Patent ID: 8160265

Claim:
A headphone device comprising: an assembly; a first ear piece and a second ear piece coupled to the assembly, wherein the assembly is operable to facilitate the placement of the first and second ear piece in relation to a user's ears; a motion transducer coupled to the first ear piece or the second ear piece, wherein the motion transducer is operable to measure real-time pitch and roll movement associated with the user's head; an electronic compass coupled to the first ear piece or the second ear piece, wherein the electronic compass is operable to measure real-time yaw movement associated with the user's head; a microphone device coupled to the assembly and operable to detect external sound; and a processing device associated with each of the first ear piece and the second ear piece for processing an audio signal according to a head-related-transfer-function selected from a plurality of head-related-transfer-functions on the basis of the measured pitch, roll, and yaw movement of the user's head, and operable to receive the detected external sound, the processing device mixing the detected external sound with the audio signal, wherein the processed audio signal mixed with the external sound is applied to the first ear piece and second ear piece for generating a virtual three-dimensional sound corresponding to the selected head-related-transfer-function, and wherein in a safety utility mode external sound from a particular direction is amplified by the processing device, and wherein in a preselected sound detection mode external sound of a particular frequency is amplified by the processing device.