67results about "Sets with desired directivity" patented technology

A processing system obtains a deformation signal generated by a deformation sensor. The deformation signal is indicative of a deformation of an outer ear of a user of a hearing instrument. Additionally, the processing system obtains an EMG signal generated by an electrode in a concha of the user, wherein the electrode is configured to detect activity of an intrinsic auricular muscle of the user. Furthermore, the processing system generates information regarding an auditory attention state of the user based on the deformation signal and the EMG signal. The processing system controls, based on the information regarding the auditory attention state of the user, the parameter of the audio system.

To provide a hearing aid device.SOLUTION: A hearing aid device comprises: a plurality of microphones configured to receive an initial audio signal and convert the initial audio signal into an electrical signal; a processor configured to process the electrical signal and generate a control signal; and a speaker configured to convert the control signal into an assisted audio signal. The processing includes adjusting a directivity for receiving the initial audio signals of the plurality of microphones such that the intensity of sound from the direction of the speaker in the initial audio signal received by the plurality of microphones is always greater or always smaller than the intensity of sound from other directions of the environment.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

The present invention relates to a head wearable carrier system (10) configured to have a beamformed speaker system (16), where the carrier system (10) is configured to: position the beamformed speaker system (16, 16a, 16b) in use near a side of at least one ear (14), where the beamformed speaker system (16, 16a, 16b) is positioned near a side of the at least one ear (14), and where the beamformed speaker system (16, 16a, 16b) is positioned near the side of the at least one ear (14), where the beamformed speaker system (16, 16a, 16b) is positioned near the side of the at least one ear (14). The beamformed audio signal (15) is directed towards an ear channel opening (18) of the at least one ear (14).

The present application discloses a hearing aid with a soft vent, where the hearing aid comprises: an input unit configured to receive an audible sound and to convert the audible sound into an electronic signal representative of the audible sound; a processing unit configured to receive the electronic signal, where the processing unit is configured to process the electronic signal in a first path to produce a first auditory sound and to process the electronic signal in a second path to produce a second auditory sound, the second path having a lower latency than the first path; an in-ear element having an output unit, wherein the output unit is configured to output a first auditory sound and a second auditory sound; a physical vent extends through the in-ear element to provide fluid communication between the first side of the in-ear element and the second side of the in-ear element to provide direct auditory sound.

A hearing device with an optical sensor includes: a light source (212, 300, 304, 308, 402) configured to emit light; a photodetector (214, 404) configured to detect light emitted by the light source after it has passed through tissue of a subject; an audio receiver (116, 202) configured to transmit sound to the subject; and a dome structure (120, 206) configured to conform to the shape of the ear canal when the hearing device is in the subject's ear canal. The output of the light source (212, 300, 304, 308, 402) and the input of the photodetector (214, 404) are separated by the dome structure (120, 206), and the dome structure (120, 206) absorbs and / or reflects at least a portion of the light emitted by the light source.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a hearing aid having a first processing path and a second processing path. The different processing paths can have different latencies, allowing for different processing actions to take place. Further, the hearing aid includes a physical vent for providing fluid communication between sides of the in-ear component of the hearing aid.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a hearing aid system. The hearing aid system can include a hearing aid configured to be worn by a user. A remote input unit can be configured to provide a remote audio signal. One or more processing units can be configured to obtain the plurality of local input audio signals, obtain the remote audio signal, beamform the plurality of local input audio signals to determine a front-facing beamformed signal, and determine a prime candidate signal based on the front-facing beamformed signal and the remote audio signal.

The invention describes a method for directional signal processing of signals from a microphone arrangement (2), which comprises at least a first microphone (4) for generating a first input signal (8) from ambient sound (7) and a second microphone (6) for generating a second input signal (10) from the ambient sound (7), wherein a reference signal (46) is generated on the basis of the first input signal (8), wherein the reference signal (46) is transformed into the frequency domain, and thereby a frequency-space reference signal (48) is generated, wherein the first input signal (8) and the second input signal (10) are each transformed into the frequency domain, and a first frequency-space directional signal (20) is generated in the frequency domain on the basis of the first input signal (14) and the second input signal (16) thus transformed.wherein frequency-dependent first gain factors (g1j) are generated based on a frequency-resolved comparison of the frequency-space reference signal (48) with the first frequency-space directional signal (20) or a signal derived from the first frequency-space directional signal (20) in the frequency domain, wherein a time filter (44) is generated in the time domain based on the first gain factors (g1j), and wherein the reference signal (46) is filtered by means of the time filter (44), and an output signal (30) is generated based on the reference signal (46) filtered by means of the time filter (44).

