1. A method for the treatment of pain in a mammal, which comprises intranasally administering, by a nasal spray to the nasal mucosal membrane of said mammal, a dosage unit in one administration by one delivery operation comprising a fentanyl salt in an amount equivalent to 70 to 500 \u03bcg of fentanyl in a solvent comprising water, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.4 to 75 mgml of fentanyl.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 75 to 300 \u03bcg of fentanyl.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 75 \u03bcg of fentanyl.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mammal is a human.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 100 \u03bcg of fentanyl.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 150 \u03bcg of fentanyl.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 200 \u03bcg of fentanyl
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said fentanyl salt is fentanyl citrate.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said solvent further comprises isotonic saline, polyethylene glycol, or a combination thereof
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said solvent comprises about 95% -100% water.
11. The method according to claim 9, wherein said dosage unit consists essentially of fentanyl salt and said solvent.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment is for alleviation or lessening of acute or breakthrough pain.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mammal further receives an analgesic.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the analgesic is fentanyl, or a salt thereof.
15. The method according to claim 12, wherein said acute or breakthrough pain comprises colicbiliary pain, trauma, postoperative pain, dental pain, orofacial pain, sympathetic pain syndrome, pancreatic pain, myocardial infarction pain, cancer pain, back pain, or pain during or after change of dressing.
16. The method according to claim 1, wherein said administration comprises the delivery of a dosage unit equivalent to 400 \u03bcg of fentanyl.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the treatment is for alleviation or lessening of breakthrough pain.
18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the dosage unit is 10 to 200 \u03bcl.
19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the dosage unit is 50 to 150 \u03bcl.
20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.5 to 20 mgml of fentanyl.
21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.6 to 15 mgml of fentanyl.
22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.7 to 12 mgml of fentanyl.
23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.75 to 10 mgml of fentanyl.
24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dosage unit is in the form of a composition having a concentration equivalent to about 0.75 to 8 mgml of fentanyl.
25. The method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment is for pre-operative anesthesia.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for processing audio signals, comprising the steps of:
(a) generating an audio difference signal;
(b) generating an audio sum signal;
(c) generating a difference-signal power based on the audio difference signal;
(d) generating a sum-signal power based on the audio sum signal;
(e) generating a power ratio based on the difference-signal power and the sum-signal power;
(f) generating a suppression value based on the power ratio; and
(g) performing noise suppression processing for at least one audio signal based on the suppression value to generate at least one noise-suppressed output audio signal.
2. The invention of claim 1, wherein the audio difference and sum signals are based on signals from two microphones.
3. The invention of claim 2, wherein the two microphones are of different order.
4. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
step (a) comprises generating the audio difference signal based on a difference between audio signals from two microphones; and
step (b) comprises generating the audio sum signal based on a sum of the audio signals from the two microphones.
5. The invention of claim 4, wherein the two microphones are two omni microphones.
6. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
step (a) comprises generating the audio difference signal using a directional microphone; and
step (b) comprises generating the audio sum signal using a non-directional microphone.
7. The invention of claim 6, wherein:
the directional microphone is a cardioid microphone; and
the non-directional microphone is an omni microphone.
8. The invention of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises the steps of:
(d1) filtering the audio sum signal to generate a filtered sum signal; and
(d2) generating the sum-signal power based on the filtered sum signal.
9. The invention of claim 8, wherein step (d1) comprises first-order high-pass filtering the audio sum signal to generate the filtered sum signal.
10. The invention of claim 9, wherein step (d1) comprises filtering the audio sum signal by (kd2) to generate the filtered sum signal, wherein wavenumber k=\u03c9c, \u03c9 is angular frequency, c is speed of sound, and d is distance between two microphones used to generate the audio difference and sum signals.
11. The invention of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of:
(c1) filtering the audio difference signal to generate a filtered difference signal; and
(c2) generating the difference-signal power based on the filtered difference signal.
12. The invention of claim 11, wherein step (c1) comprises first-order low-pass filtering the audio difference signal to generate the filtered difference signal.
