1193results about "Hearing aids signal processing" patented technology

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

A hearing system comprises a hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid or a headset, configured to be worn by a user. The hearing device comprises at least one input transducer for providing at least one electric input signal representative of sound in the environment of the hearing device, wherein said at least one electric input signal comprises a target signal component assumed to be of current interest to the user, and a noise component. The hearing device further comprises a noise control system configured to provide an estimate of said target signal component and an estimate of said noise component and to apply a statistical structure to said noise component to thereby provide a modified noise component comprising said statistical structure; and to determine a modified estimate of said target signal component in dependence of said modified noise component. Thereby an improved segregation of sound sources may be provided.

A hearing aid comprises a multitude M≥2 microphones adapted for providing M electric input signals (x) representative of an environment of a user, at least one beamformer for generating at least one beamformed signal in dependence of beamformer weights (w) configured to be applied to said electric input signals, thereby providing said at least one beamformed signal (Y) as a weighted sum of the M of electric input signals. The beamformer weights (w) are adaptively optimized to a plurality of target positions (θ) by maximizing a target signal to noise ratio (SNR) for sound from the target positions (θ).

An ear-worn device is provided that operates to isolate and individually treat the received speech of a target speaker or multiple target speakers from an audio input signal detected in a multi-speaker environment. The ear-worn device uses a machine learning model that receives a voice signature of each of one or more target speakers as input signals, to identify and isolate the component of the audio input signal attributable to the target speaker(s). Once isolated, the target speaker's speech may be enhanced, de-emphasized, or otherwise processed in a manner desired by the wearer of the ear-worn device. The wearer may use an external electronic device, e.g., a phone, to select one or more target speakers in a conversation and / or configure various settings associated with processing the speech on the ear-worn device.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

Smart glasses for hearing assistance, a hearing assistance method, and a system. The smart glasses comprise: two glasses temples, a sound pickup apparatus, a plurality of loudspeakers and a wireless communication module, wherein the sound pickup apparatus comprises at least one microphone for acquiring first speech data from a first preset direction; and the wireless communication module is used for amplifying the first speech data to obtain amplified speech data, and sending the amplified speech data to a target loudspeaker for playing, and the target loudspeaker and the at least one microphone are respectively arranged on different glasses temples. By means of the present application, a hearing assistance function based on smart glasses is realized, and the product stickiness can be increased.

An ear-worn device includes two or more microphones and noise reduction circuitry including neural network circuitry. The neural network circuitry is configured to: receive multiple audio signals wherein at least two of the multiple audio signals each originate from a different one of the two or more microphones and / or at least one of the multiple audio signals is a beamformed audio signal originating from the two or more microphones; and implement one or more neural network layers trained to perform background noise modification and spatial focusing based on the multiple audio signals, such that the neural network circuitry generates, based on the multiple audio signals, one or more neural network outputs. The noise reduction circuitry is configured to output, based on the one or more neural network outputs, an output audio signal comprising a background noise-modified and spatially-focused version of a first audio signal of the multiple audio signals.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus for processing audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

A wearable device may be worn in an ear of a user. The wearable device may include a biometric sensor that collects biometric information from the ear, and an environmental sensor that collects environmental information from the ear. The wearable device may receive the biometric information from the biometric sensor, and the environmental information from the environmental sensor, and send biofeedback determined from the biometric information, and an environmental condition determined from the environmental information, wirelessly to a communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

The invention provides a sound processing method, system and device based on a hearing aid and a storage medium, and the method comprises the steps: collecting sound signals, including background noise and voice signals, of a hearing aid use environment in a large scale; the sound signals are preprocessed, abnormal values and missing values are processed, the abnormal values and the missing values are scaled into a unified scale, and the sound signals are divided into a training set and a test set; adjusting and optimizing parameters of the standard adaptive filtering model by using an improved gradient descent optimization algorithm, wherein the parameters comprise a filter order, a maximum number of iterations, an initial step length and a regularization coefficient; and inputting the test set into the optimized algorithm to realize optimization processing of the sound signal. According to the invention, the voice definition and the background noise suppression capability can be improved, and the use effect and the user experience of the hearing aid in a complex environment are improved.

