A method for operating a hearing aid which has an auditory canal microphone for capturing sound in the auditory canal of the wearer and an own voice recognition unit for carrying out an adaptive own voice recognition. Sound in the auditory canal is captured by the auditory canal microphone and a signal that corresponds to the sound is output by the auditory canal microphone, and training of the adaptive own voice recognition is controlled only based on the signal output by the auditory canal microphone. A corresponding hearing aid configured to carry out the method.

Disclosed technology includes technology for compensating for a balance dysfunction. A cochlear implant or other auditory prosthesis can be modified to provide sensory substitution as perceptible auditory cues, such as by injecting balance signals into a cochlear stimulation signal processing path. Thus, while some of the sound processing path can be shared between balance signals and sound input signals (e.g., from a microphone or other sound source), some of the processing path can be exclusive to the sound input signals. Technology can combine sensory substitution with balance dysfunction suppression.

The present disclosure relates to compact hearing aids, components thereof, and support systems therefor, as well as methods of insertion and removal thereof. The compact hearing aids generally include a sensor, such as a microphone, an actuation mass, an energy source for providing power to the compact hearing aid, a processor, and an actuator enclosed in a housing that is designed to be inserted through the tympanic membrane during a minimally-invasive outpatient procedure. In operation, the microphone receives sound waves and converts the sound waves into electrical signals. A processor then modifies the electrical signals and provides the electrical signals to the actuator. The actuator converts the electrical signals into mechanical motion, which actuates the actuation mass to modulate the velocity or the position of the tympanic membrane.

A method for operating a binaural hearing system having first and second hearing instruments includes using respective electroacoustic first and second input transducers of the first and second hearing instruments to generate first and second input signals from ambient sound. The first and second input signals are used to ascertain respective first and second instantaneous gain parameters. A first parameter of an automatic gain control for the first input signal and/or a second parameter of an automatic gain control for the second input signal is/are adjusted so that the adjustment results in a difference between the first and second instantaneous gain parameters being decreased. Signal processing for the first or second input signal using the thus adjusted first or second parameter of the automatic gain control is performed in the first or second hearing instrument. A binaural hearing system is also provided.

A method for operating a hearing device is specified. The hearing device has at least one microphone that picks up an input sound signal and converts it into an electrical input signal. The hearing device has a signal processing section that modifies the electrical input signal on the basis of an audiogram of a user and thereby generates a first electrical output signal. The hearing device has an active noise reduction system that generates a second electrical output signal in order to reject a noise component. The hearing device has a receiver that converts the first electrical output signal and the second electrical output signal into an output sound signal, for output to the user. The active noise reduction system is operated in parallel with the signal processing section. A corresponding hearing device is programmed to perform the method.

An optimization system for testing a patient's hearing comprises a controller, an ear piece, and a memory. The controller: provides a series of tones to the ear piece; receives feedback from the patient between each tone; generates a data point to be used in an audiogram after receiving each feedback; after each data point is generated, computes a statistical distribution based on the generated data points; identifies an area of the statistical distribution most in need of additional data; and selects a subsequent tone to provide in the series of tones. Each feedback indicates whether the respective tone was detected or not detected, and each data point is based on the respective feedback. Each subsequent tone provided in the series of tones is a tone represented in the area of the statistical distribution most in need of additional data at the time of selection.

A tinnitus treatment device provides a sound stimulus for tinnitus treatment to a user who is a tinnitus patient on a unit time basis, and includes: a controller; and a recording medium in which a treatment program is stored. The treatment program is executed by the controller to perform: analogizing one or both of a RI effect curve and a TL decrease curve for tinnitus treatment sound provided to the user; generating the tinnitus treatment sound based on the one or both of the RI effect curve and the TL decrease curve which is analogized; and presenting the tinnitus treatment sound generated to the user via a sound presentation unit on the unit time basis to provide the sound stimulus to the user.

A hearing aid system for selective modification of background noises may include at least one processor. The processor may be programmed to receive a plurality of images from an environment of a user captured by a wearable camera during a time period and receive an audio signal representative of sounds acquired by a wearable microphone during the time period. The processor may determine that at least one of the sounds was generated by a sound-emanating object in the environment of the user, but outside of a field of view of the wearable camera and retrieve from a database information associated with the sound-emanating object. Based on the retrieved information, the processor may cause selective conditioning of audio signals acquired by the wearable microphone during the time period and cause transmission of the conditioned audio signals to a hearing interface device configured to provide sounds to an ear of the user.

A hearing aid system for selectively conditioning audio signals associated with a recognized object may include at least one processor. The processor may be programmed to receive audio signals acquired by a wearable microphone; analyze the received audio signals to obtain an isolated audio stream associated with a sound-emanating object in the environment of the user; determine an audioprint from the isolated audio stream; and use the audioprint to retrieve from a database information relating to the particular sound-emanating object. Based on the retrieved information, the processor may cause selective conditioning of at least one audio signal received by the wearable microphone from a region associated with the at least one sound-emanating object; and cause transmission of the at least one conditioned audio signal to a hearing interface device configured to provide sounds to an ear of the user.

A tinnitus treatment device provides a sound stimulus for tinnitus treatment to a user who is a tinnitus patient on a unit time basis, and includes: a controller; and a recording medium in which a treatment program is stored. The treatment program is executed by the controller to perform: analogizing one or both of a RI effect curve and a TL decrease curve for tinnitus treatment sound provided to the user; generating the tinnitus treatment sound based on the one or both of the RI effect curve and the TL decrease curve which is analogized; and presenting the tinnitus treatment sound generated to the user via a sound presentation unit on the unit time basis to provide the sound stimulus to the user.