SENSOR BASED EAR-WORN ELECTRONIC DEVICE FIT ASSESSMENT

Abstract

An ear-worn electronic device comprises a housing configured for deployment in, on or about an ear of a wearer and a power source situated in the housing. A sensor is situated in or on the housing and coupled to the power source. The sensor is configured to generate a sensor signal representative of motion of the wearer’s head and relative motion between the sensor and skin of the wearer’s ear resulting from the wearer’s head motion. A controller is situated in the housing and coupled to the power source and the sensor. The controller is configured to assess a fit of the device using the sensor signal.

Description

Claims

1. An ear-worn electronic device, comprising: a housing configured for deployment in, on or about an ear of a wearer;a power source situated in the housing;a sensor situated in or on the housing and coupled to the power source, the sensor configured to generate a sensor signal representative of motion of the wearer’s head and relative motion between the sensor and skin of the wearer’s ear resulting from the wearer’s head motion; anda controller situated in the housing and coupled to the power source and the sensor, the controller configured to assess a fit of the device using the sensor signal.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: detect execution of the wearer’s head motion using a first portion of the sensor signal; andassess the fit of the device using a second portion of the sensor signal representative of relative motion between the sensor and skin of the wearer’s ear resulting from execution of the wearer’s head motion.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to assess the fit of the device using the sensor signal generated: after execution of the wearer’s head motion; orduring and after execution of the wearer’s head motion.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: detect an artifact in the sensor signal during and/or following execution of the wearer’s head motion; andassess the fit of the device using the artifact.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: detect the presence or absence of an artifact in the sensor signal during and/or following execution of the wearer’s head motion;detect a proper fit of the device in response to detecting the absence of the artifact; anddetect an improper fit of the device in response to detecting the presence of the artifact.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein the artifact comprises noise.

7. The device according to claim 4, wherein: the artifact comprises high frequency noise; anda frequency of the high frequency noise is higher than a frequency associated with any motion of the wearer’s head.

8. The device according to claim 4, wherein the artifact comprises at least one of: ringing in the sensor signal;a change in morphology of the sensor signal;a shift in a baseline measurement of the sensor signal; anda change in a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the sensor signal.

9. The device according to claim 4, wherein the artifact comprises a shift in a DC baseline level of the sensor signal.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: measure a baseline feature of the sensor signal prior to and after execution of the wearer’s head motion; andassess the fit of the device using at least one of: a change in the measured baseline feature;a rate of change in the measured baseline feature;a change in magnitude of the measured baseline feature; anda rate of change in the measured baseline feature and a change in magnitude of the measured baseline feature.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises one or any combination of: an accelerometer;a gyroscope;a magnetometer;an inertial measurement;a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor; anda sensor configured to contact the skin of the wearer’s ear and sense one or any combination of impedance, conductance, resistance, and electrodermal activity.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor and the controller is configured to: calculate a perfusion index (PI) measured by the PPG sensor;measure a shift of the PI prior to and after execution of the wearer’s head motion; andassess the fit of the device using the measured shift of the PI.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to generate an output indicating a result of the fit assessment, and the output comprises at least one of: an audible output communicated to an ear drum of the wearer’s ear; anda signal transmitted from a wireless communication device of the ear-worn electronic device to an external device or system.

14. A method implemented by an ear-worn electronic device configured for deployment in, on or about an ear of a wearer, the method comprising: generating, using a sensor of the device, a sensor signal representative of motion of the wearer’s head and relative motion between the sensor and skin of the wearer’s ear resulting from the wearer’s head motion;assessing, by a controller, a fit of the device using the sensor signal; andgenerating, by the controller, information about the fit of the device in response to assessing the device fit.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the controller comprises a controller of the ear-worn electronic device or a controller of an external electronic device configured to communicatively couple to the ear-worn electronic device.

16. The method according to claim 14, comprising: detecting execution of the wearer’s head motion using a first portion of the sensor signal; andassessing the fit of the device using a second portion of the sensor signal representative of relative motion between the sensor and skin of the wearer’s ear resulting from execution of the wearer’s head motion.

17. The method according to claim 14, comprising: detecting an artifact in the sensor signal during and/or following execution of the wearer’s head motion; andassessing the fit of the device using the artifact.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein: the artifact comprises high frequency noise; anda frequency of the high frequency noise is higher than a frequency associated with any motion of the wearer’s head.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein the artifact comprises at least one of: ringing in the sensor signal; a change in morphology of the sensor signal;a shift in a baseline measurement of the sensor signal; anda change in a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the sensor signal.

20. The method according to claim 14, comprising: detecting the presence or absence of an artifact in the sensor signal during and/or following execution of the wearer’s head motion;detecting a proper fit of the device in response to detecting the absence of the artifact; anddetecting an improper fit of the device in response to detecting the presence of the artifact.