Claims
- 1. A method of processing a sound signal in a hearing aid, comprising the steps of converting an acoustic signal into an electric signal,
compressing the electric signal in a signal processor in at least one frequency channel according to a compression characteristic with an attack time above 0.5 seconds and a first and a second segment, said first and second segment being interconnected at a knee point at an output level below the hearing threshold, said first segment being situated below said knee point and having substantially no compression and said second segment being situated above said knee point and having a compression ratio greeted than 1.4 to produce a compressed signal, processing said compressed signal in said signal processor in order to produce a processor output signal suitable for compensating a users hearing deficiency, and converting the processor output signal into a sound signal.
- 2. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals above a knee point situated below 25 dB SPL input level.
- 3. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals above a knee point situated below 20 dB SPL input level.
- 4. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals above a knee point situated below 15 dB SPL.
- 5. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals upon the expiry of an attack time above 1 second.
- 6. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals upon the expiry of an attack time above 2 seconds.
- 7. The method according to claim 1, comprising relinquishing compressing the signals upon the expiry of a release time above 5 seconds.
- 8. The method according to claim 1, comprising relinquishing compressing the signals upon the expiry of a release time above 10 seconds.
- 9. The method according to claim 1, comprising relinquishing compressing the signals upon the expiry of a release time above 20 seconds.
- 10. The method according to claim 1, comprising compressing the signals to a compression ratio above 2.0.
- 11. A method of processing a sound signal in a hearing aid, comprising the steps of
converting an acoustic signal into an electric signal, feeding said electric signal into a signal processor and filtering, inside said processor, set electrical signal in a set of band pass filters to produce band pass filtered signal derivatives, compressing said band pass filtered signal derivatives in respective compressors connected to respective band pass filters to produce compressed signals, processing said compressed signals in said signal processor in order to produce a processor output signal suitable for compensating a users hearing deficiency, and converting the processor output signal into a sound signal.
- 12. The method according to claims 11, comprising processing the electric signals in a signal processor having more than 6 channels.
- 13. The method according to claims 11, comprising processing the electric signals in a signal processor having more than 10 channels.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of application No. PCT/DK02/00465, filed in Denmark on Jul. 4, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. The application is also a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. appl. Ser. No. 09/899,990 filed in the U.S. on Jul. 9, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
PCT/DK02/00465 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Child |
10752579 |
Jan 2004 |
US |
Parent |
09899990 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
PCT/DK02/00465 |
Jul 2002 |
US |