KAZOO DEVICES PRODUCING A PLEASING MUSICAL SOUND |
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| 申请号 | US13792256 | 申请日 | 2013-03-11 | 公开(公告)号 | US20140256218A1 | 公开(公告)日 | 2014-09-11 |
| 申请人 | Spyridon Kasdas; | 发明人 | Spyridon Kasdas; | ||||
| 摘要 | Kazoo devices according to a new kazoo concept, having novel composite vibrating diaphragms configured to vibrate at regular vibrating modes, including electronic audio processing and mixing of the processed audio signal, with a background audio signal.A method of transforming a person's humming to a pleasing musical sound, including converting the humming sound of a person to audio signal, electronically processing the audio signal, the processed signal serving as an input to other audio devices, or being directly converted to a pleasing kazoo instrumental sound, acoustically perceived as a sound of a saxophone, the processed signal being optionally mixed with a background audio signal.Several embodiments are illustrated as examples of kazoo devices and kazoo musical instruments, according to this concept and method. | ||||||
| 权利要求 | What is claimed is: |
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| 说明书全文 | This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 61/618,803, filed Apr. 1, 2012 by Spyridon Kasdas, which is incorporated by reference. Not Applicable Not Applicable This invention relates generally to musical toys and instruments and relates more particularly to improvements in musical instruments.
The term kazoo refers to devices including a diaphragm that vibrates sympathetically in response to sound waves produced from a person's humming. The vibrating diaphragm produces a sound having the same pitch, as the person's humming, but a different timbre due to a richer frequency spectrum. The kazoo's sound includes a characteristic buzzing content and is acoustically perceived as a harsh wind instrument's sound. Derived from ancient African instruments, kazoos have been manufactured and patented for more than a century. While numerous improvements have been patented, claiming changes in the kazoos' shape, appearance and type of materials used, their basic functional structure has not changed and their sound has remained harsh. Harsh sound is a common characteristic of all prior art kazoos, whether their vibrating diaphragm consists of: a thin stiff membrane vibrating between a rigid perforated diaphragm and a loose body, as described by J. A. Irving in U.S. Pat. No. 591,476 October 1897 and in U.S. Pat. No. 637,261 November 1899 or; a paper diaphragm held by a wire screen against a cylindrical mouthpiece as described by F. J. Gustine in U.S. Pat. No. 705,398, July 1902 or; a diaphragm adjacent to a wire mesh as described by M. W. Sanders in U.S. Pat. No. 1,093,806 April 1914 or; a peripherally secured membrane of paper, oiled paper, tissue, silicone plastic, or other, as in most prior art kazoos. However, kazoos have interesting operating features. They are easy to play by persons capable of humming a melody in tune, with no valves or buttons typical of other instruments. For this reason, while kazoos have been successful as toys, there has been a long lasting need for kazoos producing a pleasing tone, controlled by the performer. Attempts, to solve the problem of the kazoo's sound harshness, have been made since the early days of the kazoo's history. In U.S. Pat. No. 655,109 of July 1900, R. Pitt disclosed a kazoo including two oppositely-facing diaphragms, explaining that a single diaphragm is uncertain and irregular in its vibrations, making the tone harsh and unmusical. However, despite the long history of kazoos and the efforts of inventors, the harshness problem has remained unsolved. Historically, kazoos have been perceived and classified as toys and as musical instruments. As well known in the music art, musical instruments are classified in categories as strings, winds, idiophones and membranophones, all yielding tones by producing periodic vibrations controlled by the performer. Each category is further divisible into groups according to the way the vibrating medium is set into motion. Despite their wind instrument-like sound, kazoos are classified in the category of membranophones, which essentially includes the group of percussion instruments. The properties of the group of percussion instruments, have been scientifically investigated, as shown in publications available on the internet web. An example is the Paper “Drum tuning: an experimental analysis of membrane modes under non-uniform tension” presented by Randy Worland of the Tacoma University of Puget Sound, at the 156th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in November 2008. Inversely, the public knowledge on the properties of the group of kazoos, having a membrane excited by sound waves produced from a person's humming, is relatively poor, the kazoos being considered as devices producing vibrations not fully controlled by the performer. Even with the development of audio electronics over the last decades, it has not been attained to smoothen the kazoos' sound by direct electronic processing. For this reason, commercial kazoos have been more successful as toys or advertising specialty items, than as musical instruments. In the last few years, there has been work done by inventors and instrument manufacturers in the direction of using the humming