Patent classifications
H04R25/505
Hearing system containing a hearing instrument and a method for operating the hearing instrument
A hearing system contains a hearing instrument and the hearing instrument is configured to support the hearing of a hearing-impaired user. The hearing instrument is operated via an operating method. The method includes capturing a sound signal from an environment of the hearing instrument, processing the captured sound signal to at least partially compensate the hearing-impairment of the user and outputting the processed sound signal to the user. The captured sound signal is analyzed to recognize speech intervals, in which the captured sound signal contains speech. During recognized speech intervals, at least one time derivative of an amplitude and/or a pitch of the captured sound signal is determined. The amplitude of the processed sound signal is temporarily increased, if the at least one derivative fulfills a predefined criterion.
Hearing aid system for estimating acoustic transfer functions
A hearing aid system comprises a hearing aid, and a portable auxiliary device' adapted to establish a communication link between them. The hearing aid comprises a microphone providing an electric input signal, a signal processor, and an output unit. The auxiliary device comprises a microphone providing an auxiliary electric input signal, and a user control interface allowing a user to initiate a specific calibration mode of operation of the hearing aid system. The signal processor of the hearing aid is configured to receive corresponding time segments of said electric input signal and said auxiliary electric input signal to provide an estimate of an acoustic transfer function from said microphone of said auxiliary device to said microphone of said hearing aid. A method of operating a hearing aid system is further disclosed. The invention may e.g. be used in various applications related to own voice detection and estimation.
Multiple sound source encoding in hearing prostheses
Presented herein are techniques for enhancing a hearing prosthesis recipient's perception of multiple frequencies present in received sound signals. The hearing prosthesis is configured to extract a plurality of frequencies from the received sound signals and to use the plurality of frequencies to modulate the amplitudes of different stimulation pulse sequences that are to be delivered to the recipient via different stimulation channels. The hearing prosthesis may also adapt a stimulation resolution of the stimulation pulse sequences when delivering the modulated stimulation pulses sequences to the recipient.
HEARING DEVICE, AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING HEARING DEVICE
A hearing device directly or indirectly connected to a server through a network, the hearing device being provided with: an input unit that acquires sound data from the outside; a communication unit that transmits the sound data to the server, and receives a parameter set generated on the basis of the analysis result obtained by analyzing the sound data in the server; a storage unit that stores the parameter set; and an adjustment unit that, on the basis of the parameter set, adjusts gains of a plurality of prescribed frequencies.
HEARING SYSTEM COMPRISING A DATABASE OF ACOUSTIC TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
A hearing system comprises a) a multitude of M of microphones providing M corresponding electric input signals x.sub.m(n), m=1, ..., M, and n representing time, b) a processor connected to said multitude of microphones and providing a processed signal in dependence thereof, c) an output unit for providing an output signal in dependence of said processed signal, and d) a database (Θ) comprising a dictionary (Δ.sub.pd) of previously determined acoustic transfer function vectors (ATF.sub.pd). The processor is configured A) to determine a constrained estimate of a acoustic transfer function vector (ATF.sub.pd,.sub.cur) in dependence of said M electric input signals and said dictionary (Δ.sub.pd), B) to determine an unconstrained estimate of a current acoustic transfer function vector (ATF.sub.uc,.sub.cur) in dependence of said M electric input signals, and C) to determine a resulting acoustic transfer function vector (ATF*) for a user of the hearing system in dependence thereof and of a confidence measure related to said electric input signals. A method of operating a hearing device is also disclosed. Thereby an improved noise reduction system for a hearing aid or headset may be provided.
SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS FOR FITTING HEARING ASSISTANCE DEVICES
Embodiments herein relate to systems, devices and methods for fitting hearing assistance devices. In a first aspect, a method of fitting a hearing assistance device is included, the method including providing an audio sample to a hearing assistance device wearer, receiving input from the hearing assistance device wearer regarding a preferred sound volume or perceived loudness, receiving input from the hearing assistance device wearer with the external device regarding a bass/treble balance, and determining a maximum power output of the hearing assistance device that does not exceed a loudness discomfort level (LDL). Other embodiments are also included herein.
Communication device and methods for use by hearing impaired
A method for maintaining contact information in a hearing impaired assisted user's communication device includes the steps of (a) providing a web site for altering assisted user contact information, (b) linking a proxy device to the web site, (c) receiving an identifier associated with the assisted user's device via the proxy device, (d) identifying an assisted user's device via the received identifier, (e) enabling the proxy device to be used to modify contact information for the assisted user associated with the received identifier, (f) starting a timer to time out a sync timeout period, (g) during the sync timeout period, receiving an indication via the assisted user's device confirming a desire to update the assisted user's contact information, (h) updating the assisted user's contact information, and (i) at the end of the timeout period, ceasing an indication that updated data is ready to be used from the assisted user's device.
WEARABLE HEARING ASSIST DEVICE WITH ARTIFACT REMEDIATION
Various implementations include systems for processing audio signals to remove artifacts introduced by a machine learning system in challenging environments. In particular implementations, a method includes generating a processed audio signal for a hearing assistance device in which the processed audio signal is intended to perceptually dominate a user auditory experience, including: processing an unprocessed audio signal received by the hearing assistance device, wherein the processing includes utilizing a machine learning (ML) system to generate an ML enhanced audio signal; determining a mixing coefficient from an environmental noise assessment; mixing the ML enhanced audio signal with the unprocessed audio signal using the mixing coefficient to generate the processed audio signal; and outputting the processed audio signal.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERSONALIZED SOUND MODIFICATION
A method for personalized sound modification, with a personal sound system having a microphone; a user device which includes a processor, computer readable medium, and optionally the microphone; and a sound output device; is provided. The method includes: providing a user hearing profile including lower and upper limits of the user's auditory dynamic range at a plurality of sound frequencies, prepared with the personal sound system; receiving a sound signal from the microphone; optionally separating the sound signal into a plurality of frequency channels; amplifying or attenuating sound frequencies in the sound signal which have a volume level outside the lower or upper limits of the user's auditory dynamic range, respectively, and forming a modified sound signal with which the sound output device will produce sounds within the user's auditory dynamic range; and providing the modified sound signal to the sound output device.
HYBRID EXPANSIVE FREQUENCY COMPRESSION FOR ENHANCING SPEECH PERCEPTION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH HIGH-FREQUENCY HEARING LOSS
A method of audio signal processing comprising Hybrid Expansive Frequency Compression (hEFC) via a digital signal processor, wherein the method includes: classifying an audio signal input, wherein the audio signal input includes frication high-frequency speech energy, into two or more speech sound classes followed by selecting a form of input-dependent frequency remapping function; and performing hEFC including, re-coding of one or more input frequencies of the speech sound via the input-dependent frequency remapping function to generate an audio output signal, wherein the output signal is a representation of the audio signal input having a lower sound frequency.