The present invention is related to a method for operating a hearing device as well as to a hearing device.
Today's hearing devices very often comprise an automatic control that is operated in dependence on a current acoustic situation analyzed by a classifier in order that the automatic control can adjust processing of an input signal recorded by a microphone. Due to the changing characteristics of the acoustic situation a hearing device user is confronted with, the automatic control of actuators (such as beam former, noise canceller) must adapt to these changing acoustic situation accordingly. The adaptation is solved in two ways: First, it has been proposed to automatically control the actuators independently. Furthermore, it has been proposed to adjust the hearing device according to sound classes, whereas the sound classes represent different acoustic situations. For example, state-of-the art hearing devices comprise four classes, e.g. “Clean Speech”, Speech in Noise”, “Noise” and “Music”.
A specific known teaching is disclosed by EP-1 326 478 A2, in which acoustic signals from the acoustic surrounding are evaluated and direction of arrival of such signals is determined. From signals indicative of such direction of arrival a histogram is formed. The behavior of such histogram is classified under different aspects or criteria and dependent on classification results in a classifying unit, the hearing device and thereby especially its signal transfer characteristics from input acoustic signals to output mechanical signals is controlled or adjusted.
Furthermore, reference is made to the teachings of EP-1 858 291 B1, EP-1 420 611 B1, EP-1 453 356 A2 and EP-1 601 232 B1.
The more effective the known actuators are, the more precise the actuator control needs to be. In addition, with state-of-the art signal processing methods, it is difficult to realize an actuator, e.g. speech enhancement, improving intelligibility in all situations.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to improve the adjustment of a hearing device in order to better adapt to a prevailing acoustic situation.
The present invention is first directed to a method for operating a hearing device comprising at least one input transducer for generating an input signal, an output transducer for generating an output signal and a signal processing unit operationally interconnecting the input transducer and the output transducer. The method comprises the steps of:
The present invention provides a classification with a finer grid of detectable acoustic scenes and more accurate means to separate those acoustic scenes from each other. An adjustment of the hearing device is not only based on the audio signal but also based on context information, which allows to adjust parameters of a hearing device more precisely.
An embodiment of the method according to the present invention further comprises the steps of:
Further embodiments of the method according to the present invention further comprise the steps of:
In further embodiments of the method according to the present invention, the predefined adjustment scheme is a single adjustment scheme that is dependent on a user group to which a hearing device user mostly wearing the hearing device belongs.
In further embodiments of the method according to the present invention, the scenario dependent adjustment scheme cover a multitude of specific acoustic scenarios that a hearing device user may encounter while wearing the hearing device.
In further embodiments of the method according to the present invention, a current acoustic scenario is defined by the context information.
Further embodiments of the method according to the present invention further comprise the step of selecting the input signal from a multitude of input transducers on the basis of the context information or on the basis of the adjustment scheme.
In still further embodiments of the method according to the present invention, the context information comprises at least one of the following:
In further embodiments of the method according to the present invention, each scenario adjustment comprises a subset of all possible hearing programs.
Furthermore, the present invention is directed to a hearing device comprising:
An embodiment of the hearing device according to the present invention further comprises:
Further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention further comprise:
In further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention the predefined adjustment scheme is a single adjustment scheme that is dependent on a user group to which a hearing device user mostly wearing the hearing device belongs. A user group may be, for example, a group of pupils of a school for hearing impaired.
In further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention the scenario dependent adjustment scheme cover a multitude of specific acoustic scenarios that a hearing device user may encounter while wearing the hearing device.
In further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention a current acoustic scenario is defined by the context information.
Further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention further comprise means for selecting the input signal from a multitude of input transducers on the basis of the context information or on the basis of the adjustment scheme.
In further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention the context information comprises at least one of the following:
In further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention, each scenario adjustment comprises a subset of all possible hearing programs.
It is pointed out that any combination of the above-mentioned embodiments or combinations of combinations are possible and herewith disclosed. Only those combinations are excluded that would otherwise result in a contradiction.
Embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described by way of example referring to the following drawings.
In
In a further embodiment of the present invention, also a mixing of the output signal of the input transducer 5 and the signal of the alternative input transducer 5 is fed to the signal processing unit 3. Accordingly, a mixing of the two signals is selected for further processing. Again, the decision regarding the contribution of each signal is determined on the basis of context information that is yet to be described.
In order to adjust a hearing device 1 to a current acoustic situation, it is proposed to provide context information 10 for the automatic system. Context information 10 is apriori knowledge of an occurring acoustic situation. The context information 10 is used to expedite and to improve the adaptation of the hearing device 1 to the current acoustic situation.
The context information 10 is used, in a first step, to choose between a predefined adjustment scheme 13 and a scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 comprised in a scenario block 12. The predefined adjustment scheme 13 is not altered during regular operation of the hearing device. In addition, only one predefined adjustment scheme 13 is stored in the hearing device 1. However, the audiologist adjusting the hearing device 1 to the individual needs of a user has the possibility to set the predefined adjustment scheme 13 during a fitting session, for example by specifying a particular user group, e.g. end-users with severe hearing loss or children, or the like.
The scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 comprises n different scenario adjustments S1 to Sn of which one is selected on the basis of the context information 10. During regular operation of a hearing device 1, switching between the different scenario adjustments S1 to Sn is common to adapt the signal processing to changing acoustic situations.