sound of a person as an input to voice-controlled electronic musical instruments recognising its tone characteristics and producing a synthesized sound having the same characteristics, as described by Jameson in U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,572 May 18, 2004. In the commercial field, the manufacturer Kazoobie Kazoos has promoted a product called Kazoog, combining a kazoo, a sound transducer and a Guitar-to-MIDI converter, the “G2M” of Sonuss, producing a digital MIDI signal, which can be processed in any MIDI sound module, keyboard, or computer software. While such developments provide potential advantages, in terms of pitch correction, octave change and multiple choices of instrument sounds, they imply complex digital audio processing for the recognition of tone characteristics such as pitch, loudness and timbre of the kazoo's sound. Audible latency, high manufacturing cost and errors in tone recognition, are known issues of such instruments, particularly for live performance. Kazoos yield a harsh sound, including a characteristic buzzing content. Because of their other, above described features, they can provide devices for transforming a person's humming to a pleasing musical sound, if their sound is smoothened and its buzzing content is eliminated. Achieving this result, is a problem that has remained unsolved for more than a century. For better understanding the nature of the problem, the Public knowledge concerning kazoos' operation being poor, it has been necessary to analyse the kazoos' operating conditions, starting from the properties of the sound produced by a person's humming. Best acoustical results from humming, are obtained when the humming sound arrives to the person's lips directly from the vocal chords, by singing vowels at a comfortable for the person pitch, with an open vocal tract, the tongue being positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth, so that there is no build-up of air pressure drop at any point of the vocal tract. The frequency spectrum of the sound produced by a person humming a specific musical note, includes a fundamental frequency, producing the pitch of the note, roughly in the range of 80 Hz to 1100 Hz, corresponding to musical notes E2 to C6, for normal male and female voices. This spectrum also includes overtones of the fundamental frequency. The fundamental frequency and the overtones up to a frequency of about 2 kHz are usually clearly audible, while higher overtones are weaker and therefore less audible, which explains why the humming sound is not perceived as a rich sound. However, isolated specific overtones in the range 2-8 kHz, may be boosted due to particularities of the person's vocal tract, contributing to a timbre characterizing the humming sound of the specific person. We will now examine a traditional kazoo's structure. As shown in Vibrating diaphragms have a plurality of resonance frequencies. For a better understanding, we will consider a circular diaphragm consisting of an ideal circular membrane fixed at the rim. When excited, the membrane vibrates with a superposition of vibration modes. It vibrates as a whole, this mode being the fundamental vibrating mode, but it also vibrates by regions, defined by a number m of nodal diameters and a number n of nodal circles, each combination of m and n corresponding to a different vibration mode, of order (m, n). The fundamental mode, having only the diaphragm's circumference as nodal circle and no nodal diameter, is of order (0, 1). According to the theory governing the resonance of an ideal circular membrane under tension, the value of this fundamental resonance frequency in Hz (Hertz), is function of the membrane diameter D in m (meters), the membrane area density d in kg/m2 and the membrane tension T in N/m (Newton/meter), calculated by the formula f(0,1)=0.76/D*(T/d)̂0.5. Real vibrating diaphragms have lower fundamental resonance frequencies than the calculated values for an ideal membrane, because of the stiffness of a real membrane. The response of a kazoo's vibrating diaphragm is effective at low membrane tension. At high membrane tension, sympathetic vibration requires high-energy sound-waves, which cannot be provided by a person's humming. Therefore, considering that the membrane tension will be set at the lowest possible value ensuring a flat, wrinkle-free surface, the main parameters determining the calculated fundamental resonance frequency of the diaphragm, according to the above formula, are the area and the area density of the membrane. The fundamental resonance frequency of the diaphragm is higher for lower values of each one of these two parameters. As an example, a membrane having D=0.02 m, d=0.1 kg/m2 and T=1 N/m, has a calculated fundamental frequency of about 250 Hz. The resonance frequencies corresponding to higher vibrating modes, are 1.59, 2.14, 2.30, 2.92, 3.50 etc. times the fundamental resonance frequency. A key element in understanding the harshness problem of kazoos' sound, is that the sound quality of a music instrument depends on the relative position of its audible vibration frequencies, in relation with the various audio ranges of the audio frequency band. It is known that in the music art, the full audio frequency band is broken-down into distinct audio ranges, each considered to affect a different aspect of an instrument's sound. More