User adjustable weighting of sound classes of a hearing aid

Abstract

A method for operating a hearing aid comprises: acquiring a sound signal; classifying the acquired sound signal with respect to predefined sound classes, wherein a raw class mixing weighting is determined, in which the sound signal is weighted with respect to the sound classes; processing the sound signal with at least one actuator, wherein the actuator processes the sound signal based on an actual actuator parameterization, wherein each sound class comprises a sound class actuator parameterization for each actuator, and the actual actuator parameterization for each actuator is generated by mixing the sound class actuator parameterization of the sound classes based on the raw class mixing weighting; and outputting the processed sound signal to be perceived by the user of the hearing aid.

Claims

1. A method for operating a hearing aid, the method comprising: acquiring a sound signal; classifying the acquired sound signal with respect to predefined sound classes, wherein a raw class mixing weighting is determined, in which the sound signal is weighted with respect to the sound classes; processing the sound signal with at least one actuator, wherein the actuator processes the sound signal based on an actual actuator parameterization, wherein each sound class comprises a sound class actuator parameterization for each actuator, and the actual actuator parameterization for each actuator is generated by mixing the sound class actuator parameterization of the sound classes based on the raw class mixing weighting; outputting the processed sound signal to be perceived by a user of the hearing aid; receiving an adjustment demand for a sound property of the user of the hearing aid; modifying the raw class mixing weighting into an adjusted class mixing weighting based on the adjustment demand, such that the sound signal is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting; storing the adjusted class mixing weighting with respect to the raw class mixing weighting as reference raw class mixing weighting; determining a further raw class mixing weighting; when the further raw class mixing weighting differs from the reference raw class mixing weighting only by at least a threshold, processing the sound signal with the adjusted class mixing weighting stored with respect to the reference raw class mixing weighting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the raw class mixing weighting comprises a weighting factor for each sound class and the actual actuator parameterization for an actuator is determined by applying the weighting factors to the sound class actuator parameterization of the sound classes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjustment demand for a sound property is a demand for increasing or decreasing the sound property.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sound property is associated with a sound class, such that a demand for increasing the sound property results in a higher weighting of the sound class; and/or wherein the sound property is associated with a sound class, such that a demand for increasing the sound property results in a lower weighting of the sound class.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one actuator is selected from: a gain actuator, a directionality actuator, a sound cleaning actuator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sound classes are selected from: speech in noise, comfort in noise, calm situation, music.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sound property is selected from at least one of: intelligibility, comfort, naturalness, clarity, loudness, signal compression.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sound class actuator parameterization for a sound class is fixed with respect to user modifications.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein an actuator is associated with the sound property of the adjustment demand, and the method further comprises: directly adjusting the actuator parameterization for the actuator based on the adjustment demand, such that the sound signal is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting and the modified actuator parameterization.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a sound class is associated with an actuator; wherein the actuator parameterization of the actuator is directly adjusted, when a weighting of the sound class in the adjusted class mixing weighting is higher than a threshold.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program that, when executed, direct a processor of a hearing aid to: acquire a sound signal; classify the acquired sound signal with respect to predefined sound classes, wherein a raw class mixing weighting is determined, in which the sound signal is weighted with respect to the sound classes; process the sound signal with at least one actuator, wherein the actuator processes the sound signal based on an actual actuator parameterization, wherein each sound class comprises a sound class actuator parameterization for each actuator, and the actual actuator parameterization for each actuator is generated by mixing the sound class actuator parameterization of the sound classes based on the raw class mixing weighting; output the processed sound signal to be perceived by a user of the hearing aid; receive an adjustment demand for a sound property of the user of the hearing aid; modify the raw class mixing weighting into an adjusted class mixing weighting based on the adjustment demand, such that the sound signal is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting; store the adjusted class mixing weighting with respect to the raw class mixing weighting as reference raw class mixing weighting; determine a further raw class mixing weighting; when the further raw class mixing weighting differs from the reference raw class mixing weighting only by at least a threshold, process the sound signal with the adjusted class mixing weighting stored with respect to the reference raw class mixing weighting.

12. A hearing aid, comprising: a classifier for classifying an acquired sound signal with respect to predefined sound classes, wherein a raw class mixing weighting is determined, in which the sound signal is weighted with respect to the sound classes; a sound processor for processing the sound signal with at least one actuator, wherein the actuator processes the sound signal based on an actual actuator parameterization, wherein each sound class comprises a sound class actuator parameterization for each actuator, and the actual actuator parameterization for each actuator is generated by mixing the sound class actuator parameterization of the sound classes based on the raw class mixing weighting; a modulator for outputting the processed sound signal to be perceived by a user of the hearing aid; a sound property adjuster for generating an adjustment demand for a sound property, when operated by the user of the hearing aid; wherein the hearing aid is adapted for modifying the raw class mixing weighting into an adjusted class mixing weighting based on the adjustment demand, such that the sound signal is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting; storing the adjusted class mixing weighting with respect to the raw class mixing weighting as reference raw class mixing weighting; determining a further raw class mixing weighting; when the further raw class mixing weighting differs from the reference raw class mixing weighting only by at least a threshold, processing the sound signal with the adjusted class mixing weighting stored with respect to the reference raw class mixing weighting.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Below, embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings.

