Abstract
A computing device includes: an input configured to be coupled to, or carried by, a user of a hearing device, the hearing device configured to receive sound from an environment defined by an acoustic scene; one or more memory units; and one or more processing units; wherein the one or more sensors are configured to measure a stress parameter related to stress of the user, the stress parameter being related to the acoustic scene; wherein the computing device is configured to obtain the measured stress parameter; and wherein the one or more processing units of the computing device comprise a program configured to determine an indication of stress of the user based on at least the stress parameter.
Claims
1. A computing device comprising: one or more memory units; and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the one or more memory units; wherein the computing device is configured to communicate with a hearing device that is configured to provide sound; wherein the computing device is configured to obtain physiological information transmitted from the hearing device; wherein the one or more processing units of the computing device comprise a program configured to determine an indication of stress of the user based on at least the physiological information; wherein the computing device is configured to cause a request to change a parameter of the hearing device to be provided to the user, after the indication of stress of the user is determined.
2. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the request allows the user to decide whether to change the parameter of the hearing device or not.
3. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to send the request to the hearing device.
4. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the program of the computing device is configured to determine the indication of stress based also on a speech of the user.
5. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the physiological information is based on output of one or more sensors.
6. The computing device according to claim 5, wherein the one or more sensors comprise a temperature sensor, a heart rate sensor, a skin resistance sensor, one or more microphones, or any combination of the foregoing.
7. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to receive speech data from the hearing device, the speech data indicating a speech of the user.
8. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memory units comprise historical data, the historical data relating to a perceptual hearing of the user and/or a general perceptual hearing, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to determine the indication of stress based on the historical data.
9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine if a stress of the user is above a stress threshold, and wherein the computing device is configured to cause the request to change the parameter of the hearing device to be provided to the user after the stress of the user is determined to be above the stress threshold.
10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the request to change the parameter of the hearing device comprises a suggestion to increase a volume.
11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the request to change the parameter of the hearing device comprises a suggestion to change an operation mode of the hearing device.
12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the request to change the parameter of the hearing device comprises a suggestion to change a setting of the hearing device.
13. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processing units of the computing device are configured to detect a hearing deficit of the user, and/or an uncompensated hearing loss of the user, and/or a change in the hearing capability of the user, after the indication of stress is determined.
14. The computing device according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to receive data comprising acoustic scene information, and determine the indication of stress of the user based on the data.
15. A system comprising the computing device according to claim 1, and the hearing device.
16. A hearing device comprising: a processing unit; and a speaker; wherein the processing unit is configured to process audio signals to obtain processed audio signals; wherein the speaker is configured to provide output sound based on the processed audio signals; wherein the hearing device is configured to obtain a stress indicator related to a stress of a user of the hearing device; and wherein the hearing device is configured to change a parameter of the hearing device after obtaining the stress indicator related to the stress of the user of the hearing device, wherein the parameter is different from a volume control, and affects how the processing unit processes the audio signals.
17. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the hearing device is configured to change the parameter by changing a mode of the hearing device.
18. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the hearing device is configured to change the parameter by changing a setting of the hearing device.
19. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the hearing device is configured to change the parameter by changing a volume.
20. The hearing device according to claim 18, wherein the hearing device comprises one or more sensors.
21. The hearing device according to claim 20, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more microphones.
22. The hearing device according to claim 20, wherein the one or more sensors comprise a temperature sensor, a heart rate sensor, a skin resistance sensor, one or more microphones, or any combination of the foregoing.
23. The hearing device according to claim 18, wherein the hearing device is configured to send speech data to an external computing device.
24. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the parameter is a mode parameter of the hearing device.
25. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the parameter is a processing parameter of the hearing device, the processing parameter being different from a volume parameter.
26. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the stress indicator is based on sensor output by a sensor at the hearing device.
27. The hearing device of claim 16, wherein the stress indicator is transmitted by an external computing device to the hearing device.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0054] The above and other features and advantages will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art by the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
[0055] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary system according to some embodiments,
[0056] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary hearing device,
[0057] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary environment with a user wearing a hearing device and a stress evaluation device,
[0058] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another exemplary system according to some embodiments,
[0059] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an exemplary method executed by the system of FIG. 1 or FIG. 4,
[0060] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates yet another exemplary system according to some embodiments,
[0061] FIG. 7 illustrates dependency of a stress level and a complexity of an acoustic scene, and
[0062] FIG. 8a) and 8b) illustrate a detection of an uncompensated hearing loss.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0063] Various embodiments are described hereinafter with reference to the figures. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. Like elements will, thus, not be described in detail with respect to the description of each figure. It should also be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the embodiments. They are not intended as an exhaustive description of the claimed invention or as a limitation on the scope of the claimed invention. In addition, an illustrated embodiment needs not have all the aspects or advantages shown. An aspect or an advantage described in conjunction with a particular embodiment is not necessarily limited to that embodiment and can be practiced in any other embodiments even if not so illustrated, or if not so explicitly described.
