Patent Application
20060098831
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for using a data processing device that includes a screen and a pointer device to adjust a hearing aid transmission characteristic defined by parameters specific to the hearing aid concerned.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Because of different manufacturers, the diversity of hearing aid types available, and the multiple of hearing aid parameters that can be changed by adjusting controls or by programming, such as frequency response (e.g. signal edge displacement, rise time in the low and high tone range), gain, starting point of AGC, peak clipping, etc. hearing aid acousticians are confronted with such a large number of different programming options that, solely from the point of view of the time involved, it is no longer worthwhile to go through all these options to arrive at an optimum adjustment. Moreover, a tedious adjustment process of this type would not be acceptable to users.
Automated adjustment methods thus have been proposed (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,112). Even in such cases, however, the hearing aid acoustic engineer is still confronted by a number of different setting options that have an effect on the acoustic behavior of the hearing aid.
From DE 44 18 203 C2 a method of using a personal computer to adjust the transmission characteristic of a hearing aid defined by device-specific parameters is known, in which a memory for basic values of a hearing aid setting, in conjunction with an algorithm and a data memory, supplies transmission characteristic of the hearing aid and displays this information as a graphics curve on the screen of a personal computer. A computer mouse with a pointer that can be positioned on the display is used as a pointer device for the adjustment process, so that points or sections of a graphics curve to be changed can be clicked on and moved, thereby changing the shape of the transmission curve. This process is repeated until, once the desired curve has been obtained, the parameters for the desired curved are transmitted by wire or by the remote control to the hearing aid.
Graphics user interfaces of known computer applications frequently provide a functionality referred to as “drag-and-drop”. In such cases an object in the graphics user interface is clicked on with the left button of a computer mouse, the button is then held down while the computer mouse drags this object to another location in the graphics user interface and the left mouse button is released again to drop the object, in which case the object is stored at this other location of the user interface and overwrites the original content of the user interface at this location. This allows complex data to be manipulated relatively quickly and easily.
The use of a clipboard for copying individual characters or character strings is known from the Microsoft Windows® operating system for personal computers. In such cases the characters to be copied are marked and stored in the clipboard by pressing keys on the computer keyboard or by using a computer mouse. The content of this clipboard can then be inserted later at selected locations of a graphics user interface.
A method for operation of a programming device for a hearing aid is known from DE 101 52 197 A1, in which parameters to control the signal processing in the hearing aid as well as characteristic and functions of the hearing aid are set using the programming device. This known method includes the following steps:
An object of the present invention is to further simplify the adjustment of a hearing aid by means of a data processing system with a graphics user interface.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a method for adjusting a transmission characteristic of a hearing aid defined by hearing aid specific parameters using a data processing device having a screen and a pointer device, by selecting an object displayed in a first screen area in a graphics user interface with the pointer device, copying it and then moving the copy using the pointer device into a second area of the screen and storing it there, with the transmission characteristic of the hearing aid being able to be changed by the stored object.
The above object is further achieved by first selecting with the pointer a graphics object displayed in an area of the screen in the graphics user interface and copying it onto a clipboard and subsequently inserting the copy using a pointer device into a destination area, with the transmission characteristic of the hearing aid being able to be changed by the inserted graphics object.
The basis of the invention is to use drag-and-drop functionality or a clipboard when making adjustments to hearing aids. The electronic data processing device used for the adjustment can be a conventional personal computer (PC) that includes a screen and a pointer device (e.g. computer mouse ) and in which special software in accordance with the invention is installed.
In principle hearing aid adjustments involve a number of different objects that can be copied using “drag-and-drop”. An object in the sense of the invention means in very general terms, a specific first area of the screen that is copied into a second area of the screen and thereby overwrites the original content of this second area of the screen, which enables settings or parameters of a hearing aid to be changed. The scope of these screen sections is to be seen as very wide-ranging in this case. Examples are as follows: a counter value, a specific characteristic transmission curve, a diagram comprising one or more characteristic transmission curves, a bar chart, settings for graphics controls (push buttons, setting buttons, controls etc..), selection elements (on-off markings), specific character strings (file names) etc. An object in the sense of the invention in this case can include any combination of these types of individual elements. Furthermore graphics objects are also relevant in conjunction with the invention, these differing from the above-mentioned objects in that a graphics object means not simply a character that can. be entered via a computer keyboard or a sequence of such characters.
A screen object in accordance with the invention is preferably an individual parameter or groups of parameters that are to be copied. In this case the parameters can be represented by a numerical value or also by a specific graphics symbol. The symbol illustrates, for example, whether a specific function (e.g. filter, output limiter) is switched on or switched off. For a larger range of parameter values the graphics symbols can also provide a rough illustration of the value set, e.g. the volume setting or the gain in the form of a bar display. In accordance with the invention the numerical value or the graphics symbol which represents the concrete setting is then copied into another area of the graphics user interface. In addition the object involved can also be at least one transmission curve or at least one section of the transmission curve. Transmission curves are frequently selected means for adjusting hearing aids for graphics illustration of the transmission behavior of the hearing aid concerned. This transmission behavior is generally strongly frequency-dependent. The appropriate transmission curves can be quickly and easily copied using the invention. In addition a specific control element can also be copied as such into the user interface within the context of the invention. An example of this is a graphics symbol for a control element for setting up the overall gain of a hearing aid system for binaural supply, in which case copying of the overall gain of the binaural hearing aid system can then be used to adjust the two hearing aids.
