Patent Application
20090028363
This application claims priority of German application No. 10 2007 035 173.0 DE filed Jul. 27, 2007, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a method for setting a hearing system having a left device and a right device for binaural supply of a user, with an electrical sound signal being provided for supplying the left ear of the user and an electrical sound signal being provided to supply the right ear of the user. The present invention also relates to a corresponding hearing system for binaural supply. A hearing system is understood here to mean in particular a hearing device system for supplying the hearing-impaired, but also a headset or earphones and similar device systems which can be worn on the ear.
Hearing devices are wearable hearing apparatuses which are used to assist the hard-of-hearing. In order to accommodate numerous individual requirements, various types of hearing devices are available such as behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing devices, hearing device with an external receiver (RIC: receiver in the canal) and in-the-ear (ITE) hearing devices, for example also concha hearing devices or completely-in-the-canal (ITE, CIC) hearing devices. The hearing devices listed as examples are worn on the outer ear or in the auditory canal. Bone conduction hearing aids, implantable or vibrotactile hearing aids are also available on the market. The damaged hearing is thus stimulated either mechanically or electrically.
The key components of hearing devices are principally an input converter, an amplifier and an output converter. The input converter is normally a receiving transducer e.g. a microphone and/or an electromagnetic receiver, e.g. an induction coil. The output converter is most frequently realized as an electroacoustic converter e.g. a miniature loudspeaker, or as an electromechanical converter e.g. a bone conduction hearing aid. The amplifier is usually integrated into a signal processing unit. This basic configuration is illustrated in
It is possible for a hearing system to be automatically controlled by means of a perceptive model, namely in the form such that psychoacoustic dimensions, like for instance volume, convenience, hearing effort etc. are optimized.
The publication EP 0 661 905 A2 describes a similar method for adjusting a hearing device and a corresponding hearing device. A perceptive model obtains a psychoacoustic variable, in particular the loudness, on the one hand for a standard group of people and on the other hand for a single person. Control details are determined on the basis of the difference of the two psychoacoustic variables, with the signal transmission to a hearing device being configured or set ex situ and/or being conducted in situ.
The publication US 2002/0111745 A1 also discloses a wearable hearing analysis system. Parameters of a hearing response can be obtained here by an audiometer. A response prediction is used to perform a basic setting of a hearing device.
In the case of a binaural adjustment, the parameters for the left and the right device may be different. Possible causes of this may be clearly different signals on the right and left, but also different hearing losses on both sides. The modifications to the configuration of the hearing system resulting herefrom can likewise be different binaurally, so that a hearing impression potentially arises which is different depending on the side. This is impractical particularly for algorithms like interference noise elimination and directional microphony.
The object of the present invention thus consists in providing a method, with which the setting of a hearing system for binaural supply can take place in an improved and individual fashion. A corresponding hearing system is also to be provided.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a method for setting a hearing system having a left device and a right device for the binaural supply of a user, by providing an electrical sound signal for supplying the left ear of the user and providing an electrical sound signal for supplying the right ear of the user, as well as determining on the basis of the two sound signals of a left setting value for the left device and a right setting value for the right device by means of a perceptive model for binaural hearing and setting the left device with the left setting value as well as the right device with the right setting value.
Provision is also made in accordance with the invention for a hearing system having a left device, which supplies an electrical sound signal for supplying the left ear of the user and a right device, which supplies an electrical sound signal for supplying the right ear of the user, with a perceptive model being implemented for binaural hearing at least in one of the two devices or a further device belonging to the hearing system, with which a left setting value for the left device and/or a right setting value for the right device can be determined on the basis of the two sound signals and the left device can be set with the left setting value and/or the right device can be set with the right setting value.
It is thus advantageously possible to take the binaural perception of sounds into consideration while automatically controlling a hearing system. This allows the acceptance of hearing systems with binaural supply to be improved significantly.
The two setting values for the left device and the right device are preferably identical. A symmetrical hearing impression can be achieved in this way.
In particular, the two setting values can trigger the activation or deactivation of an interference noise elimination function and/or a directional microphone function of both devices. Functions which influence the binaural hearing impression significantly are thus controlled on the basis of psychoacoustic model values.
The speech intelligibility and/or the localization effect can also be used here as leading psychoacoustic variables when determining the setting values by means of the perceptive model of the noise impression. Other psychoacoustic variables such as intensity, roughness, hearing effort etc. can however also be used.
According to a particular embodiment, the perceptive model for binaural hearing obtains a psychoacoustic variable from a perceptive model for monaural perception from each of the two devices in each instance in order to determine the setting values. It is possible in this way to distribute the computing outlay for a perceptive model for binaural hearing onto two hearing devices.
The present invention is described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which;
The exemplary embodiment illustrated in more detail below represents a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The first hearing device 10 has a signal processing unit 12, which supplies an electrical sound signal S1 to a modeling facility 13, in which a perceptive model for binaural hearing is implemented. This perceptive model for binaural hearing supplies a statement relating in particular to the hearing impression that the hearing-impaired person has of a sound, which he/she perceives by way of both ears. The binaural perception is actually very different from the monaural perception, since during hearing a sound is perceived louder with two ears for instance than when hearing with only one ear. Psychoacoustic variables can also be obtained in the perceptive model for binaural hearing by way of perceptions, which are only possible with two ears, like for instance localization effect.
The signal processing unit 12 can be a signal processor, a simple microphone or any other unit which supplies an electrical signal based on an input sound. The second hearing device 11 also has a signal processing unit 14 of this type. This supplies a second sound signal S2 to the first hearing device 10 wirelessly by way of a corresponding communication facility, so that it can be processed by the modeling facility 13. This now supplies two setting signals E1 and E2 on the basis of the two sound signals S1 and S2. The left and/or first setting signal E1 is determined for the signal processing unit 12 which is inside the hearing device. The right and/or second setting signal E2 is transmitted to the second hearing device 11 and fed there to the signal processing unit 14. The setting values E1 and E2 are determined for binaural hearing on the basis of psychoacoustic perception variables and are now used to set components of the two devices of the hearing system. In this way, those units, which supply the sound signals S1 and S2, need not necessarily be set, but other components can also be set with the setting signals E1 and E2 of the respective hearing device 10, 11.
An alternative embodiment is shown schematically in
Parameters of both hearing devices of a hearing system can be symmetrically modified with the aid of the common perceptive model for binaural hearing, if necessary on the basis of a binaural decision matrix, in order overall to obtain a symmetrical hearing impression. Furthermore, the symmetrical activation and/or deactivation of further adaptive parameters is possible like an interference noise elimination or a directional microphone. In this way, the aim is likewise to offer a symmetrical hearing impression for the hearing system wearer.
The two setting signals E1 and E2 may be different if they relate to the amplification for instance and the hard-of-hearing have different deficits on both ears. If however this concerns activating and/or deactivating the interference noise elimination or a directional microphone, the two setting signals E1 and E2 are to be identical. The two hearing devices can thus be synchronized on the basis of the perceptive model for binaural perception and a symmetrical hearing impression can be achieved.
The present invention consequently allows the entire hearing consisting of a left and a right part to be psychoacoustically evaluated and setting parameters for the individual devices of a hearing system to be obtained.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2007 035 173.0 | Jul 2007 | DE | national |