[0064] Throughout, the same reference numerals are used for identical or corresponding parts.
[0065] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary system 200 comprising a computer program configured to be executed in an external computing device 202, at least one hearing device 2, and at least one stress evaluation device 12. The at least one hearing device 2 is configured to be worn by a user. The user is situated in an environment characterized by an acoustic scene. The at least one stress evaluation device 12 is also configured to be worn by the user. The at least one stress evaluation device 12 is configured to measure a stress parameter 18 related to stress of the user. The stress parameter 18 is also related to the acoustic scene. The at least one stress evaluation device 12 is configured to communicate with the external computing device 202, preferably via a first wireless communication link 204 and to send the measured stress parameter 18 to the external computing device 202. The computer program is configured to determine an indication of stress 206 of the user based on at least the stress parameter 18 received from the stress evaluation device 12. The external communication device 202 may be a part of a cloud-computing platform 208.
[0066] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary hearing device 2. The hearing device 2 comprises a microphone 4, a processing unit 6, a speaker 8, and a wireless communication unit 10. The hearing device may also comprise a stress evaluation device 12. The hearing device 2 may comprise more than one microphone 4. The microphone 4 is configured to receive audio signals 14 from audio sources in the environment and provide the audio signals 14 to the processing unit 6. The processing unit 6 is configured to apply processing parameters to thereby process the audio signals 14. The speaker 8 may be directly connected to the processing unit 6 and the processing unit 6 may provide the processed audio signal to the speaker 8. The speaker 8 may then convert the processed audio signal into a sound for the user, i.e. the speaker 8 is configured to provide the processed audio signals 16 to the user. The stress evaluation device 12, being part of the hearing device 2 in the present embodiment, may be configured to generate a stress parameter 18, the stress parameter 18 is related to the stress of the user and to the acoustic scene. The processing unit 6 may be configured to decide whether to perform an action, the decision being based on the received audio signals 14 received from the environment and the indication of stress 206 of the user received from the external computing device (not shown) via the wireless communication unit 10. The stress evaluation device 12 may comprise a temperature sensor, a skin resistance sensor, or similar. In some embodiments, the microphone 4 may serve the purpose of the stress evaluation device 12.
[0067] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary environment 20 with a user 22 wearing a hearing device 2 and a stress evaluation device 12. The environment 20 is defined by an acoustic scene 24. The acoustic scene 24 comprises a plurality of audio sources 26, such as a person talking 26a, music source 26b, noise source 26c, loudspeaker 26d. Each of the audio sources 26a, 26b, 26c, and 26d generates a corresponding audio signal 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d. The environment 20 may also comprise a plurality of visual sources which contribute to the user's cognitive load, attention, and therefore stress. Some of the audio sources, e.g. the person talking 26a and the loudspeaker 26d at the same time represent the visual sources as the user 22 may make notice of them while being in the environment. The arrangement of the audio sources 26a, 26b, 26c, and 26d may also affect the user's stress. For instance, if the noise source 26c is in a close proximity of the user 22, the user's stress level may be increased compared to the situation if the noise source 26c was far away. The hearing device 2 receives the audio signals 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d via the one or more microphones (not shown). The audio signals 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d are then processed by the processing unit of the hearing device 2. The processing unit may reconstruct the acoustic scene 24 and determine its complexity based on the received audio signals 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d from the received acoustic signals 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d.
[0068] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another exemplary system 200 comprising a computer program configured to be executed in an external computing device 202, at least one hearing device 2, and at least one stress evaluation device 12. In this embodiment, the hearing device 2 may be configured to communicate with the external communication device 202, preferably via a second wireless communication link 210. The second communication link 210 may be two-way communication link such that the hearing device 2 may send data to the external computing device 202 as well as the external computing device 202 may send data to the hearing device 2. The external computing device 202 may send the indication of stress 206 to the hearing device 2. The hearing device 2 may simultaneously be connected with more than one external computing device 202. The data sent from the hearing device 2 may include packages 38 comprising received audio signals. Additionally, the hearing device 2 may comprise another stress evaluation device 12a for measuring another stress parameter 18a, such as the user's speech. The hearing aid 2 may then send corresponding measurements of the stress parameter 18a from the stress evaluation device 12a to the external computing device 202. The packages 38 together with the corresponding stress parameter 18a may therefore relate to users' perceptual hearing for a given environment. These data may be used for building up a database 212 with historical data in the external computing device 202. The external computing device 202 may communicate with other hearing devices used by other users (not shown) which can then further contribute to the database 212 and historical data. The external computing device 202 may then send these historical data to the hearing device 2 through another or the same communication channel 210. The processing unit may then generate the decision based on the historical data. In some embodiments, the sensor evaluation device 12 may be connected to the hearing device 2, either wirelessly or through a wired connection. Both the hearing device 2 and the stress evaluation device 12 may be connected to a user's smart phone.