To enable repeated access to a hearing aid adjustment once it has been made the settings and parameter values produced during the adjustment session are stored. Usually the stored data is given a file name so that it can be easily found again. The invention also includes the copying of specific memory content and especially the copying of file names using the graphics user interface.
In an adjustment method in accordance with the invention the graphics user interface is divided up into at least two areas, with a setting made the first area being copied into the second area. The two areas allow a distinction to be made between the adjustment of different hearing programs of one and the same hearing aid for example. Hearing programs are used generally for adjusting the signal processing of a hearing aid to specific hearing situations such as for example “speech in a quiet environment”, “speech in a noisy environment”, “driving in a car”, “telephone”, etc. With many of these different hearing programs the totality of the adjustment parameters is very similar. The invention offers the advantage that the settings and parameters selected in conjunction with a specific hearing program are able to be transmitted quickly and easily to a second hearing program. It is only then necessary to make the changes in this second program in relation to the first program.
Naturally the sequence of the individual hearing programs can be changed quickly and easily by means of the invention by way of the graphics user interface. This is especially important since hearing aids frequently feature only one button as a control for switching over the programs, which only increments the program number by one each time it is pressed or goes from the. highest program number back to hearing program 1. Thus for example the invention typically allows the parameters and settings of a specific hearing program to be transferred easily to the hearing program with the program number 1.
The invention offers not only advantages for setting an individual hearing aid but also in those situations where a number of hearing aids, for example for binaural supply to a user, are to be adjusted. Thus the first area of the graphics user interface can advantageously be provided for adjusting a first, e.g. the left-side hearing aid and the second area of the graphics user interface for adjusting the right-side hearing aid. Since both ears of a user frequently have the same hearing loss it makes sense to initially transfer the settings selected for supply to one ear at a hearing aid to the second hearing aid and then to merely make a fine adjustment at the hearing aid for supplying the second ear. In addition the parameters and settings copied in accordance with the invention can originate from an object library, which especially contains standard settings for frequently occurring hearing losses. In particular for the selection of these types of standard settings which can serve as a starting point for an individual adjustment, the presetting by means of the invention can use a high level of abstraction as its starting point. Advantageously in this case a plurality of individual settings and parameter values do not have to be copied but merely a specific memory area within the data processing device, an operation which can be executed merely by copying a specific file and storing this file in an area of the graphics user interface provided for adjusting the hearing aid.
The practical implementation of the drag-and-a drop functionality preferably is undertaken in conformity with the method known from Microsoft Windows®. In this system an object to be copied is selected by positioning the mouse pointer on the object and clicking on the left mouse button. In this case an object to be copied can consist of a number of graphics elements, e.g. a number of characteristic transmission curves which can be jointly selected in the way described. In addition the computer mouse can also be used to define a window on the graphics user interface so that the object to be copied contains a number of graphics elements which all lie within the defined window. Especially for the simultaneous selection of a number of graphics elements it can be worthwhile, in addition to clicking on the left mouse button, to also have to press specific keys on a keyboard of the data processing device.
A selected object is advantageously clearly distinguished from a non-elected object, e.g. by a particular coloring, the choice of specific types of line, flashing, etc In addition the user can also recognize with a preferred embodiment of the invention when a copied object is precisely above the target area of the copied object on which it can basically be stored. For example it is not sensible to store numerical values of a specific parameter in a diagram of a transmission function. The adjustment software should thus be embodied so that this is not possible. Conversely the user should however recognize when the copied object, e.g. a characteristic transmission curve, is now over an area, e.g. a diagram, in which it can sensibly be stored. To illustrate this process graphically either the copied object or the target area can then change in such a way that it is signaled to the user that he can now release the left mouse button and thereby can sensibly store the object
In the exemplary embodiment in accordance with
In contrast to the previously-described exemplary embodiments the screen masks that is shown in
In addition to the purely graphics copying processes described as examples in the exemplary embodiments, the same copying processes can be executed using a clipboard known from Microsoft Windows®. In this case relevant objects such as individual numerical values, characteristic transmission curves or other settings are selected for hearing aid adjustment and first copied into the clipboard. Then the target area is selected and the contents of the clipboard are copied into the target area, which overwrites the original settings present in this area with the copied settings. This method of operation also allows selected settings of one hearing aid to be copied quickly and efficiently to another hearing aid or to another hearing program of the same hearing aid. An advantage of this method is that it enables the user to switch easily between different screen masks which transfers a copy of settings of one screen mask to another screen mask. This method of operation is especially advantageous if it is to be used to copy not only one individual numerical value but a plurality of settings at the same time or when a graphics object such as a characteristic transmission curve or a diagram are copied, saving the user many operating steps in the individual input of these settings which would otherwise be required.
Since the method of operation using clipboard is very similar to the method referred to as “drag-and-drop,” reference is also made in this case to the exemplary embodiments previously described. Even when the clipboard is used the computer mouse is used initially to mark a specific area of a graphics user interface which is to be copied. Furthermore a “target area” into which the previously copied settings, characteristic transmission curves etc are to be transmitted is also preferably specified by means of the computer mouse. The difference between the two methods. is only that the copying process using “drag and drop” can be followed directly on the graphical user interface. whereas the copied screen area when the clipboard is used is initially invisible to the user, disappearing into this very clipboard so as to be retrieved again from there when necessary.
Although modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled in the art, it is the intention of the inventor to embody within the patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of his contribution to the art.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2004 051 325.2 | Oct 2004 | DE | national |
This application claims the benefit of the filing date of provisional application Ser. No. 60/620,536, filed Oct. 20, 2004.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60620536 | Oct 2004 | US |
