4,731,848

43.55. Lb SPATIAL REVERBERATOR

Gary Kendall and William Martens, assignors to Northwestern University

15 March 1988 (Class 381/63); fled 22 October 1984

This is a digital electronic "spatial reverberator" system which at- tempts to provide an acoustically natural reverberant effect electronically. A delay line 20 with taps has two sets of time-delayed outputs. The first set 93 (shorter delays) is used to simulate first order or early reflections. The second set 96 (longer delays) is used to simulate the multiple delays of reverberation. Each member of each set has a "directionalizer" 98 "utilizing pinna cues and other directional cues to simulate reflected sound from var- ious spatial regions." The directionalizers are intended to transform the spectrum of each delayed signal as it would be changed in diffraction by the

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ears and head of the listener when arriving at the angle of the reflected ray from the virtual image for that reflection. However, the patent assumes that the reader already understands these effects and provides no illustrative data. The patent concentrates on the computer aspects of the problem. The outputs are mixed in two groups, "which are then each coupled to a repro- duction transducer or recorder" so that only two channels of reproduction are intended rather than the multichannel reproduction one might expect for a spatial reverberator.--DWM

4,723,324

43.66.Wv COLD WEATHER GLOVE SYSTEM WITH

TACTILE IMPROVEMENT

B. Dean Lassiter, assignor to Burlington Industries, Incorporated 9 February 1988 (Class 2/160); filed 15 October 1986

The object of this patent is the design of a heavily insulated glove that retains tactile sensitivity. The mechanism employed is to replace the insula- tion directly under the fingertips with a plug of material, either Velcro TM, a plastic rod, several plastic pellets, or other material. Replacing the insula- tion with the plug of stiff material is said to retain the thermal qualities of the glove while permitting vibration to be transferred from the exterior to the fingertips.--JE

4,612,664

43.70.Aj ARTIFICIAL SPEECH AID TONE GENERATING DEVICE

John J. Walsh and Michael W. Walsh, assignors to Dacomed Corpora- tion

16 September 1986 (Class 381/70); filed 22 April 1985

This device consists of a pulse-activated vibrating reed that is arranged so as to provide a buzzing sound source for use by persons who have lost the normal operation of the larynx. Although the electrically pulsed reed re- duces the required airflow rate, some airflow through the device is still

needed to maintain an audible sound. The device is described as having both inlet and output orifices for the airflow, but neither the patent text nor the figures make it clear just how the flow is to be arranged. There is a reference to "a pressurized air source (not shown)."--DLR

4,722,163

43.55.Rg VIBRATION-ISOLATING WALL TIE

Philip J. Thornton, Leichardt, Australia, and Carey Molloy, Bankstown, Australia

2 February 1988 (Class 52/713); filed in Australia 12 April 1985

This is a patent for a vibration-isolating wall tie for use between the leaves of two masonry walls. The tie has two parts that overlap in a U- shaped channel, separated by open cell polyurethane or the like.•JR

4,410,763

43.72.Ew SPEECH DETECTOR

Leo Strawczynski and Hing-Fai Lee, assignors to Northern Telecom Limited

18 October 1983 (Class 364/513.5); filed 9 July 1981

This speech signal detector compares the time-averaged signal level to an adaptive threshold level to determine when speech is present. If the signal average exceeds the threshold during either a delay period or a following

800 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 84(2), Aug. 1988; 0001-4966/88/080800-02500.80; @ 1988 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Patent Reviews 800

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