The invention relates to a method for directional signal processing of signals of a microphone arrangement comprising a first microphone generating a first input signal from ambient sound and a second microphone generating a second input signal from ambient sound, wherein a reference signal is formed from the first input signal, wherein the reference signal is transformed into the frequency domain and a frequency space reference signal is generated, wherein the first and second input signal are each transformed into the frequency domain and a first frequency space directional signal is formed in the frequency domain from the so transformed first and second input signal, wherein a frequency-dependent first amplification factor is generated from a frequency-resolved comparison of the frequency space reference signal with the first frequency space directional signal or a signal derived from the first frequency space directional signal in the frequency domain, wherein a time filter is generated in the time domain from the first amplification factor, and wherein the reference signal is filtered by means of the time filter and an output signal is generated from the filtered reference signal.

A hearing aid system comprising a hearing aid configured to be worn by a user configured to provide a plurality of local input audio signals. A remote input unit configured to provide a remote audio signal. One or more processing units configured to obtain the plurality of local input audio signals, obtain the remote audio signal, beamform the plurality of local input audio signals to determine a front-facing beamformed signal, and determine a prime candidate signal based on the front-facing beamformed signal and the remote audio signal.

A method of operating an electronic device, the device having a receiver for receiving a wireless analogue signal, a converter for converting the received analogue signal to a digital input signal, a signal processor for generating a digital output signal from the input signal, and a transmitter for transmitting the output signal as a wireless digital signal, wherein the input signal is filtered to generate the output signal such that a noise signal in the input signal generated by the signal processor and / or the transmitter is reduced.

Provided are a method and an apparatus for automatically setting a microphone directivity based on the estimation of the position of a user or an object using a hearing aid. 【Solution means】In one embodiment, a method for automatically setting a microphone directivity based on the estimation of the position of a user or an object using a hearing aid includes estimating the direction or position of the user by a sensor unit of the hearing aid worn by the user, or estimating the direction or position of an object conversing with the user, and automatically changing beamforming for the microphone directivity according to the position of the user or the object.

A brain-inspired hearing aid method is provided. The method includes: acquiring a noisy voice signal from a complex acoustic environment where a hearing aid wearer is located, and an electroencephalogram signal and an eye movement signal of the hearing aid wearer; performing decoding of the electroencephalogram signal to obtain a feature representation of a voice signal of an auditory attention target; performing decoding of the eye movement signal to obtain an auditory attention orientation; extracting the voice signal of the auditory attention target from the noisy voice signal in a complex acoustic environment based on the feature representation; extracting a voice signal of the auditory attention orientation from the noisy voice signal in a complex acoustic environment based on the auditory attention orientation; and fusing the voice signal of the auditory attention target with the voice signal of the auditory attention orientation to obtain to-be-outputted auditory attention voice signal.

Method for operating a hearing system (2) to assist the hearing ability of a user, comprising at least one hearing instrument (4) worn on the head, in particular in or on an ear of the user, - wherein a sound signal from the user's environment is received by means of at least two input transducers (6) of the hearing system (2) and converted into input audio signals (I1, I2), - wherein a first adaptive beamformer (28, 28a) with a variable first notch direction (N) is applied directly or indirectly to the input audio signals (I1, I2) to generate a first directionally attenuated audio signal (R) and wherein the first notch direction (N) is adjusted so that the energy content of the first directionally attenuated audio signal (R) is minimized, - wherein a second adaptive beamformer (28, 28b) with a variable second notch direction (N) is applied directly or indirectly to the input audio signals (I1, I2) to generate a second directionally attenuated audio signal (R) and wherein the second notch direction (N) is set to a value different from the first notch direction (N) so that the energy content of the second directionally attenuated audio signal (R) is minimized, - wherein the first notch direction (N) and the second notch direction (N) are evaluated comparatively, and wherein a head rotation of the user is recorded qualitatively and / or quantitatively if a correlated change in the first notch direction (N) and the second notch direction (N) is detected in the course of the comparative evaluation.

