Patent ID: 8532987

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring properties of a user's speech production and user's acoustic speech emissions, including a processor for said apparatus signals using an algorithm, and then broadcasting an obscuring acoustic signal diminishing the user's vocal acoustic output intensity or distorting the voice sounds or both diminishing the user's vocal acoustic output intensity and distorting the voice sounds making them unintelligible to persons nearby, wherein the user has apparatus on or near the neck or head skin tissue, comprising: one or more non-acoustic sensors proximate or contacting the user's neck or head skin-tissue for sensing speech production and producing speech-signal timing information, speech type identification information, and apparatus control signals for purposes of producing an obscuring and or canceling acoustic signal, and one or more acoustic sensors for measuring acoustic speech output of said user, for measuring the output of a loudspeaker together with user acoustic speech, and for measuring background noise, and a processor to process signals from said non-acoustic and said acoustic sensors, which employs algorithms for purposes of real time generation and broadcasting of obscuring and/or canceling acoustic signals appropriate to the types of speech being spoken by user, and also to remove noise entering acoustic sensors, and also to store in a memory prior and instant segments of both non-acoustic and acoustic speech signals, as well as obscured speech signals, and background noise signals, and a loudspeaker for generating acoustic signals for the purpose of diminishing the user's vocal acoustic output intensity, or for distorting the voice sounds, or for both diminishing the user's vocal acoustic output intensity and distorting the voice sounds making them unintelligible to persons and instruments nearby, and a second loudspeaker for purposes of transmitting the user's acoustic speech, as detected by an acoustic sensor and after noise is removed, into the user's ear or ears.