particularly, the bass audio range (40-250 Hz) affects the fullness of the sound, the lower mid audio range (250-500 Hz) affects the clarity of the sound, the mid audio range (500 Hz-2 kHz) is responsible for horn-like effects causing listening fatigue, if boosted, the upper mid audio range (2-4 kHz) affects the sound recognition, the presence audio range (4-6 kHz) affects the perception of the listener about the distance of the sound source and the brilliance audio range (above 6 kHz) affects the brightness of the sound. All prior art kazoos include vibrating diaphragms having fundamental resonance frequencies in the bass audio range, or in the lower mid audio range, up to about 500 Hz. This is a significant structural disadvantage, for the following reasons. Firstly, the fundamental frequency and overtones of the humming sound, are usually clearly audible in the bass audio and lower mid audio ranges, and therefore they do not require any further boosting when reproduced by the kazoo's vibrating diaphragm. On the contrary, excess amplitude in the mid range causes listening fatigue. Therefore, the presence of resonance frequencies of the vibrating diaphragm in these low audio ranges, is not desirable. Secondly, at such low fundamental resonance frequencies, diaphragms vibrate at irregular vibrating modes and produce irregular resonance frequencies uncontrolled by the performer, spread over the higher audio ranges. In such conditions, the buzzing content of a kazoo's sound cannot be effectively filtered for obtaining a pleasing sound. To solve the harshness problem of kazoo's sound, there is need for a new concept of vibrating diaphragms, having fundamental resonance frequencies in the higher quartile of the mid audio range, or in the upper mid audio range, e.g. at about 2,000 Hz. Kazoos having such vibrating diaphragms, will better perform: preventing listening fatigue; providing a rich kazoo's sound, by boosting weak humming overtones in higher audio ranges, and; ensuring vibration at regular vibrating modes, providing for effective identification and filtering of frequencies causing buzzing. Obtaining such a high fundamental resonance frequency, is not achievable by prior art kazoos. Even using a very thin membrane, having a very low area density, the required vibrating area would be too small to produce audible sound. As an example, assuming a very thin circular membrane, having an area density of d=0.03 kg/m2 and a membrane tension of 0.25 N/m, the calculated required membrane diameter for a fundamental resonance frequency of 2,000 Hz, would be about 1 mm. Such a small membrane would be insufficient to produce an audible kazoo sound. To solve this technical problem, the present invention introduces a new kazoo device concept, having a novel composite vibrating diaphragm including a very thin and pliant film, stretched across the surface of a rigid perforated disk having a plurality of holes distributed across its surface, the film forming an individual vibrating membrane fixed at the rim at each hole of the perforated disk, while the vibrations of the entire film as a whole, are damped by the perforated disk. Such novel vibrating diaphragms have high fundamental resonance frequencies, corresponding to the small area of each individual membrane, while every individual membrane is contributing to the loudness of the produced sound. The desired fundamental resonance frequency is obtained by the combination: of an adequate film area density and; an adequate dimensioning of the holes of the perforated disk. For a better understanding of this new kazoo concept and its features, illustrations of simple kazoo configurations according to this concept and detailed explanation of their operating conditions, are provided in the detailed description and accompanying drawings, of Embodiments 1, 2 and 3. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method of transforming a person's humming to a pleasing instrumental musical sound, comprising:
This method provides for a variety of new electronic kazoo devices and kazoo musical instruments yielding a pleasing rich instrumental sound, free from buzzing content, acoustically perceived as a saxophone's, or other wind instrument's sound, depending on the applied audio effects. Examples of electronic audio devices and musical instruments, according to this method and detailed explanation of their operating conditions, are provided in the detailed description and accompanying drawings, of Embodiments 4, 5 and 6. Other configurations of kazoo instruments are described in Embodiments 7 and 8, as examples of the variety of devices witch can be made according to this invention. These and other advantages of one or more aspects will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings. The present invention provides method and apparatus for new kazoo devices and electronic kazoo audio devices and musical instruments, transforming a person's humming sound to a pleasing musical sound. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, kazoo devices according to a new kazoo device concept, include novel composite vibrating diaphragms configured to vibrate at regular vibrating modes, having fundamental resonance frequencies in the higher quartile of the mid audio range, or in the upper mid audio range, yielding smoothened sound and providing for effective filtering of any buzzing content. The new kazoo device concept provides for a variety of kazoo devices. Examples of such kazoo devices are illustrated in the detailed description and accompanying drawings. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of transforming a person's humming to a pleasing musical sound, includes converting the sound of kazoo devices according to the new kazoo device concept, to audio signal, electronically processing the audio signal for adjusting the amplitude of predetermined frequency bands and applying desired audio effects, the processed signal serving as an input to other audio devices, or being directly converted to a pleasing kazoo instrumental sound, acoustically perceived as a sound of a saxophone, or other wind instruments, depending on the applied audio effects. The processed signal is optionally mixed with a background audio signal produced by an audio source. This method provides for a variety of electronic kazoo audio devices and electronic kazoo musical instruments. Examples of such devices and musical instruments, are illustrated in the detailed description and accompanying drawings. These and other inventions are described herein and/or set forth in the claims herein. For purpose of explanation, examples of embodiments according to the principles of the present invention are illustrated in the following figures. A three digit reference numbering is being used for the details of the drawings, the first digit corresponding to the discussed embodiment and the other two digits providing the same reference numbers for similar components in different embodiments. A figure, labelled Referring to the mounting details of this kazoo device, the sound outlet opening 113 in In This is a new feature, distinguishing substantially the kazoo device concept over prior art. Considering an example of a prior art kazoo including a diaphragm having a vibrating area of 200 mm2, the fundamental resonance frequency corresponds to the vibration of this entire area. An example of kazoo device including a composite diaphragm having the same total film area of 200 mm2 and a perforated disk having 60 holes, each hole having an area of 1 mm2, will have a total vibrating area of 60 mm2, providing lower but sufficient loudness of the kazoo device's sound, while having a significantly higher fundamental resonance frequency, corresponding to the significantly smaller area of each hole. As explained in the following paragraphs, this is a major development in terms of yielding a smoothened and controlled kazoo device's sound. It is understood that the shape, appearance and dimensions of a kazoo device and its components, according to this novel concept, are not critical. The determining condition is the capacity of forming individual vibrating membranes at the holes of the perforated disk, capable of being excited by a person's humming. These conditions are analysed in the following paragraphs. When the humming sound arrives directly from the person's vocal chords, with an open vocal tract, the air pressure, developed in the kazoo device's body, exceeds the external atmospheric air pressure by about 100 Pascal. The precise air pressure value depends on the person's humming technique. By practicing, a person learns quickly how to control this pressure, having the lips more or less tightly pressed against the kazoo device's inlet opening, for obtaining an optimised kazoo device's sound. The air pressure differential at the two sides of the composite vibrating diaphragm being given, the determining condition for forming individual vibrating membranes, is obtained with a film sufficiently thin, pliant and flat when slightly stretched, for a given perforated disk having holes of predetermined section. The number of holes is determined in relation to the desired loudness of the kazoo device's sound. The lowest possible initial film tension preventing wrinkle formation is required for forming individual vibrating membranes by effortless humming. The film area density and the section of the holes of the perforate disk are parameters that affect the value of the resonance frequency at the fundamental vibrating mode. This value defines the relative position of the resonance frequencies of higher vibrating modes, in relation with the various musical audio ranges, affecting the timbre of the kazoo device's sound. This novel composite vibrating diaphragm provides for a fundamental resonance frequency in the higher quartile of the mid audio range, or the upper mid audio range and for regular vibrating modes. For a better understanding of this important feature, we will analyse the behaviour of the specific example of the kazoo device of Embodiment 1, firstly according to the theory of vibrating membranes and secondly according to the obtained experimental results. In the configuration of Embodiment 1, the kazoo device includes a composite diaphragm having a polyethylene film 1.25 mil (thickness 1.25/1000 inch), as films widely used for small domestic food freezer bags, with an area density of d=0.03 kg/m2 and a circular total active surface having a diameter of 0.018 m, combined with a perforated disk having circular holes of equal diameter of D=0.001 m, evenly distributed across its surface and representing about 30% of this surface. Assuming an air pressure differential applied on the film of P=100 Pascal and