(2) FIG. 1 schematically shows a hearing aid according to an embodiment of the invention.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram for a method for operating a hearing aid according to an embodiment of the invention.

(4) FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show diagrams illustrating a weighting of sound classes as used in the method of FIG. 2.

(5) FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C show diagrams illustrating a weighting of an actuator as used in the method of FIG. 2.

(6) The reference symbols used in the drawings, and their meanings, are listed in summary form in the list of reference symbols. In principle, identical parts are provided with the same reference symbols in the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

(7) FIG. 1 schematically shows a hearing aid 10. A hearing aid 10 may be a device that may be put at least partially into an ear of a user to at least partially compensate an auditory defect of the user. In general, a hearing aid 10 may be near the ear, at least partially in the ear channel and/or carried on the ear. It has to be noted that a hearing aid 10 may comprise two separate devices for each ear of the user. It also may be possible that the hearing aid 10 comprises a Cochlear implant, which may be inside the head of the user.

(8) In general, the hearing aid 10 comprises an input 12 for receiving sound data and an output 14 for generating signals stimulating the hearing sense of the user. The input 12 may comprise a microphone and a receiver for sound signals, which may be transferred via infrared, electromagnetic waves and/or cable. For example, a receiver for electromagnetic waves may be a so-called T-coil or telecoil. It is also possible that the input 12 comprises a receiver, which receives digitized sound signals via Bluetooth. The output 14 may comprise a loudspeaker in the ear channel or a stimulation device inside the Cochlear.

(9) An analogue signal 16 from the input 12 may be transformed by a demodulator 18 into a digital sound signal 20. For example, a microphone and/or T-coil may generate analogue sound signals, which may be then transformed into a digital sound signal 20 or sound data 20. The sound signal 20 is then processed by a sound processor 22, which produces a processed sound signal 24. The processed sound signal 24, which may be a digital signal, is then transformed by a modulator 26 into an analogue output signal 28, which then may be output by the output 14.

(10) The sound processor 22 comprises actuators 30, which are adapted for processing the sound signal 20 into the sound signal 24. The actuators 30 may be adapted for processing the sound signal 20 in series and are in parallel, which may mean that the sound signal 20 processed by one of the actuators 30 is input into another one of the actuators 30. For example, the actuators 30 may comprise a gain actuator, a directionality actuator, a sound cleaning actuator, etc.

(11) Each of the actuators 30 comprises an actual actuator parameterization 32. With its actuator parameterization 32, an actuator 30 may be adjusted, how it processes the sound signal 20. For example, in the case of a directionality actuator, the actuator parameterization 32 may comprise an angle which defines the range in which the sound signal is amplified and outside of which the sound signal is damped. As a further example, in the case of a sound cleaning actuator, the actuator parameterization 32 may comprise a frequency above which noise is damped.

(12) The actual actuator parameterization 32 of the actuators 30 may be set by a classifier 34, which is adapted for classifying the sound signal 20 according to different sound classes 36. Examples for sound classes 36 are “speech in noise”, “comfort in noise”, “calm situation”, “music”, etc.

(13) The classifier 34 analyses the current sound signal 20 and determines, which sound class 36 is best used with respect to the current sound signal 20. When a sound class 36 has been determined by the classifier 34, the actual actuator parameterizations 32 of the actuators 30 are adapted to the determined sound class 36. To this end, each sound class 36 comprises sound class actuator parameterizations 38 for some or all of the actuators 30. The sound class actuator parameterizations 38 are applied to the actuators 30.

(14) The sound class actuator parameterization 38 for the sound class 36 may be fixed with respect to user modifications. I.e. a user of the hearing aid 10 may not be able to modify the sound classes 36 as well as the sound class actuator parameterizations 38. The sound class actuator parameterization 38 may be modified and/or fitted by a professional hear care specialist during a professional fitting of the hearing aid 10.

(15) It is possible, that the hearing aid 10 and in particular the classifier 34 are operated in a mixed mode. In the mixed mode, not only one but several of the sound classes 36 may be determined as relevant. The classifier 34 may assign every sound class 36 a weighting factor, which indicates the relevance of the sound class 20 with respect to the current sound signal 20. The actual actuator parameterizations 32 are then set based on the weighting factors and the sound class actuator parameterization 38. In other words, the sound classes 36 are applied in a mixed way to the actuators 30.

