A body worn or implantable hearing prosthesis, including a device configured to capture an audio environment of a recipient and evoke a hearing percept based at least in part on the captured audio environment, wherein the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify, based on the captured audio environment, one or more biomarkers present in the audio environment indicative of the recipient's ability to hear.

The present invention regards a hearing aid device at least one environment sound input, a wireless sound input, an output transducer, electric circuitry, a transmitter unit, and a dedicated beamformer-noise-reduction-system. The hearing aid device is configured to be worn in or at an ear of a user. The at least one environment sound input is configured to receive sound and to generate electrical sound signals representing sound. The wireless sound input is configured to receive wireless sound signals. The output transducer is configured to stimulate hearing of the hearing aid device user. The transmitter unit is configured to transmit signals representing sound and/or voice. The dedicated beamformer-noise-reduction-system is configured to retrieve a user voice signal representing the voice of a user from the electrical sound signals. The wireless sound input is configured to be wirelessly connected to a communication device and to receive wireless sound signals from the communication device. The transmitter unit is configured to be wirelessly connected to the communication device and to transmit the user voice signal to the communication device.

Disclosed herein, among other things, are methods and apparatus for providing a gateway for a wireless hearing assistance device. One aspect of the present subject matter relates to a method for wirelessly communicating with a hearing assistance device. One or more message and alert inputs are received and the message and alert inputs are processed to obtain an output. The output is wirelessly transmitted to a hearing assistance device, and the output is configured to be played via audio to a wearer of the hearing assistance device and to interrupt a current audio stream being played to the wearer, in various embodiments.

A hearing device and a method of the hearing aid are provided considering an external environment surrounding a user. The hearing device includes an external environment determination unit, an inquiry unit, and a parameter set unit. The external environment determination unit is configured to determine an external environment surrounding a user wearing the hearing device. The inquiry unit is configured to select a question corresponding to the external environment and inquire the question to the user. The parameter set unit is configured to set a parameter of the hearing device based on a response to the question and hearing loss information of the user.

A hearing aid comprises a) first and second microphones b) an adaptive beamformer filtering unit comprising, b1) a first and second memories comprising a first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters representing a first and second beam patterns, where said first and second sets of weighting parameters are predetermined initial values or values updated during operation of the hearing aid, b3) an adaptive beamformer processing unit providing an adaptation parameter β.sub.opt(k) representing an adaptive beam pattern configured to attenuate unwanted noise under the constraint that sound from a target direction is essentially unaltered, b4) a third memory comprising a fixed adaptation parameter β.sub.fix(k) representing a third, fixed beam pattern, b5) a mixing unit providing a resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter β.sub.mix(k) as a combination of said fixed and adaptively determined frequency dependent adaptation parameters β.sub.fix(k) and β.sub.opt(k), respectively, and b6) a resulting beamformer (Y) for providing a resulting beamformed signal Y.sub.BF based on first and second microphone signals, said first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters, and said resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter β.sub.mix(k).

Embodiments of the present disclosure set forth a computer-implemented method comprising determining a first direction of interest associated with a user, receiving a set of audio signals associated with the first direction of interest, determining a first dominant frequency band within the set of audio signals, modifying a first portion of the set of audio signals corresponding to the first dominant frequency band, and outputting the modified set of audio signals.

An electronic device with a display is paired with a set of wireless audio output devices, including a first wireless audio output device for outputting audio to a right ear of a user and a second wireless audio output device for outputting audio to a left ear of the user. In response to a request to display status information about the set of wireless audio output devices, the electronic device displays a status user interface, including concurrently displaying a first battery status indicator for the first wireless audio output device with an indication that battery status indicator relates to the device for outputting audio to the right ear of the user and a second battery status indicator for the second wireless audio output device with an indication that battery status indicator relates to the device for outputting audio to the left ear of the user.

Scene and/or state information may be used to facilitate processing an input to separate one or more signals within the input, to shape the signal within the input, and/or for other processing of the input or signal(s) within the input. A scene determination may be made based upon location data, time data, data describing the received input, or other basis. A state determination may be made based upon the scene determination, properties of a signal itself, or other information such as location, time, etc. By determining an appropriate scene and/or state, processing of an input and/or a signal within an input may proceed in a fashion determined to provide the most valuable information for output. Systems and methods in accordance with the invention may be implemented in a wide variety of baseband processing systems, such as hearing aids and energy consumption monitoring systems.

Earpieces and methods for acute sound detection and reproduction are provided. A method can include measuring an external ambient sound level (xASL), monitoring a change in the xASL for detecting an acute sound, estimating a proximity of the acute sound, and upon detecting the acute sound and its proximity, reproducing the acute sound within an ear canal, where the ear canal is at least partially occluded by an earpiece. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A method for operating a hearing prosthesis is provided. A plurality of settings are provided, each setting providing a different operating functionality for the hearing prosthesis suitable for different situations. A signal analysis is executed on input signals to the hearing prosthesis. The signal analysis monitors characteristics of a current situation to detect any change and, in the case of detecting change, classifies the current situation into one of a plurality of predefined states. The suitability of the settings is compared with the determined state. One or more optimal choice(s) of setting(s) is identified for the current situation. The one or more optimal choice(s) of setting(s) is presented to a user . The user is then allowed to make a selection from the presented choice(s) of setting(s). If a selection is received from the user, the selected setting is executed. A hearing prosthesis is also provided.