a cross section radius of each individual vibrating membrane of R=5D=0.005 m, the film tension, according to LaPlace's law, is calculated by the formula T=PR/2=0.25 N/m. The fundamental resonance frequency f (0,1) of each individual vibrating membrane formed at each hole, is about 2.2 kHz, as calculated according to the formula f (0,1)=0.76/D*(T/d)̂0.5, provided by the theory governing the resonance of an ideal circular membrane under tension. The resonance frequencies corresponding to higher vibrating modes, are spread over a frequency band starting at 2.2×1.59=3.5 kHz. For comparison purposes, a diaphragm including the same film but no perforated disk, under the same assumptions, has a calculated fundamental resonance frequency of about 0.5 kHz and resonance frequencies corresponding to higher vibrating modes, spread over a frequency band starting at 0.8 kHz. The real resonance frequencies of a vibrating diaphragm are usually lower than the calculated values for an ideal membrane, because of the film stiffness. They can also deviate from the calculated values, depending on the real value of the film tension. However, the calculated values reflect the order of magnitude of the real values, as demonstrated by the experimental results shown in In The examination of the group of curves A in The group of curves B, reflects a controlled vibrating behaviour of the composite diaphragm. The bass, the lower mid and the upper audio ranges, up to about to 2 kHz, are unaffected by resonance frequencies. The effect of resonance frequencies is clear in the presence and brilliance audio ranges, between about 2 and 12 kHz. In rounded figures, the pattern of peaks reveals a fundamental resonance frequency of about f(0,1)=2.1 kHz and corresponding resonance frequencies at higher vibrating modes of: f(1,1)=1.59f(0,1)=3.3 kHz, f(2,1)=2.14f(0,1)=4.5 kHz, f(0,3)=3.60f(0,1)=7.6 kHz and f(3,3)=5.4f(0,1)=11.5 kHz. Inversely, the group of curves C reflects an uncontrolled vibrating behaviour of the film, related to the removal of the perforated disk, corresponding to the operating conditions of prior art kazoos. The high amplitude of frequencies in the mid audio range (500-2,000 Hz), is an indication of a fundamental resonance frequency in the proximity of 0.5 kHz, while the large number of peaks in the presence audio range, corresponding to resonance frequencies with non obvious vibrating pattern, is an indication of irregular vibrating modes. The spectrum profile of the composite diaphragm, illustrated by the group of curves B, provides for removing any buzzing content, by identifying through testing and filtering specific frequency bands causing buzzing. This spectrum profile also provides for adjusting, as desired, the tone of the kazoo device's sound by electronically boosting or attenuating specific frequency bands in the above audio ranges. These features distinguish substantially the kazoo device concept over prior art. Embodiment 2 is another example of configuration of a kazoo device according to the kazoo device concept, having an additional feature of being mouth-held. This feature provides for hands-free operation, the hands of the person playing the kazoo device being available for accompanying the hummed melody, by playing another hand operated instrument. The mouth-held kazoo device also provides for being played by disabled persons. In this configuration, the hollow body 210 has a conical part of which the narrower end is forming the inlet opening 211 and the larger end is having a cylindrical extension with an open end forming the sound outlet opening 213. The inlet opening 211 has a flanged extension providing for the kazoo device being held by the player's front teeth, while the player's lips are closed around the conical part. The sound outlet opening 213 is internally enlarged and threaded, fitting the holder 215, which in this case is a flanged cylindrical ring, externally threaded. The vibrating diaphragm 214 is clamped between the sound outlet opening 213 and the holder 215. The vibrating diaphragm 214, as shown in detail in The perforated disk 214B forms the bottom of a flanged cylindrical recipient having an internal diameter fitting tightly the external diameter of the locking ring 214C. The film 214A, having a larger initial area than the ring 214C, is inserted between the flanged recipient and the ring 214C. During mounting, the ring 214C is pressed into the recipient, the film being uniformly slightly stretched, providing for a wrinkle free film surface, the film being peripherally clamped between the perforated disk 214B and the ring 214C. The remaining film portion outside the recipient, is cut and removed. The perforated disk has a plurality of holes spread across the surface, in this case circular holes all having a diameter of 1 mm, the total area of the holes representing about 30% of the disk's surface. Embodiment 3, illustrated in The Helmholtz resonator is configured to attenuate a frequency band including frequencies causing buzzing and sound harshness, providing for a pleasing kazoo device's sound. The fundamental resonance frequency of a Helmholtz resonator is given by the formula: fo=0.5*c/e(S/L/V)̂0.5, where fo is the fundamental resonance frequency of the resonator in Hz, c is the speed of sound in the air in m/s, S is the area of the port in m2, L is the effective length of the