The disclosure generally relates to a method, system and apparatus to improve a user's understanding of speech in real-time conversations by processing the audio through a neural network contained in a hearing device. The hearing device may be a headphone or hearing aid. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an apparatus to enhance incoming audio signal. The apparatus includes a controller to receive an incoming signal and provide a controller output signal; a neural network engine (NNE) circuitry in communication with the controller, the NNE circuitry activatable by the controller, the NNE circuitry configured to generate an NNE output signal from the controller output signal; and a digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry to receive one or more of controller output signal or the NNE circuitry output signal to thereby generate a processed signal; wherein the controller determines a processing path of the controller output signal through one of the DSP or the NNE circuitries as a function of one or more of predefined parameters, incoming signal characteristics and NNE circuitry feedback.

An audio system receives sounds from a local area with a set of sensors. The audio system analyzes the sounds to identify an amount of background noise in the environment. The audio system may also identify target sound in the environment, such as voice from a nearby speaker, to reinforce. The amount of background noise is then used to adaptively set a level of reinforcement for the target sound. In low-noise environments, the target sound may be minimally, or not reinforced, while in high-noise environments a reinforcement sound signal may be generated with the target sound so that a transducer array may generate reinforcing sounds for the target sound and increase its contrast with the noise in the environment. By applying the reinforcement dynamically, the system automatically adjusts for different sounds and environments.

A method (300) of operating an audio device system in order to provide at least one of improved noise reduction and speech intelligibility and an audio device system (400) adapted to carry out the method.

A hearing aid system comprises a hearing aid, and a portable auxiliary device’ adapted to establish a communication link between them. The hearing aid comprises a microphone providing an electric input signal, a signal processor, and an output unit. The auxiliary device comprises a microphone providing an auxiliary electric input signal, and a user control interface allowing a user to initiate a specific calibration mode of operation of the hearing aid system. The signal processor of the hearing aid is configured to receive corresponding time segments of said electric input signal and said auxiliary electric input signal to provide an estimate of an acoustic transfer function from said microphone of said auxiliary device to said microphone of said hearing aid. A method of operating a hearing aid system is further disclosed. The invention may e.g. be used in various applications related to own voice detection and estimation.

An auditory neural interface device for sound perception by an individual that may be used as a hearing aid. The auditory neural interface device includes a receiver configured to receive sound signals, a processor operably connected to the receiver and configured to encode a received sound signal as a multi-channel neurostimulation signal, and a neurostimulation device operably connected to the processor and configured to apply the multi-channel neurostimulation signal to a neurostimulation electrode of the individual. The neurostimulation signal is configured to directly stimulate afferent sensory neurons of the central nervous system of the individual and thereby to elicit, for each channel of the neurostimulation signal, one or more non-auditory, preferably somatosensory, perceptions in a cortex area of the individual. Each channel of the neurostimulation signal is associated with a different non-auditory perception.

Apparatuses, systems, and techniques are presented to reduce noise in audio. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks are used to determine a noise signal in one or more speech signals.

The invention discloses an artificial cochlea self-sound restoration method and an artificial cochlea sound processor. The artificial cochlea self-sound restoration method comprises the following steps: dividing digital signals acquired by a bone conduction microphone and an air conduction microphone into signal frames; converting the signal frame from an initial time domain signal to an initial frequency domain signal; judging whether the microphone signal is self sound or not; when the signals collected by the bone conduction microphone and the air conduction microphone are self-sound, after the frequency domain signal frame of the bone conduction microphone and the frequency domain signal frame of the air conduction microphone are superposed, a new frequency domain signal is converted into a new time domain signal, and a signal frame after self-sound restoration is obtained; the sound of an implanter is collected from two channels of air conduction and bone conduction and is mixed and output, so that the accuracy of sound collection is improved.

The embodiment of the invention discloses a hearing loss compensation method based on hearing aid equipment and a terminal, which are used for simplifying a hearing loss test process and improving the accuracy of hearing loss compensation. The hearing loss compensation method based on the hearing aid device is executed by a terminal, communication connection is established between the terminal and the hearing aid device to be fitted, and the method comprises the following steps: performing a hearing loss test on a hearing aid object to obtain a hearing loss test result; performing hearing loss compensation according to the hearing loss test result to obtain hearing loss compensation gain; the hearing loss compensation gain is sent to the hearing aid device, and the hearing aid device is used for conducting hearing loss compensation on a first voice signal according to the hearing loss compensation gain to obtain a second voice signal.

