Patent Application
20050249372
This application claims priority to the German application No. 10 2004 021 964.8, filed May 4, 2004 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a hearing aid with a housing, a directional microphone device, a transmission device for the electrical or electromagnetic transmission of signals between the hearing aid device and an external device and a hearing aid for amplifying directional microphone signals exclusively originating directly from the directional microphone device, in a first operating mode and for amplifying signals originating from the transmission device, in a second operating mode. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a corresponding method for operating a hearing aid device.
As is known, in-the-ear hearing aids are inserted into the auditory canal with the aid of an otoplastic. The microphones in the directional microphone of the hearing aid are arranged such that their highest sensitivity in an inserted state of the hearing aid essentially points horizontally forward.
Furthermore headsets are available on the market, which are used in conjunction with mobile telephones for example. With these devices the telephone signal is transmitted wirelessly or by wire from the telephone to the headset. This is either fixed into the ear using an otoplastic or an ear plug and partially covers the pinna.
It would be preferable for some headset wearers if the headset also had a hearing aid functionality. This would be advantageous in that the headset user would also profit from a frequency response shaping of a hearing aid. The problem here however is that the directional microphone must point horizontally forwards in a hearing aid mode and be directed towards the mouth of the user in a telephone mode.
Publication DE 93 20 391 U1 discloses a control mechanism for hearing aids, in particular for switching on/off, for switching from microphone to induction coil operation, for adjusting the volume or as a situation change -over switch for adjusting selectable transmission functions. The control mechanism can be configured in the form of a microswitch as a press switch, push-button switch or rocker switch, or in the form of a small rotary switch, whereby several switch functions can be initiated or several switch positions selected particularly in the design as a switch with a rotatable actuating element.
Furthermore, patent application DE 42 33 813 C1 discloses a programmable hearing aid device with a space-saving arrangement of the switch elements. A control element can thus be inserted into a programming connector for switching the hearing aid on/off. The insertable switch element can be designed as a rotary switch or a potentiometer.
An object of the present invention is thus to specify a hearing aid device, which allows for addressing these problems. Furthermore, a corresponding method for operating a hearing aid is to be specified.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the claims.
Advantageously the control function can be combined with the alignment process of the directional microphone, thus avoiding a compromise, according to which the directional microphone would be arranged in a fixed central position between the horizontal and the direction to the mouth of the user.
In the second operating mode, signals can also preferably be amplified by the directional microphone device. This is not only necessary in the case of binaural supply, but also brings essential advantages for the hearing-impaired, since it expediently amplifies their own speech.
The second operating mode can be a telephone mode, the electrically or electromagnetically transmitted signals originating from a telephone. Although simple switching into the telephone mode will represent a principle application area, the method according to the invention and the hearing aid device according to the invention can however also be used to transmit just the user's own voice signals to an external amplifier. This is suited for example to events in large rooms, television broadcasts and the like. In any case, the wearer in the second mode can also profit from the hearing aid functionality and, if necessary, switch into the pure hearing aid operation by means of a simple rotation of the directional microphone.
In an advantageous embodiment of the hearing aid device according to the invention, the transmission device has a Bluetooth-chip, which enables standard transmission methods to be used.
There can be further advantages in enabling the transmission device to be switched to inactive in the first operating mode. This results in energy savings, giving the battery in a hearing aid a longer service life.
As previously mentioned, the rotary switch is fixed with its one section to the housing of the hearing aid device. In this way, the housing can be realized as an otoplastic, giving the hearing aid the levels of wearer comfort and acoustic comfort obtainable with conventional hearing aids.
The present invention is displayed in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;
The exemplary embodiment illustrated in more detail below represents a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Corresponding to
If the wearer now has a telephone conversation, the voice signals of the wearer are initially to be recorded for transmission. Therefore in accordance with
In each application case, in other words, both in the hearing aid mode and in the telephone mode, the optimum directional characteristic is thus achieved, because the microphone lug A always points towards the relevant signal source. In addition, it is advantageous that the device is able to be operated simply and intuitively. Furthermore, no additional switch is required for accepting or ending a telephone conversation.
If the wearer now switches to the hearing aid mode by rotating the lug on the rotary switch upwards, the Bluetooth chip BC is switched to inactive according to
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2004 021 964.8 | May 2004 | DE | national |
