Patent Application
20060233409
This application claims priority to the German Application No. 10 2005 017 493.0, filed Apr. 15, 2005 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a hearing aid device comprising a signal processing device for obtaining a processing signal from an input signal and an output transduce r with which the processing signal can be converted into an output signal.
Conventional hearing aids, such as behind-the-ear hearing aids (BTE) or in-the-ear hearing aids (ITE), can be helpful in the case of many hearing impairments. However, a condition of this is that the cochlea is functional. If the cochlea is completely or partially damaged however, so conventional hearing aids do not make any gain in hearing possible, the auditory nerve can nowadays be directly stimulated with the aid of what is known as a cochlear implant (CI) which attempts to replace the function of the cochlea. Thus an acoustic impression may be achieved at least in the high frequency rang e.
Other types of hearing aid are, for example, brain stem implants (ABI; Auditory Brain Stem Implants), which can be used if the auditory nerve is damaged. Bone conduction hearing aids and what are known as BAHAs (Bone Anchored Hearing Aids) are also known for conveying sound via the bones to the middle ear or inner ear.
However, hearing impairments are so varied that for some people with a hearing impairment only a small gain in hearing can be achieved with the known hearing aids.
A fully implantable hearing system which comprises an actuator-based output-side arrangement for stimulating the middle or inner ear, is known from document DE 101 14 838 A1. The actuator-based arrangement comprises at least one electromagnetic transducer for mechanically stimulating the middle or inner ear. The arrangement may also comprise intracochlear stimulation electrodes for stimulating the inner ear by way of electrical stimulation.
Furthermore a hearing aid comprising a speech recognition module and a speech synthesis module is described in patent specification DE 100 31 832 C1. According to a first embodiment the output signal of the module is supplied to an electroacoustic transducer for sound radiation in the outer auditory canal. According to a second embodiment an electromagnetic transducer can be provided which is coupled to the middle or inner ear.
An at least partially implantable system for rehabilitation of a hearing defect is also described in patent specification DE 100 18 334 C1. In this case an actuator-based stimulation arrangement comprises, in combination, an electromechanical transducer for mechanical stimulation of the middle or inner ear and an intracochlear, electrically acting stimulation electrode array with at least one stimulation electrode for electrical stimulation of the inner ear.
An object of the present invention is therefore to propose a hearing aid device with which the gain in hearing can be improved for example in the case of an at least partially damaged cochlea.
This object is achieved by a hearing aid device comprising a signal processing device for obtaining a first processing signal from an input signal and a first output transducer with which the first processing signal can be converted into a first output signal, wherein a second processing signal can be obtained from the input signal by the signal processing device and at least one second output transducer is connected to the signal processing device, with which transducer the second processing signal can be converted into a second output signal. The first output signal of the hearing aid device according to the invention is an acoustic signal and the second output signal is an electromagnetic signal. It is thus possible to provide an amplified acoustic signal for conventional airborne noise-based hearing and an electromagnetic control signal for contactless triggering of an implant with one and the same device.
A hybrid supply can advantageously be provided by the hearing aid device according to the invention, which supply ensures, for example, simultaneous supply with a cochlear implant (or bone conduction hearing aid) and a non-implantable hearing aid (airborne noise-based hearing aid or bone conduction hearing aid or BAHA) in the same ear. A combined airborne noise-based and bone conduction supply would also be possible. For this purpose the hearing aid device can be fitted with a single housing, a common power supply and a common control and signal processor for the two output signals. The adjustment software is accordingly no longer independent either but integrates the various components.
The hearing aid device according to the invention thus jointly uses the technologies of external hearing aids and implants, so a comprehensive hearing system can be provided which is capable of carrying out electrical stimulation and “normal” signal transmission via airborne noise and/or bone conduction. The hard of hearing with very specific hearing loss may thus be offered an imp roved system solution.
It can be particularly advantageous if a control signal for a cochlear implant or brain stem implant can be generated by the signal processing device. An auditory impression may thus be generated even in frequency ranges which can n o longer be attained by the normal method of hearing.
According to a preferred embodiment the second output transducer comprises a transmitting coil. A cochlear implant for example may be inductively triggered hereby.
According to a further variant the second output transducer can be detachably provided on the hearing aid device. A modular construction of the hearing aid device is thus possible. Thus for example a BTE could be fitted with a CI module or a BAHA module, depending on the individual requirement. The first output transducer may also be located outside of the BTE housing in order to integrate the airborne noise transducer (earpiece) into an otoplastic for example.
The hearing aid device can substantially have the external shape of a BTE. Thus a conventional CI controller only has to be fitted with a sound transducer and a corresponding signal processing unit as this unit can also have the shape of a BTE. The hearing aid device can also be constructed as a bone conduction hearing aid or as a hear ing aid anchored to the bone, however. Thus this type of hearing aid may also be combined with a CI for example.
The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The embodiments described hereinafter are preferred developments of the present invention.
It is possible with the hearing aid illustrated above to adequately supply a patient with cochlea impairment. For this purpose for example the low frequencies are supplied to the patient via the CI, while the higher frequencies, for which the patient's cochlea is not impaired, can be presented via the conventional path length of sound waves with appropriate amplification.
In an alternative construction the induction coil IS can also be directly integrated into the housing G. This means that the hearing aid then has roughly the same construction as a BTE that is conventional nowadays. The receiver should be implanted at a suitable location, so the inductive coupling to the CI is sufficiently high.
The signal processor is preferably configured in such a way that acoustic and electrical transducers can be actuated with a single piece of adjustment software. Thus a flexible change in range or an adjustment can be carried out at any time. Changing hearing loss can in particular be reacted to flexibly as a result of this.
Owing to the common signal processor for the earpiece H and the CI component, the CI component can also benefit from signal processing which has developed compared with simple CI devices that are conventional nowadays. A common power supply may also be drawn on which is achieved by mechanical integration of the two devices in one housing.
As has been indicated already, the hearing aid device according to the invention can have any desired type of output transducers. In addition, more than two, namely three, four, etc., output transducers may be provided in the hearing aid. Specific embodiments are thus produced, such as a combined bone conduction CI device, a BAHA-CI device, a BTE-ABI device and the like.
With a modular embodiment the respective hearing aid modules can be used with each other as desired. Thus a change in or upgrade of one or more component(s) is possible.
The signal processor provides at least two different output signals. This provision can be made for example, in terms of time, as a function of the respective hearing situation, or of the frequency of the input signal. For example the CI is only trigge red if the hearing situation is characterized by predominantly high frequencies. The individual components of the hybrid hearing system can thus be triggered exclusively or jointly. This means that the signal processing allows joint access to the two syste ms and regulates flexible range division.
The signal processing unit can be adjusted, with respect to the output signals of the plurality of output transducers, by a single piece of adjustment software in a single adjustment process. The number of output transducers per device is not important in the case of binaural supply.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2005 017 493.0 | Apr 2005 | DE | national |