(16) FIG. 1 furthermore shows a sound property adjuster 40, with which a user of the hearing aid 10 can adjust the mixing of the sound classes 36, as will be described with reference to the following figures. For example, the sound property adjuster 40 may comprise a knob on the hearing aid 10 and/or may comprise a slider or similar virtual control element in the user interface of an application that may be run on a mobile device that is communicatively interconnected with the hearing aid 10. With the sound property adjuster 40, one or more sound properties 42 may be adjusted, which influence the mixing of the sound classes 36. Examples for sound properties 42 may be intelligibility, comfort, naturalness, clarity, loudness, signal compression, etc.

(17) It has to be noted that the modules 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 40 may be implemented as software modules of a computer program running in the hearing aid 10 and/or further devices, such as the mobile device mentioned above.

(18) FIG. 2 shows a method for operating the hearing aid 10, which may be performed by a microprocessor of the hearing aid 10, in which a corresponding computer program is executed. Several steps of the method are illustrated in the following figures.

(19) FIG. 3 shows a diagram with an example for a space of possible weighting factors 44 for the sound classes 36. In FIG. 3, three sound classes 36 are shown. For example, the upper sound class may be “speech in noise”, the left sound class may be “calm situation” and the right sound class may be “comfort in noise”.

(20) The weighting factors 44 of sound classes 36, which may be percentage values, may not be independent from each other. This may depend on the type of sound classes. In this case, the pure sound classes 36 may be situated at the corners of the space of possible weighting factors 44, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The circular lines in the space of possible weighting factors 44 indicate equal weightings for the respective sound classes 36.

(21) Returning to FIG. 2, in step S10, the demodulator 18 acquires a sound signal 20 and the classifier 34 classifies the acquired sound signal 20 with respect to predefined sound classes 36.

(22) The classifier 34 determines a raw class mixing weighting 46, in which the sound signal 20 is weighted with respect to the sound classes 36. In the example of FIG. 3, “calm situation” is weighted with 20%, while “speech in noise” and “comfort in noise” are weighted with 40%.

(23) The weighting factors 44 may be composed into a raw class mixing weighting 46. In this context, “raw” may refer to a class mixing weighting, which has not yet adjusted by a user of the hearing aid 10.

(24) In step S12, the actuators 30 are adjusted according to the raw class mixing weighting 46 and the sound processor 22 processes the sound signal 20 with the adjusted actuators 30.

(25) Each sound class 36 may comprise a sound class actuator parameterization 38 for each actuator 30, and the actual actuator parameterization 32 for each actuator 30 may be generated by mixing the sound class actuator parameterization 38 of the sound classes 36 based on the raw class mixing weighting 46.

(26) The actual actuator parameterization 32 for the actuators 30 are then determined by applying the weighting factors 44 to the sound class actuator parameterization 38 of the sound classes 36. As already mentioned above, there may be functions and/or routines implemented in the hearing aid 10, which have as input the weighting factors 44 and specific kind of parameters from the sound class actuator parameterization 38, and which output the specific kind of parameters for the actual actuator parameterization 32. An example for such a function may be weighted averaging. An example for such a function may be weight dependent step functions, which turn the actuators 30 on and/or off, when specific weighting factors 44 are passed.

(27) Then, the sound processor 22 processes the sound signal 20 with the actuator 30, wherein the actuator 30 processes the sound signal 20 based on the actual actuator parameterization 32.

(28) After that, the processed sound signal 24 to be perceived by the user of the hearing aid 10 is output by the modulator 26.

(29) FIG. 4 illustrates, how the raw class mixing weighting 46 may be modified into an adjusted class mixing weighting 48 based on an adjustment demand of the user of the hearing aid 10. As can be seen in FIG. 4, due to the adjustment demand, the weighting factors 44 may be set to different values as in the raw class mixing weighting 46. In FIG. 4, the deformed circular lines in the space of possible weighting factors 44 indicate equal adjusted weightings for the respective sound classes 36.

(30) Returning to FIG. 2, in step S14, the sound property adjuster 40 generates an adjustment demand for a sound property 42 of a user of the hearing aid 10, which sound property 42 is received in the classifier 34. For example, the adjustment demand for a sound property 42 is a demand for increasing or decreasing the sound property 42.

(31) The classifier 34 modifies the raw class mixing weighting 46 into the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 based on the adjustment demand. Each sound property 42 may be associated with one or more sound classes 36. Such an association may indicate a positive or negative correlation of the sound property 42 with the respective sound class 36. In the case of a positive correlation, the corresponding weighting factor 44 may be increased. In the case of a negative correlation, the corresponding weighting factor 44 may be decreased. For example, the sound property 42 may be associated with a sound class 36, such that a demand for increasing the sound property 42 results in a higher weighting of the sound class 36. Analogously, the sound property 42 may be associated with a sound class 36, such that a demand for increasing the sound property 42 results in a lower weighting of the sound class 36.

