According to an embodiment, a hearing aid system is disclosed. The system includes a speech processor communicatively coupled to a microphone. The speech processor is configured to process a microphone signal received at the speech processor for producing an electrical stimulation signal and an acoustic stimulation signal. The speech processor is also configured to generate a modified acoustic stimulation signal by modifying the acoustic stimulation signal at least for a part of a residual frequency range of a patient in dependence on effect of an implantable electrode array on mechanical properties of cochlea of the patient. The system also includes a first unit and a second unit. The first unit comprising a cochlear implant communicatively coupled to the speech processor, the cochlear implant comprising the implantable electrode array configured to be located within a cochlea of the patient and to provide the electrical stimulation based on the electrical stimulation signal to a cochlea within a non-residual frequency range of the patient. The second unit communicatively coupled to the speech processor and adapted to provide the modified acoustic stimulation based on the modified acoustic stimulation signal to the cochlea within the at least in the part of the residual frequency range.

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 digital signal processor processes acoustic sound in a body-worn hearing assist device including separating the microphone signal into frequency bands. Two of the frequency bands, which are preferably adjacent, are considered as a pair. In one of the frequency bands in the pair, the band signal is replicated/split into two subsignals. One of the subsignals is frequency shifted into the other frequency band of the pair. The input signal from the paired frequency band is either significantly attenuated or altogether discarded. The unshifted subsignal is attenuated relative to the frequency-shifted subsignal, which is preferably amplified, before both subsignals are combined as part of the acoustic output. Considering both frequency bands as a pair, the likelihood of feedback is significantly reduced or eliminated.

The invention relates to a hearing aid a cochlear implant comprising a) at least one input transducer for capturing incoming sound and for generating electric audio signals which represent frequency bands of the incoming sound, b) a sound processor which is configured to analyze and to process the electric audio signals, c) a transmitter that sends the processed electric audio signals, d) a receiver/stimulator, which receives the processed electric audio signals from the transmitter and converts the processed electric audio signals into electric pulses, e) an electrode array embedded in the cochlear comprising a number of electrodes for stimulating the cochlear nerve with said electric pulses, and f) a control unit configured to control the distribution of said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes. The control unit is configured to distribute said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes by applying one out of a plurality of different coding schemes, and wherein the applied coding scheme is selected according to characteristics of the incoming sound.

Disclosed herein are method, system, and computer program product embodiments for performing the continuous tuning of received audio input from an earpiece or microphone, wherein the audio input is independently altered in the frequency domain for output to an earpiece worn by a user as well as separately for an additional audio output to an external connected speaker, for an optimal experience.

Disclosed herein, among other things, are apparatus and methods for neural network-driven frequency translation for hearing assistance devices. Various embodiments include a method of signal processing an input signal in a hearing assistance device, the hearing assistance device including a receiver and a microphone. The method includes performing neural network processing to train a processor to identify acoustic features in a plurality of audio signals and predict target outputs for the plurality of audio signals, and using the trained processor to control frequency translation of the input signal.

A method of analyzing performance of frequency lowering hearing aids. The method includes generating a sequentially of noise signals and transmitting acoustical sounds from a sound output device in response to the sequence of noise signals. A sound input device records the acoustical sounds and saves as a first device data. The sound input device with a frequency lowering hearing aid records the acoustical sounds and save as a second device data. The second device data is compared to the first device data and, in response to the comparison, at least one function of the frequency lowering hearing aid is optionally adjusted.

The present disclosure relates a directivity hearing-aid device which primarily includes an audio pick-up device, a processor, a selector, and a speaker disposed in a case. The audio pick-up device receives a sound in a range which is pointed by a beam, and the processor generates a detected sound component by amplifying a sound feature point audio in a sound component corresponding to a detecting target which is selected by the selector and generates adjusted sound components by suppressing or shielding the sound feature point audio in the other sound components. Then the processor combines the detected sound component and the adjusted sound components to generate an output sound signal. Accordingly, the directivity hearing-aid device of the present disclosure provides selectively receiving the detected sound component and suppressing or shielding the other impurity sounds to facilitate the user hears audio from a specific object thereby.

A method includes programming a sound processor to apply frequency shifting on a stimulation signal to generate a frequency shifted stimulation signal. The frequency shifting depends on one or more of a decibel level of a received sound signal, a hearing loss level associated with generating the stimulation signal, attenuation of an output based on the frequency shifted stimulation signal, or operating a hearing prosthesis in a single sided mode or a bilateral mode. The method includes receiving a sound signal, generating the stimulation signal from the sound signal, applying the frequency shifting to the stimulation signal to generate the frequency shifted stimulation signal, and generating, by an actuator of the hearing prosthesis, the output based on the frequency shifted stimulation signal, wherein the output is configured to be perceived as sound.

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).