comparing phases of two or more microphone inputs to determine one or more directions from which the sound signals are received; based on power and spectral content of a received sound signal, identifying the sound signal as belonging to a first type from among a plurality of types comprising at least one of speech, music or noise; monitoring the user's actions by way of sensing mechanisms with which the user interacts to determine the user's preference for a first type of sound signal received from at least a first direction; based on analyzing the one or more sound signals direction and type in view of the user's interactions when receiving the one or more sound signals, determining that the first type of sound signal received from the at least first direction is interesting to the user, even if the user is not facing the at least first direction; and adaptively processing the sounds signals to enhance the interesting sound signals in a generated audio output by way of beamforming and to suppress the uninteresting sound signals in the generated audio output by way of filtering or noise cancelling.