A method of configuring an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid placed within an ear canal of a user, the method comprising receiving, by at least one input transducer of the ITE hearing aid, a first direct sound from a first audible sound at a first angle with respect to a horizontal plane of the hearing aid, and a first reflected sound from the first audible sound reflected by a pinna of the user, the first direct sound and the first reflected sound having a first delay between the first direct sound and the first reflected sound; receiving, by the at least one input transducer, a second direct sound from a second audible sound at a second angle with respect to a horizontal plane of the hearing aid, and a second reflected sound from the second audible sound reflected by the pinna of the user, the second direct sound and the second reflected sound having a second delay between the second direct sound and the second reflected sound, wherein the second angle is different from the first angle; determining, by a processing unit of the ITE hearing aid, based the first delay, a first incidence angle of the first direct audio and, based the second delay, a second incidence angle of the second direct audio; and configuring, by the processing unit, based on the first incidence angle and the second incidence angle, beamforming of the hearing aid.

The present application discloses personalization of algorithm parameters of a hearing device, wherein a method of personalizing one or more parameters of a processing algorithm used in a processor of a hearing aid for a specific user comprises: performing a predictive test for estimating the hearing ability of a user when the user listens to test signals having different characteristics; analyzing the results of the predictive test of the user and providing a hearing ability measure of the user; selecting a specific processing algorithm of the hearing aid; selecting a cost-benefit function and / or a key value for the specific processing algorithm related to the hearing ability of the user from one or more related psychometric functions according to the characteristics of the test signals; and determining one or more personalization parameters of the specific processing algorithm for the user according to the hearing ability measure and the cost-benefit function.

The present application discloses a hearing aid comprising a target quality evaluation unit wherein the hearing aid comprises: an input unit configured to provide an electrical audio input signal representing sound; a plurality of first beamformers configured to provide a plurality of first beamformed signals based on the electrical audio input signal, where each of the first beamformers is configured to point to a different fixed direction and to be associated with a different first processing parameter; a second beamformer configured to provide a second beamformed signal based on the electrical audio input signal and a second processing parameter, where a directivity of the second beamformed signal is determined as a direction in which an evaluation value is maximized; a target quality evaluation function configured to determine a plurality of evaluation values based on the plurality of first beamforming signals and the second beamforming signals; a correction unit configured to correct the second processing parameter based on the evaluation value; and an output unit configured to output an output signal determined based on the corrected second processing parameter.

A hearing instrument (1) is described, comprising a device body (2) to be worn on the body, in particular on the head, of a user, a CW radar unit (10) which is arranged in or on the device body (2) and which is configured to emit a CW radar signal, in particular unmodulated, and to receive a corresponding reflected radar signal, and a controller (6) which is configured to detect a signal component characteristic of a micro-Doppler effect from a radar reception signal output by the CW radar unit (10) upon reception of the reflected radar signal and to determine from this a distance of the device body (2) to an object (20) in the user's environment.

The invention provides a method and a device for optimizing a hearing aid environment, the method and the device are applied to a digital hearing aid, and the method comprises the following steps: acquiring sound information around the digital hearing aid through audio acquisition equipment arranged in an array, and carrying out differential filtering processing on the sound information to obtain a plurality of pieces of audio information; judging the position of a sound source according to the time difference of acquiring the same audio information by different audio acquisition devices; different audio information is amplified differentially according to the position of the sound source position relative to a preset communication range, the sound source position is acquired by means of an audio acquisition device array, in the area within the preset communication range, the sound loudness is increased along with the increase of the distance from the hearing aid, and in the area outside the preset communication range, the sound loudness is increased along with the increase of the distance from the hearing aid. The sound loudness is weakened along with the increase of the distance with the hearing aid, the influence of operation noise, wind noise and friction noise of the hearing aid is weakened to the maximum extent, the filtering burden of hearing aid is reduced, and the rigid gain design of a traditional hearing aid is abandoned.

The resent invention is related to a head wearable carrier system (10) configured with a beam forming loudspeaker system (16), wherein the carrier system (10) is configured to arrange the beam forming loudspeaker system (16, 16a, 16b) in proximity of a side of at least one ear (14) when in use, wherein beamformed audio signals (15) are directed towards an ear channel opening (18) of the at least one ear (14).

An exemplary spatial enhancement system performs frequency-specific localization and speech comprehension enhancement. Specifically, the system receives an audio signal presented to a recipient of a hearing device, and generates, based on the audio signal, a first frequency signal and a second frequency signal. The first frequency signal includes a portion of the audio signal associated with a first frequency range, and the second frequency signal includes a portion of the audio signal associated with a second frequency range. Based on the first and second frequency signals, the system generates an output frequency signal that is associated with the first and second frequency ranges and that is configured for use by the hearing device in stimulating aural perception by the recipient. This generating of the output frequency signal includes processing the first frequency signal to apply a localization enhancement and processing the second frequency signal to apply a speech comprehension enhancement.

