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United States Patent | 4,499,339 |
Richard | February 12, 1985 |
An apparatus and a method modulate a carrier signal so that the resultant modulated signal varies between a value substantially equal to the quiescent level of the carrier signal and peak values up to several hundred percent of the quiescent level of the carrier signal. The apparatus includes an electrical circuit for adjusting the modulating signal so that it is clamped at a reference value to prevent overmodulation. The clamped signal controls a variable resistance mechanism which forms a part of the gain determining portion of a modulator circuit including an amplifier. The amplifier modulates the carrier signal in accordance with the gain determined by the variable resistance. The variable resistance is controlled by the clamped signal so that it causes the gain of the amplifier circuit to vary between approximately one and a value greater than one. So that the apparatus can be used by a person having a hearing impediment wherein the dynamic range detectable by the user is less than the dynamic range detectable by a normal ear, the apparatus also includes a circuit which compresses a detected acoustical signal which is within a first dynamic range into an electrical modulating signal within a dynamic range which is smaller than the first dynamic range and which is within the dynamic range perceivable by the user of the apparatus.
Inventors: | Richard; Gordon L. (Minco, OK) |
Assignee: |
Baptist Medical Center of Oklahoma, Inc.
(Oklahoma City,
OK)
|
Appl. No.: | 06/444,460 |
Filed: | November 24, 1982 |
Current U.S. Class: | 607/55 ; 332/149 |
Current International Class: | H03C 1/02 (20060101); H03C 1/00 (20060101); H04R 25/00 (20060101); H04R 025/00 () |
Field of Search: | 179/17R,17FD 128/784 381/67 333/31R,16R |
2066970 | January 1937 | Fyler |
4052572 | October 1977 | Schafer |
4063048 | December 1977 | Kissiah |
0054450 | Nov., 1980 | EP | |||