[0069] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an exemplary method 100 executed by the system shown in FIG. 4. The method 100 comprises receiving 101 audio signals at the one or more microphones of the hearing device. The audio signals originate from the acoustic sources arranged in the environment. The method further comprises providing the received audio signals to the processing unit (not shown). The processing unit then applies processing parameters to thereby process 102 the audio signals and provide them to the speaker. The stress evaluation device then measures 103 a stress parameter related to stress of the user which is then provided to an external computing device. The method further comprises determining 104 an indication of stress of the user by a computer program executed on the external computing device, stress of the user being related to the acoustic scene. The external computing device may determine whether the user is stressed, based on the determined indication of stress. The indication of stress and the received audio signals may be compared 105 with a predetermined criteria and the result of the comparison may be that the user is not stressed. The processing unit may then check later again 107 whether the user is stressed, by performing the same steps again. If the outcome of the comparison is positive, i.e. the user is stressed, the processing unit may change 106 the processing parameters in order to reduce the stress. After the processing parameters are changed the method 100 may be performed again in order to check whether the change in the processing parameters resulted in reduction of stress. If stress is reduced but the user is still stressed the processing parameters may be changed further. If stress of the user is increased the processing parameters may need to be reset to previous values. Alternatively, the external computing device may obtain, from the hearing device, the audio signals received by the microphones. The computer program may then, based on the audio signals in combination with the determined indication of stress, generate a suggestion for the hearing device user about a change in processing parameters.
[0070] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates yet another embodiment of the system 200. In this embodiment, the one or more microphones 4 of the hearing device 2 are at the same time the stress evaluation device 12. The hearing device 2 receives the acoustic signals 14 from the environment. The acoustic signals 14 may comprise the user's own voice. In this embodiment, the acoustic signals 14 serve as the stress parameter 18 which is sent from the hearing device 2 to the external computing device 202. A computer program 300 in the external computing device 202 may comprise several algorithms 300a, 300b, 300c performing different instructions. The computer program 300 receives the stress parameter 18 and at first performs the user's voice detection and extraction from the received audio signals 14 in a voice detection/extraction algorithm 300a. The computer program then performs speech analysis in a speech analyser algorithm 300b. The speech analyser algorithm 300b sends its analysis to an indication of stress algorithm 300c which is configured to determine the indication of stress 206 based on the input from the speech analyser algorithm 300b and the stress parameter 18, i.e. the received acoustic signals 14 sent from the hearing device 2. The indication of stress 206 is then sent to the hearing device 2 via the second communication link 210. The computer program 300 may also determine a suggestion for the hearing aid 2 to change the processing parameters in case that the indication of stress 206 shows that the user is stressed. The suggestion may be determined based on the received acoustic signals 14 which have information about the acoustic scene encoded therein.
[0071] FIG. 7 illustrates dependency of a stress level (y-axis) and a complexity of an acoustic scene (x-axis). From the graph it can be seen that the more complex the acoustic scene is, the stress level will be higher. Such dependency may form part of historical data. The historical data may define expected stress parameter. The expected stress parameter may depend on the complexity of the acoustic scene.
[0072] FIGS. 8a) and 8b) illustrate a detection of an uncompensated hearing loss. The graph in FIGS. 8a) and 8b) shows dependency of the stress level (y-axis) on the complexity of an acoustic scene (x-axis). The regular (brighter) curve shows historical data generated over time based on the user's previous experience or based on other users with similar profile. The irregular (darker) curve shows actual stress level measured by at least one stress evaluation device. The irregular (darker) curve shows that the user starts to show higher stress relative to the historical average of acoustic scenes with similar complexity. Such behaviour may be the sign of an uncompensated hearing loss.
[0073] Although particular features have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the claimed invention, and it will be made obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense. The claimed invention is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents.
LIST OF REFERENCES
[0074] 2 hearing device [0075] 4 microphone [0076] 6 processing unit [0077] 8 speaker [0078] 10 wireless communication unit [0079] 12 stress evaluation device [0080] 14 audio signals [0081] 16 processed audio signals [0082] 18 stress parameter [0083] 20 environment [0084] 22 user [0085] 24 acoustic scene [0086] 26 audio sources [0087] 28 audio signals [0088] 38 package [0089] 100 method executed by the hearing device [0090] 101 method step of receiving audio signals [0091] 102 method step of processing audio signals [0092] 103 method step of measuring stress parameters [0093] 104 method step of generating an indication of stress [0094] 105 method step of determining whether the user is stressed? [0095] 106 method step of changing processing parameters [0096] 107 method step of checking stress later [0097] 200 system [0098] 202 external computing device [0099] 204 first communication link [0100] 206 indication of stress [0101] 208 cloud-computing platform [0102] 210 second communication link [0103] 212 database [0104] 300 computer program [0105] 300a voice detection/extraction algorithm [0106] 300b speech analyser algorithm [0107] 300c indication of stress algorithm