(32) With respect to FIG. 4, the adjustment demand may be “more intelligibility”, which may be implemented by more “speech in noise”, i.e. the weighting factor 44 of “speech in noise” may be increased, while the weighting factor of “calm situation” and “comfort in noise” may be decreased. In the example of FIG. 4, “speech in noise” is increased to 75%, while “calm situation” and “comfort in noise” are decreased to 25%.

(33) Later, when the method returns to step S12, the sound signal 20 is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting 48.

(34) It has to be noted that for combinations or patterns of sound class mixtures, certain predefined sets of modifications may be configured. For example, if soft sounds are too soft, the weighting factor 44 of sound class “calm situations” may be increased. If background noise is too loud, the weighting factor 44 of sound classes “speech in noise” and/or “comfort in noise” may be increased. If intelligibility is still too bad, a beam former strength of sound class “speech in noise” may be increased.

(35) Furthermore, if certain hearing issues occur for all and/or for some sound classes 36, the appropriate modification may become applied to all and/or some of these sound classes 36. A procedure for identifying such cases might be to analyse user control inputs in order to find certain input patterns.

(36) Additionally, psychoacoustic models for loudness, sharpness, intelligibility, etc. may be applied, which may improve derivation of appropriate modifications, i.e. rather “more sound class” or rather “stronger actuator strengths”.

(37) The mixing of sound classes 30 as herein described may be combined with other self-fitting procedures, such as loudness control and balance control.

(38) FIG. 5 illustrates that the user modification may be stored in the hearing aid 10 with respect to the space of possible weighting factors 44. For example, the adjustment demand and/or the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 is stored with respect to the raw class mixing weighting 46 as reference. Every time, when the raw class mixing weighting 46, which is determined in step S10, reaches a region 52, in which such a user adjustment has taken place, not the raw class mixing weighting 46 but the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 or an interpolation between these two class mixing weightings 46, 48 is applied in step S12.

(39) In particular with respect to FIG. 2, in step S16, the adjustment demand and/or the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 is stored with respect to the raw class mixing weighting 46 as reference. When a raw class mixing weighting 46 used as a reference is determined during classification of the sound signal 20 in step S10, the sound signal 20 is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 stored with respect to the reference in step S12.

(40) For example, the region 15 may be determined with a threshold on the distance between the determined raw class mixing weighting 46 and the reference raw class mixing weighting 46 with respect to which a user adjustment has been stored. When a raw class mixing weighting 46 is determined during classification of the sound signal 20 in step S10, which differs from the reference only by at least this threshold, the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 stored with respect to the reference is used for processing the sound signal 20 in step S12.

(41) FIG. 6A to 6B illustrate, that not only the weighting of sound classes 36 may be adjusted based on a user demand, but that also an actuator 30 may be directly adjusted. FIG. 6A to 6B show the weighting factor 44 for a sound class 36 and a modified actuator parameterization 50.

(42) An actuator 30 may be associated directly with a sound property 42 and then the user demands an adjustment of sound property 42 not only the class mixing weighting for the sound classes 36 may be adjusted but also the actuator 30 may be adjusted directly.

(43) For example, during step S14, the actuator parameterization 32 for the actuator 30 may be directly adjusted based on the adjustment demand of the user of the hearing aid 10, such that in step S12, the sound signal 20 is processed with the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 and the modified actuator parameterization 50.

(44) As shown in FIG. 6A to 6C, a sound class 36 may be associated with the actuator 30 and the actuator parameterization 32 of the actuator may be directly adjusted, when a weighting 44 of the sound class in the adjusted class mixing weighting 48 is higher than a threshold. For example, in FIG. 6A, the weighting factor 44 for the sound class 36 is smaller than the threshold and the actuator parameterization 32 is only indirectly adjusted as described above. In the case of FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C, the weighting factor 44 for the sound class is higher than the threshold and the actuator 30 is directly adjusted by additionally modifying the actuator parameterization 32 into the modified actuator parameterization 50.

(45) While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art and practising the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or controller or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

(46) 10 hearing aid 12 input, microphone 14 output, loudspeaker 16 analogue input signal 18 demodulator 20 digital sound signal 22 sound processor 24 processed digital output signal 26 modulator 28 analogue output signal 30 actuator 32 actual actuator parameterization 34 classifier 36 sound classes 36 sound class actuator parameterization 38 sound property adjuster 40 sound property 42 weighting factor 46 raw class mixing weighting 48 an adjusted class mixing weighting 50 modified actuator parameterization 52 region