Patent Grant
9344813
The present invention is related to methods for operating a hearing device that is worn by a hearing device user as well as to hearing devices.
Numerous types of hearing devices are known and have been developed to assist individuals with hearing loss. Examples of hearing device types currently available include behind the ear (BTE), in the ear (ITE), in the canal (ITC) and completely in the canal (CIC) hearing devices. In many situations, however, hearing impaired individuals may require a hearing solution beyond that which can be provided by such a hearing device alone. For example, hearing impaired individuals often have great difficulty to follow a normal conversations in noisy environments, encountered at parties, meetings, sporting events or the like, involving a high level of background noise. In addition, hearing impaired individuals often also have difficulties listening to audio sources located at a distance from the individual, or to several audio sources located at various distances from the individual and at various positions relative to the individual.
A known hearing aid system comprising a secondary source for audio has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,034 B2. The known hearing aid system comprises a directional microphone worn or otherwise supported by a person speaking or by the hearing aid user, as well as detection and switch circuitry to select which of the primary and secondary audio sources should be directed to the hearing aid circuitry. In operation, the detection and switch circuitry receives a signal transmission (preferably wireless) from the secondary audio source and determines whether the signal received is desirable. If the signal transmission is desirable, the circuitry selects that signal for coupling with the hearing aid circuitry. If the transmission signal is not desirable, the circuitry selects the signals from the primary audio source for coupling with the hearing aid circuitry. The criterion for selecting the signal of the secondary audio source is based on the signal strength. If the incoming signal of the secondary audio source is greater than a predetermined threshold, the signal of the secondary audio source is selected for transmission into the ear canal of the hearing aid wearer.
Similar techniques as the one described above are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,317,805 B2 and EP-1 296 537 A2.
The known teachings are only directed to detecting sound sources or they try to qualify sound sources. Natural behavior of a hearing device user is not taken into account.
Many objects, aspects and variations of the present invention will become apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of the prior art and in light of the teachings herein.
These and other problems experienced by hearing device users are addressed by the methods and the hearing devices of the present invention.
It is pointed out that the term “hearing device” must not only be understood as a device that is used to improve the hearing of hearing impaired patients, but also as a communication device to improve communication between individuals. In addition, the term “hearing device” comprise hearing device types currently available, as for example behind the ear (BTE), in the ear (ITE), in the canal (ITC) and completely in the canal (CIC) hearing devices. Furthermore, hearing devices may also be fully or partially implantable.
First, the present invention is directed to a method for operating a hearing device that is worn by a hearing device user, the method comprising the steps of:
An embodiment of the present invention further comprises the steps of:
Second, the present invention is directed to a method for operating a hearing device that is worn by a hearing device user, the method comprising the steps of:
Embodiments of the present invention further comprise the steps of:
In further embodiments of the present invention, the step of generating the output signal supplied to the output transducer of the hearing device further takes into account a radiation angle that is defined by an angle between a radiation direction of sound of the sound source and a line drawn between the hearing device and the sound source.
In still further embodiments of the present invention, the sound source is a virtual sound source, of which a transmission signal comprising the audio signal is available only.
Embodiments of the present invention further comprise the steps of:
Embodiments of the present invention further comprise the steps of:
In still further embodiments of the present invention, the transmission signal is wirelessly transmitted to the hearing device.
Further embodiments of the present invention comprise the step of adjusting the distance as a function of obstacles between the hearing device and the sound source.
In still further embodiments of the present invention, the step of receiving the transmission signal comprising the audio signal of the sound source is performed in the hearing device.
Third, the present invention is directed to a hearing device comprising:
An embodiment of the inventive hearing device further comprises:
Fourth, the present invention is directed to a hearing device comprising:
An embodiment of the inventive hearing device according to the fourth aspect further comprises:
In further embodiments of the present invention, the means for generating the output signal supplied to the output transducer of the hearing device further takes into account a radiation angle that is defined by an angle between a radiation direction of sound of the sound source and a line drawn between the hearing device and the sound source.
In still further embodiments of the present invention, the sound source is a virtual sound source, of which a transmission signal comprising the audio signal is available only.
Embodiments of hearing device according to the present invention further comprise:
Embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention further comprise:
In still further embodiments of the hearing device according to the present invention, the transmission signal is wirelessly transmittable.
Further embodiments of the present invention comprise means for adjusting the distance as a function of obstacles lying in front of the sound source.
It is expressly pointed out that any combination of the above-mentioned embodiments, or combinations of combinations, is subject to a further combination. Only those combinations are excluded that would result in a contradiction.
