Patent Grant
8953827
This document relates generally to hearing assistance systems and more particularly to a hearing aid with an integrated coil assembly that includes a telecoil for sensing a sound signal and a battery recharge coil for receiving power through an inductive couple for charging a rechargeable battery.
Hearing aids are used to assist patients suffering hearing loss by transmitting amplified sounds to ear canals. In one example, a hearing aid is worn in and/or around a patient's ear. Patients generally prefer that their hearing aids are minimally visible or invisible. Because adding or improving functionality of the hearing aid may require larger and/or additional components, there is a need to provide such components without substantially increasing the overall size of the hearing aid.
A hearing aid is powered by a rechargeable battery and senses a sound signal being a magnetic field using a telecoil. The hearing aid includes a battery recharge coil for receiving power from a hearing aid charger via an inductive couple.
In one embodiment, the hearing aid includes a coil assembly, a processor, a receiver, a rechargeable battery, and a charging circuit. The coil assembly integrates the telecoil and the battery recharge coil. The telecoil generates a sound signal in response to a sound magnetic field. The recharge coil generates a power signal in response to a power magnetic field. The processor processes the sound signal. The receiver delivers the processed sound signal to the ear canal. The charging circuit charges the rechargeable battery using the power signal.
This Summary is an overview of some of the teachings of the present application and not intended to be an exclusive or exhaustive treatment of the present subject matter. Further details about the present subject matter are found in the detailed description and appended claims. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
The following detailed description of the present subject matter refers to subject matter in the accompanying drawings which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects and embodiments in which the present subject matter may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present subject matter. References to “an”, “one”, or “various” embodiments in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references contemplate more than one embodiment. The following detailed description is demonstrative and not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present subject matter is defined by the appended claims, along with the full scope of legal equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
This document discusses a hearing aid that is powered by a rechargeable battery and includes a magnetic sensor and a battery recharge coil. The magnetic sensors picks up sounds transmitted as magnetic signals. A telecoil, also referred to as a T-coil, T-switch, or a telephone switch, is such a magnetic sensor that senses a magnetic signal representing a sound and, in response, generates a sound signal being an electrical signal representing the sound. The sound signal causes a receiver (speaker) of the hearing aid to deliver the sound to an ear canal of a wearer. The magnetic signal may be generated from, for example, a hearing aid compatible telephone, an assistive listening system, or an assistive listening device. A hearing aid may turn off its microphone when its telecoil is turned on, such that the wearer hears the sound represented by the magnetic signal but not acoustic noises. The telecoil also eliminates acoustic feedback associated with using the microphone of the hearing aid to listen to a telephone.
Use of the rechargeable battery reduces the cost and replacement frequency associated with using a non-rechargeable battery. Cordless charging technology provides the patient with an easy way to recharge the hearing aid. A known method to provide cordless charging of the rechargeable battery is inductive charging in which power is transmitted from a hearing aid charger to the hearing aid through an inductive couple. The inductive couple is formed by a transmitting coil (as referred to as the primary coil) in the hearing aid charger placed in proximity of the battery recharge coil (also referred to as the secondary coil) in the hearing aid. Fully recharging the rechargeable battery through an inductive couple may take several hours. This charging period may be shortened by increasing the diameter of the battery recharge coil, increasing the number of turns of the battery recharge coil, increasing the size of the wire used to form the battery recharge coil, and/or adding a permeable core to the battery recharge coil. However, all these approaches increases the size of the secondary coil and hence the size of the hearing aid.
The present hearing aid includes a coil assembly that integrates the telecoil with the battery recharge coil, thereby reducing the overall component count and size for the hearing aid, and/or improving the power transfer efficiency of the inductive couple by providing a better-performing battery recharge coil. In one embodiment, a battery recharge coil is added to a telecoil by adding windings to the telecoil. This may allow, for example, the number of turns of the battery recharge coil to be increased and/or a permeable core to be included for the battery recharge coil, with a possible increase in the size of the battery recharge coil being compensated by the improved power transfer efficiency of the inductive couple.
