Patent ID: 8431957

Claim:
A method for controlling consumer exposure to audio dosage for a composite audio signal, the method comprising: sampling the composite audio signal; transforming the sampled audio signal, using a fast fourier transform algorithm, to produce a signal representative of the amplitudes of plural different component frequencies of the sampled audio signal; defining an impulse control threshold profile representing a target maximum amplitude for each of the plural different component frequencies; comparing the transformed audio signal with the impulse control threshold profile to produce a configuring signal representative of the difference between the transformed audio signal and the impulse control threshold profile; using the configuring signal automatically, in real time, to configure the response curve of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter that attenuates the amplitudes of the transformed audio signal in frequency bands centered on the respective ones of the plural different component frequencies at which the target maximum amplitude is exceeded; and outputting the attenuated audio signal for consumer exposure.