A system may include a first ear-worn device worn by a first wearer and a second ear-worn device worn by a second wearer, in which the first ear-worn device is configured to generate an audio signal based on sound from its environment, generate a speech portion of the audio signal using a neural network-based noise-reduction pipeline in the first ear-worn device, and transmit the speech portion of the audio signal to the second ear-worn device. The first ear-worn device may be configured to determine whether to transmit the speech portion of the audio signal to the second ear-worn device based on an own-voice heuristic. The second ear-worn device may be configured to generate an output audio signal by applying a first weight to the speech portion of the first ear-worn device's audio signal and a second weight to the speech portion of its own audio signal.

The disclosure relates to a method of operating a hearing device configured be worn at an ear of a user, the method comprising receiving an audio signal; processing the audio signal by at least one audio processing algorithm to generate a processed audio signal; and outputting, by an output transducer included in the hearing device, an output audio signal based on the processed audio signal so as to stimulate the user's hearing. The disclosure further relates to a hearing device configured to perform the method.

A system for hearing assistance includes an array of microphones, which are configured be mounted in proximity to a head of a user of the system and to output electrical signals in response to first acoustic waves that are incident on the microphones. A speaker is configured for mounting in proximity to an ear of the user and configured to output second acoustic waves in response to a drive signal applied to the speaker. Processing circuitry is configured to generate the drive signal by amplifying and filtering the electrical signals using a beamforming filter that emphasizes first sounds that impinge on the array of microphones within a selected angular range while suppressing second sounds that are spoken by the user.

Apparatuses, systems, and techniques are presented to reduce noise in audio. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks are used to determine a noise signal in one or more speech signals.

In accordance with a method for performing frequency subchannelization, a digital signal is received at an original sampling rate. A plurality of multirate frequency channels is produced by dividing the digital signal into an integer number of multirate frequency channels such that a sampling rate of each of the multirate frequency channels is proportional to a center frequency of the frequency channel. Signal processing is performed on each of the multirate frequency channels. The original sampling rate is reconstructed using the multirate frequency channels.

A system (20) for hearing assistance includes an array of microphones (23, 24), which are configured be mounted in proximity to a head of a user of the system and to output electrical signals in response to first acoustic waves that are incident on the microphones. A speaker (28) is configured for mounting in proximity to an ear of the user and configured to output second acoustic waves in response to a drive signal applied to the speaker. Processing circuitry (26) is configured to generate the drive signal by amplifying and filtering the electrical signals using a beamforming filter that emphasizes first sounds that impinge on the array of microphones within a selected angular range while suppressing second sounds that are spoken by the user.

A hearing device comprises a) at least one input transducer configured to pick up sound from an acoustic environment around the user when the user is wearing the hearing device, the at least one input transducer providing at least one electric input signal representative of said sound, b) at least one analysis filter bank configured to provide said at least one electric input signal as a multitude of frequency sub-band signals, the at least one analysis filter bank comprising b1) a plurality of M first filters hm(n), whose impulse responses are modulated from a first prototype filter h(n), where m=0, 1, . . . , M−1 is a frequency band index, and n is a time index, c) a processor for processing said at least one electric input signal provided by said at least one analysis filter bank, or a signal originating therefrom, and providing a processed signal, d) an output transducer configured to provide stimuli perceivable as sound to the user in dependence of said processed signal, and e) a controller for controlling said analysis filter bank by applying a different first prototype filter to said at least one filter bank in dependence of said current acoustic environment. A method of operating a hearing device is further disclosed.

A method for operating a hearing device that include a microphone and a receiver that are signal-connected by way of a signal processing unit. A signal component that includes a specific frequency is selected from an input signal. A further signal at a further specific frequency is provided, and an output signal is created on a basis of the signal component and the further signal. The output signal is output by the receiver to create a sound. The further signal is configured such that first time intervals and second time intervals arise, with hair cells associated with a specific frequency assigned region of a basilar membrane of a user being excited on account of an interference during the first time intervals and there being no excitation of the hair cells during the second time intervals. There is also described a corresponding hearing device.