Furthermore,
The sound source S is able to broadcast an audio signal 4 as an acoustic signal 13. At the same time, the audio signal 4 is comprised in a transmission signal 3 that is transmitted by a transmitter unit comprised in the audio source S. The transmitter unit may also be attached to the audio source S. The transmission signal 3 may be distributed by wire or wirelessly. In particular, the transmission signal 3 is distributed in one or more than one of the following manners:
Since the hearing device 1 comprises an input transducer (not shown in
In the first embodiment of the present invention, a distance d between the sound source S and the hearing device 1 is determined. This can be achieved in one of the following manners:
The distance d is compared to a predetermined distance which is set beforehand. The predetermined distance is a threshold below which the audio signal of the transmission signal 3 is at least partly supplied to an output transducer (not shown in
With regard to the extent of supplying the audio signal 4 of the transmission signal 3 to the output transducer, i.e. the hearer or loudspeaker of the hearing device 1, it is pointed out that it can mean to fully supply the audio signal 4 of the transmission signal 3 to the output transducer without containing any part of the output signal of the input transducer of the hearing device 1. In other words, the hearing device user 2 only hears the audio signal 4 coming directly from the sound source S via the transmission signal 3. There is absolutely no disturbing sound of the surrounding.
While a full attenuation of the output signal of the input transducer results in a clear and undisturbed signal for the output transducer, and therewith in a high comfort level for the hearing device user 2, communication with other individuals becomes more difficult. In further embodiments, it is therefore suggested that the output signal of the input transducer of the hearing device 1 is not fully attenuated. Instead, the output signal of the input transducer is only attenuated to an extent that other acoustic sources can still be heard. Therewith, the hearing device user 2 is not completely isolated and can still communicate with other individuals. Most importantly, the hearing device user 2 can hear possible alarm signals, like a fire alarm.
A supply of the audio signal 4 of the transmission signal 3 to the hearing device user 2 does not make sense if the distance d between the hearing device user 2 and the sound source S is too big. For example, a TV set in a large room might only become important if the hearing device user 2 is within a range in that he can clearly see what is shown on the screen of the TV set. This can be taken into account when determining the predetermined distance.
For example, the angle α can be determined in one of the following ways:
Again, a similar situation is depicted as in
A still further embodiment of the present invention is pointed out while referring to
In
Similar situations are obtained if an obstacle 6 between the hearing device user 2 and the sound source S is present. In dependence on the size of the obstacle 6, the audio signal 4 transmitted by the transmission signal 3 is reduced before it is fed to the input of the output transducer of the hearing device 1. This can also be interpreted by virtually increasing the actual distance d to a larger virtual distance d′, the virtual distance d′ becoming effective for any computation involving the distance d, in particular the computations explained in connection with the embodiments depicted in
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the output signal—that is supplied to the output transducer 8 (
As long as the hearing device user sits in front of the sound source S, while having turned his head towards the sound source S, the acoustic signal of the input transducer 7 is attenuated to a large extent. At the same time, most of the audio signal 4 of the transmission signal 3 is fed towards the output transducer 8 of the hearing device 1 in order that the hearing device user may very well hear what is broadcasted by the sound source S. As soon as the hearing device user turns his head away from the sound source S, thereby increasing the angle α, the combination ratio changes in that more signal of the input transducer 7 can be perceived allowing the hearing device user to listen to the surrounding. To improve the ability to listen to surroundings signals, the audio signal 4 of the transmission signal 3 is reduced at the same time (according to the combination ratio) in order that the hearing device user is not disturbed too much. Of course, the hearing device user may still hear the acoustic audio signal (as long as the sound source S is not a virtual sound source as in some embodiments). This embodiment has the advantage that the hearing device user may still hear when someone starts a communication.
In a still further embodiment of the present invention, the output signal—that is supplied to the output transducer 8 (
The reduction of the audio signal in the acoustic surrounding is obtained, for example, by known estimation algorithms that are used to estimate components of the audio signal that is present in the acoustic surrounding. The estimation is performed taking into account knowledge of the undisturbed audio signal received via the transmission signal.
The hearing device 1 comprises an input transducer 7, e.g. a microphone, a processing unit 9, an output transducer 8, also called loudspeaker or receiver, and an interface unit 12. The input transducer 7, the output transducer 8 as well as the interface unit 12 are connected to the processing unit 9 that comprises a pre-processing unit 11 and a post-processing unit 10. The interface unit 12 is able to search for and receive a transmission signal 3 transmitted by the sound source S. The transmission signal 3 comprises an audio signal 4 that is also broadcasted by a loudspeaker as an acoustic audio signal 13 if the sound source S is not a virtual sound source S as explained in connection with
The transmission signal 3 may be distributed by wire or wirelessly between the sound source S and the interface unit 12. In particular, the transmission signal 3 is distributed in one or more than one of the following manners:
It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrations of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore indented that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2010/056032 | 5/4/2010 | WO | 00 | 10/30/2012 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2010/086462 | 8/5/2010 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20130064403 A1 | Mar 2013 | US |