Hearing aid circuit 102 includes a microphone 110 to receive an audio signal, a processor 112 to process the audio signal and the sound signal, and a receiver (speaker) 114 to deliver the processed audio signal and sound signal as sounds to the ear canal of the wearer of hearing aid 100. In one embodiment, processor 112 includes a digital signal processor. Rechargeable battery 106 supplies hearing aid 100 with electrical power for its operation. Examples of rechargeable battery include nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, lithium air, lithium ion (standard, thin-film or nano-structure), lithium polymer (standard or advanced), lithium sulphur, silver-zinc, and super capacitor type batteries. Charging circuit 104 converts the power signal generated by recharge 118 into a DC signal suitable for charging rechargeable battery 106.
Assistive listening device 222 represents a device that generates the sound magnetic field. One example of assistive listening device 222 includes a hearing aid compatible telephone. In various embodiments, assistive listening device 222 includes any device that generates the sound magnetic field that is to be sensed by telecoil 116 in hearing aid 100.
The present subject matter is demonstrated for hearing assistance devices, including hearing aids, including but not limited to, behind-the-ear (BTE), in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC), receiver-in-canal (RIC), or completely-in-the-canal (CIC) type hearing aids. It is understood that behind-the-ear type hearing aids may include devices that reside substantially behind the ear or over the ear. Such devices may include hearing aids with receivers associated with the electronics portion of the behind-the-ear device, or hearing aids of the type having receivers in the ear canal of the user, including but not limited to receiver-in-canal (RIC) or receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) designs. The present subject matter can also be used in hearing assistance devices generally, such as cochlear implant type hearing devices and such as deep insertion devices having a transducer, such as a receiver or microphone, whether custom fitted, standard, open fitted or occlusive fitted. It is understood that other hearing assistance devices not expressly stated herein may be used in conjunction with the present subject matter.
This application is intended to cover adaptations or variations of the present subject matter. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. The scope of the present subject matter should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of legal equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/454,516, filed Mar. 19, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6308101 | Faltys et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6473511 | Aceti et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6658124 | Meadows | Dec 2003 | B1 |
| 7206426 | Julstrom et al. | Apr 2007 | B1 |
| 7256747 | Victorian et al. | Aug 2007 | B2 |
| 7446720 | Victorian et al. | Nov 2008 | B2 |
| 8587488 | Knudsen et al. | Nov 2013 | B2 |
| 20020076071 | Single | Jun 2002 | A1 |
| 20050075697 | Olson et al. | Apr 2005 | A1 |
| 20060155346 | Miller | Jul 2006 | A1 |
| 20080170733 | Reithinger | Jul 2008 | A1 |
| 20080205678 | Boguslavskij et al. | Aug 2008 | A1 |
| 20080228243 | Maltan et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
| 20090067652 | Schmidt et al. | Mar 2009 | A1 |
| 20090085408 | Bruhn | Apr 2009 | A1 |
| 20090143097 | Wilson | Jun 2009 | A1 |
| 20090285426 | Boguslavskij | Nov 2009 | A1 |
| 20090296947 | Duron et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
| 20100030301 | Parker et al. | Feb 2010 | A1 |
| 20100224356 | Moore | Sep 2010 | A1 |
| 20110084653 | Julstrom et al. | Apr 2011 | A1 |
| 20110106210 | Meskens | May 2011 | A1 |
| 20110311084 | Drader | Dec 2011 | A1 |
| 20110319703 | Wiskerke et al. | Dec 2011 | A1 |
| 20130127404 | Maenpaa | May 2013 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2503796 | May 2014 | EP |
| 2009021910 | Jan 2009 | JP |
| Entry |
|---|
| “European Application Serial No. 12160095.1, Extended European Search Report mailed Jul. 12, 2012”, 5 pgs. |
| “European Application Serial No. 12160095.1, Response filed Mar. 26, 2013 to Extended European Search Report mailed Jul. 12, 2012”, 6 pgs. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120314893 A1 | Dec 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61454516 | Mar 2011 | US |