The step of selecting one of the adjustment schemes 13 or 14 in the scenario block 12, particular the selection of one of the scenario adjustments S1 to Sn if the scenario dependent selection is selected, will be described at a later stage.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the input source for the input signal being processed by the signal processing unit 3 is also selected on the basis of the context information 10. This is illustrated by a selection block 11, in which one of the following input sources is selected for generating the input signal:
Alternatively, one of the mentioned input sources may also be selected on the basis of an adjustment scheme. This embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
After having selected the adjustment scheme (and possibly the input signal), a hearing program is selected in a further step, the selection of the hearing program being based on the selected adjustment scheme. In
In the scenario block 12, the adjustment scheme is selected, one being the predefined adjustment scheme 13, the other being the scenario dependent adjustments scheme 14. The scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 is an automatic mode for selecting a specific well defined hearing scenario (or acoustic situation) where different hearing activities occur.
The scenario dependent adjustment scheme 13 and the predefined adjustment scheme 13 select one of the available hearing programs P1 to Pm (depicted in block 15 in
One dimension describing the hearing activity (such as listening to music, background discussion, having a conversation, quiet situation, etc.)
The second dimension describing the acoustic surrounding identified by properties like:
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, a scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 is selected according to the context information 10. Thereafter, the scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 is running autonomously, i.e. the context information 10 is not needed anymore.
The selected scenario adjustments S1 to Sn in the scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 selects a hearing program from a reduced set of the hearing programs P1 to Pm that is optimized for the corresponding scenario adjustment S1 to Sn.
Due to the a priori knowledge of the occurring scenes in the scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14, a higher success rate is obtained leading to a higher acceptance of hearing devices. Also the dynamic behavior (switching between hearing programs) can be faster if necessary.
The advantage of using context information 10 to select a scenario can also be described in the reverse way: many hearing programs can be excluded from the detection because these hearing programs are unlikely to occur in the selected scenario. Therefore, there is no need taking into account these hearing programs resulting in a decrease of the error rate for the classification.
Therefore, a further embodiment of the present invention further comprises the step of limiting or reducing the number of possible hearing programs P1 to Pm to a subset of hearing programs belonging to a corresponding scenario.
In a still further embodiment of the present invention, each adjustment scheme 12 can only select from a subset of all possible hearing programs P1 to Pm. In addition, it is also feasible that the predefined adjustment scheme 13 either selects from a subset of all possible hearing programs P1 to Pm or selects from all possible hearing programs P1 to Pm.
Furthermore, a hearing program P1 to Pm can be coupled to specific input transducers resulting in automatically using said hearing program P1 to Pm as soon as the specific input transducer is active.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, a manual control 17 is provided via which an adjustment scheme is manually selectable.
The present invention can be also used for hearing device users with specific needs or in different product segments in a specific situation, e.g. end-users with severe hearing loss having a conversation, children at school, bedridden older end-users being conducted in a wheel chair, etc. This is also valid for CI-users. Product lines can be tailored to encountered and possible scenarios and its corresponding hearing programs. This is valid for a predefined adjustments scheme as well as for a scenario dependent adjustment scheme using context information, as for example:
It has already been pointed out that the hearing device 1 comprises a predefined adjustment scheme 13 and a scenario dependent adjustment scheme 14 providing a number of scenario adjustments S1 to Sn. These scenario dependent adjustments S1 to Sn—also called “modes”—can be selected manually or automatically. Based on the context information 10, one of the scenario adjustments S1 to Sn is automatically selected depending on the current hearing scenario. Asymptotically, one could imagine of different programs comprising one parameter set or several parameter sets depending on the hearing scenario. Such a scenario adjustment S1 to Sn can cover acoustic situations like:
In order to provide a scenario dependent adjustment 14 in a hearing device 1, the program structure should be adapted not to increase complexity unnecessarily or not to run into a data storage problem. Such a structure can be a hierarchical program system with so called “full programs” and so called “subprograms”, where full programs have a full parameter description and a subprogram only has a subset of parameters that can differ from the corresponding parameters of the respective full program. In addition, the programs can be stored in the hearing device in a memory saving way, by saving only the not common parameters of each program and refer to parameters of a so called “Basis-Program”.
The classifiers can be implemented in different ways. One possibility comprises the step of classifying all full programs and subprograms and of masking out the programs selected for a specific scenario adjustment S1 to Sn. Another possibility is a generic classifier whose decisions are determined through coefficients that are assigned to a specific scenario adjustment S1 to Sn. That means each scenario adjustment S1 to Sn has a separate coefficient set which defines the classification output. Those coefficients can be stored as parameters and loaded from a controlling system in the hearing device to the classifier location in the signal processing unit 3 (
The latter possibility has the advantage of higher generalization and separation of classifiers. Each classifier can be changed and improved without influencing the performance of the other classifiers. In addition, not every scenario adjustment S1 to Sn is needed in every product or for each end-user, and thus unnecessary complexity can be avoided by “applying” only the scenario adjustments S1 to Sn needed for a specific hearing device 1.
In an embodiment of the present invention, two or more classifiers can be implemented in parallel.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, context information 10 (
For example, the context finder may use different sensor modalities to obtain as much context information as possible. Such context sources can be:
In a further embodiment of the present invention, a learning algorithm is additionally applied to the context finder. The context finder could learn from the current sensor analysis or from an input of the hearing device user.
The scenario dependent adjustments S1 to Sn are provided to the fitter as a standard or optional manual or automatic program for each end-user dependent on his need and preference. The degree of freedom for fitting the programs of additional scenario dependent adjustments could be:
The handling of input signals generated by the alternative input transducer 5 (
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2012/059016 | 5/15/2012 | WO | 00 | 11/14/2014 |