port in m and V is the volume of the cavity in m3. The bandwidth of the band-stop filter, is given by the formula BW=fo/Q, where BW is the bandwidth in Hz and Q is the quality factor of the resonator, given by the formula Q=b*2*e(V*(L/S)̂3)̂0,5, where b is a coefficient having a value between 1 and 2. In this Embodiment 3, the Helmholtz resonator is configured to attenuate a frequency band centered at about 6 kHz, corresponding to its fundamental resonance frequency. To this purpose, the Helmholtz resonator is dimensioned as follows: S=0.000254 m2, L=0.0092 m, V=0.00000266 m3. With c=343 m/s and b=1, we obtain in rounded figures, calculated values of about fo=6 kHz and BW=4 kHz. Embodiment 4 is an example of a hand-held electronic kazoo device, according to the disclosed method of transforming a person's humming to a pleasing instrumental musical sound. This kazoo device is the kazoo device of Embodiment 2, further including a sound transducer, in this case a mini condenser microphone capsule, converting the kazoo device's sound to audio signal and an electronic circuit processing the audio signal for adjusting the amplitude of predetermined frequency bands and applying desired audio effects. The output audio signal is serving as input signal to external audio devices. When converted to sound, the output audio signal is acoustically perceived as a sound of a saxophone, or other wind instruments, depending on the applied audio effects. Embodiment 4, as shown externally in The internal components of Embodiment 4 and their inter-connexions, are shown in The holder 415, of the kazoo device 410 in The microphone enclosure 420, of soft plastic, has a conical shape with an opening at its smaller end, fitting tightly the tapered extension 415. The wider end of the microphone enclosure 420, has a cylindrical extension having an internal section fitting tightly the electronics and battery enclosure 430. As shown, in more detail, in the exploded side cross sectional view in Referring back to The electronics and battery enclosure 430 in Referring back to The choices made of soft plastic, or hard plastic, for the described enclosures, provide for easy and effective engagement or disengagement between them, as required. Referring back to As illustrated in the block diagram of As shown in more detail in the electronic circuit diagram of In more detail IC1, an Integrated Circuit LM358 of Texas Instruments including two operational amplifiers IC1A and IC1B, is used for the amplification of the microphone audio signal and for the adjustable band-stop filter, supported by a regulated Vo=5 Volt reference voltage provided by IC2, an Integrated Circuit LM78L05 of Texas Instruments. The amplification circuit includes a 20 kOhm resistor connected to the microphone capsule, providing low microphone sensitivity, preventing its saturation due to its closeness to the kazoo device's diaphragm, reducing the noise effect of external sounds and preventing a Larsen effect. The adjustable band-stop filter provides for effective tuning of its central frequency, by setting the variable resistance R2 at a value acoustically optimising the output sound, being monitored via earphones connected to the output socket jack J2. IC3, an Integrated Circuit HT8972 of Holtek Semiconductor Inc., is used for applying echo effect, according to the relevant supplier's datasheet. Two variable resistances R4 and R5, provide for tuning respectively two echo parameters, the feedback rate and the delay, by setting each at values acoustically optimising the produced sound. These tunings being required only initially, at the testing stage following manufacturing, the variable resistances are located within the electronics and battery enclosure, being available only to qualified persons. IC4, an Integrated Circuit LM386 of National Semiconductor, is used as audio power amplifier supported by passive electronic components described in the relevant supplier's datasheet. The control knob 431 in Embodiment 5, illustrated in Embodiment 5 provides a low cost, portable, compact and self-contained electronic kazoo musical instrument transforming a person's humming sound to a pleasing instrumental sound with background music accompany, capable of being connected to earphones for practice, or to external amplified speakers, or audio consoles for live performance with zero latency, providing for accompanying the played melody with music, or rhythm, from an external audio device. Embodiment 6, illustrated in The first part of Embodiment 6, illustrated in The second part of Embodiment 6, illustrated in Embodiment 6 provides a hands-free electronic kazoo musical instrument, the hands of a person playing the kazoo instrument being available for other activities including playing another hand-held instrument such as a guitar or a keyboard or drums. Embodiment 6, also provides a hands-free electronic kazoo musical instrument to disabled persons, who cannot use effectively their hands. It is understood that the kazoo devices and their components, including novel composite vibrating diaphragms, may have different design, or geometry, or materials used, or holding means, than those described, but still apply the principles, spirit and scope described in the claims of the present invention. Embodiment 7 is an example of different kazoo device configuration, illustrated in Embodiment 