13. The invention of claim 1, wherein the difference-signal and sum-signal powers are time-smoothed power values.
14. The invention of claim 1, wherein the noise suppression processing is applied to at least one of the audio sum signal and the audio difference signal to generate a single-channel noise-suppressed output signal.
15. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
the audio difference and sum signals are generated from first and second microphones; and
the noise suppression processing is performed on an audio signal from a third microphone.
16. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
the audio difference and sum signals are generated from two microphones; and
the noise suppression processing is performed on each audio signal from the two microphones to generate two noise-suppressed output audio signals.
17. The invention of claim 1, wherein steps (c)-(g) are independently implemented for two or more different subbands in the audio difference and sum signals.
18. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
the audio difference and sum signals are generated by differencing and summing first and second audio signals from two microphones; and
a filter is applied to filter the first audio signal prior to generating the audio difference and sum signals.
19. The invention of claim 18, wherein the second audio signal is delayed by an amount that depends on the filter length prior to generating the audio difference and sum signals.
20. The invention of claim 18, wherein the filter is adaptively updated using a normalized least-mean-square (NLMS) process based on the first audio signal and a delayed version of the second audio signal.
21. The invention of claim 1, wherein:
the audio difference signal is generated by weighting and differencing two opposite-facing directional audio signals; and
the audio sum signal is generated by summing the two opposite-facing directional audio signals.
22. The invention of claim 21, wherein the weighting and differencing steers a null or spatial zero in the audio difference signal towards a non-broadside direction.
23. The invention of claim 21, wherein the two opposite-facing directional audio signals are generated by two opposite-facing first-order directional microphones.
24. The invention of claim 23, wherein the two opposite-facing first-order directional microphones are two opposite-facing cardioid microphones.
25. The invention of claim 21, wherein the two opposite-facing directional audio signals are generated by:
(1) generating a first directional audio signal by differencing a first audio signal from a first omni microphone and a delayed version of a second audio signal from a second omni microphone; and
(2) generating a second directional audio signal by differencing a delayed version of the first audio signal and the second audio signal.
26. The invention claim 1, wherein the suppression value is generated using a function in which level of suppression changes monotonically with the power ratio.
27. The invention of claim 26, wherein, according to the function:
(i) the suppression value is set to a first suppression level for power ratio values less than a first specified power-ratio threshold;
(ii) the suppression value is set to a second suppression level for power ratio values greater than a second specified power-ratio threshold; and
(iii) the suppression value varies monotonically between the first and second suppression levels for power ratio values between the first and second specified power-ratio thresholds.
28. A signal processor for processing audio signals generated by two or more microphones receiving acoustic signals, the signal processor adapted to:
(a) generate an audio difference signal based on one or more of the audio signals;
(b) generate an audio sum signal based on one or more of the audio signals;
(c) generate a difference-signal power based on the audio difference signal;
(d) generate a sum-signal power based on the audio sum signal;
(e) generate a power ratio based on the difference-signal power and the sum-signal power;
(f) generate a suppression value based on the power ratio; and
(g) perform noise suppression processing for at least one audio signal based on the suppression value to generate at least one noise-suppressed output audio signal.
29. The invention of claim 28, wherein the signal processor is implemented on a single integrated circuit.
30. A consumer device comprising:
(1) two or more microphones configured to receive acoustic signals and to generate audio signals; and
(2) a signal processor adapted to:
(a) generate an audio difference signal based on one or more of the audio signals;
(b) generate an audio sum signal based on one or more of the audio signals;
(c) generate a difference-signal power based on the audio difference signal;
(d) generate a sum-signal power based on the audio sum signal;
(e) generate a power ratio based on the difference-signal power and the sum-signal power;
(f) generate a suppression value based on the power ratio; and
(g) perform noise suppression processing for at least one audio signal based on the suppression value to generate at least one noise-suppressed output audio signal.
31. The invention of claim 30, wherein the consumer device is a laptop computer.
32. The invention of claim 30, wherein the consumer device is a mobile communication device.
33. The invention of claim 1, wherein the noise suppression processing is single-channel noise suppression processing.
34. The invention of claim 28, wherein the noise suppression processing is single-channel noise suppression processing.
35. The invention of claim 30, wherein the noise suppression processing is single-channel noise suppression processing.