8, illustrated in In this example of kazoo device configuration, as shown in A variety of other configurations can be made, according to the principles of the present invention, such as wireless audio connexion between the mouth-held kazoo device and the electronic device of Embodiment 6, integration of a kazoo device and electronic processing in a wireless microphone, combination of a mouth-held kazoo device and a mobile telephone integrating the electronic processing and other. It is understood that the principle of sound transducer used to convert the kazoo device sound to audio signal, may be different than the microphone capsule included in the described electronic devices, such as piezoelectric or other. It is also understood that more than one Helmholtz resonators serving as band-stop filters, may be included in an a kazoo device, having various designs, geometry, materials used and arrangements. It is further understood that the electronic processing of the signal produced by the sound transducer, may include more than one band-stop filters, or equalisers and apply various desired audio effects, may use different components and may have different design, while the speaker, with or without mp3 player, may be part of the internal electronic system, instead of being a commercial off-the-shelf powered speaker. All features, including signal processing, internal mp3 player for background music, or audio connexions, wired or wireless, can be fully or partially combined in a kazoo and still apply the principles, spirit and scope described in the claims of the present invention. The described audio devices may have different configuration, shape and materials used, different audio connexions with external audio devices and different utilization features, but still apply the principles, spirit and scope described in the claims of the present invention. As other examples of variations, a kazoo device may have replaceable mouthpiece cover; the vibrating diaphragm may have a different shape than circular; the holes of the perforated disk may have a different shape than circular as well as different diameter and may represent a different total percentage of the area of the disk; instead of being peripherally clamped, the film may be glued across the surface of the perforated disk, or pressed between two perforated disks having fitting holes, the film may be made of different materials and may have different thickness, to the extend the combination of the film and the perforated disk, provides for formation of an individual vibrating membrane at each hole of the perforated disk having a fundamental resonance frequency in the mid audio, or the upper mid audio ranges. Many other variations can be described, however the examples above, sufficiently demonstrate that a large field of different configurations is possible within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, it will be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments. Any alterations and further modifications in the described embodiments, and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described herein, are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. From some of the embodiment descriptions above, a number of advantages become evident, related to: a. new kazoo devices yielding a pleasing musical sound, which can be used by persons capable of humming a melody in tune, requiring only singing skills, b. new electronic kazoo devices providing a controlled audio signal, free from buzzing content, to applications or devices using a kazoo device as an audio input, c. new electronic kazoo musical instruments transforming a person's humming sound to a pleasing instrumental sound, acoustically perceived as a saxophone's, or other wind instrument's sound, d. such musical instruments that are portable, compact and self-contained, easily transported while being played or not, e. such musical instruments that are capable of being connected to earphones for practice, or to external amplified speakers, or audio consoles for live performance, with zero latency, f. such musical instruments that can be played, while accompanying the played melody with music, or rhythm, from an internal or external audio source such as a mp3 player, a drum machine, a synthesizer, or other, g. such musical instruments that are hands-free, capable of being played by a person accompanying the melody hummed by a hand-operated musical instrument, or of being played by physically handicapped persons, who cannot use effectively their hands. h. such audio devices and musical instruments that can be manufactured at low cost. Accordingly, the reader will see that the kazoo device concept and the method of transforming a person's humming to a pleasing musical sound provide for numerous new applications, in the fields of kazoo devices and kazoo musical instruments. While the detailed descriptions of the illustrated embodiments contain specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope, but as examples for explanation purposes. One of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the invention may be practiced without the use of these specific details. Although the invention is described herein with reference to the discussed embodiments, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below. |
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