A method, computer-implemented, for determining an optical parameter of a progressive addition lens to be worn by a wearer, the progressive addition lens having an optical parameter relating to vision correction, the wearer being equipped with a hearing aid device adapted to acquire, amplify and transmit sounds to the wearer, the hearing aid device having a sensitivity which is maximum along a main direction, the method including determining a behavior parameter representative of a head response of the wearer, when he is equipped with the hearing aid device, to an auditive stimulation spatially offset from the main direction, determining, based on the behavior parameter, the optical parameter of the progressive addition lens.

The invention relates to a hearing aid (2), in particular a hearing aid device, comprising a transmitter circuit (24) for wireless signal transmission, wherein the transmitter circuit (24) comprises an electrical resonant circuit (28) with at least one controllable semiconductor switch (34, 34a, 34b) and with at least one capacitor (32, 32a, 32b) as well as with a transmitter coil (30), and wherein the at least one semiconductor switch (34, 34a, 34b) is controlled by a pulse phase modulator (36).

A hearing for enhancing and / or protecting a user's hearing ability when receiving acoustic signals from the user's environment, wherein the hearing aid is arranged to be magnetically or mechanically attached to a fixture implanted in the skull bone or as a fully or partially implanted device is disclosed. Also a method for enhancing and / or protecting a user's hearing ability when receiving acoustic signals from the user's environment performed by at least one hearing aid is disclosed.

An exemplary spatial enhancement system performs frequency-specific localization and speech comprehension enhancement. Specifically, the system receives an audio signal presented to a recipient of a hearing device, and generates, based on the audio signal, a first frequency signal and a second frequency signal. The first frequency signal includes a portion of the audio signal associated with a first frequency range, and the second frequency signal includes a portion of the audio signal associated with a second frequency range. Based on the first and second frequency signals, the system generates an output frequency signal that is associated with the first and second frequency ranges and that is configured for use by the hearing device in stimulating aural perception by the recipient. This generating of the output frequency signal includes processing the first frequency signal to apply a localization enhancement and processing the second frequency signal to apply a speech comprehension enhancement.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a hearing aid. The hearing aid can include an input unit configured to provide an electrical audio input signal representing a sound, a signal processing unit configured to provide a processed signal based on the electrical audio input signal using a first processing parameter, and a target quality assessment unit configured to determine an assessment value based on the processed signal. The signal processing can be is configured to determine an output signal based on the assessment value.

Example embodiments relate to output of audio signals and particularly to rendering of one or more sound sources represented by such audio signals using two or more physical loudspeakers. In an example method, there is disclosed a method, comprising rendering, by output of audio signals from two or more physical loudspeakers (104A-104D) having different respective positions, at least a first sound source (200) such that the first sound source is intended to be perceived as having a first direction (202) with respect to a user (106) which is other than a physical loudspeaker direction. The method may also comprise detecting that an audio capture device (300) of the user operates in a directivity mode for steering a sound capture beam towards the first direction (202). The method may also comprise, responsive to the detecting, performing modified rendering by outputting audio signals of the first sound source from a selected one (104A) of the two or more physical loudspeakers and not from the other physical loudspeaker(s) such that the first sound source (200) will be perceived from the direction (508) of the selected physical loudspeaker (104A) thereby to cause the sound capture beam (505) to be steered towards the selected physical loudspeaker (104A).

The invention relates to a biomimetic microphone, a product comprising at least one biomimetic microphone, such as a hearing aid, wherein the hearing implant may comprise a cochlear implant, or a vibrating implant, or both, a method of operating a hearing implant, and a hearing implant computer program comprising instructions for operating the hearing implant.

A brain-inspired hearing aid method is provided. The method includes: acquiring a noisy voice signal from a complex acoustic environment where a hearing aid wearer is located, and an electroencephalogram signal and an eye movement signal of the hearing aid wearer; performing decoding of the electroencephalogram signal to obtain a feature representation of a voice signal of an auditory attention target; performing decoding of the eye movement signal to obtain an auditory attention orientation; extracting the voice signal of the auditory attention target from the noisy voice signal in a complex acoustic environment based on the feature representation; extracting a voice signal of the auditory attention orientation from the noisy voice signal in a complex acoustic environment based on the auditory attention orientation; and fusing the voice signal of the auditory attention target with the voice signal of the auditory attention orientation to obtain to-be-outputted auditory attention voice signal.

A hearing instrument has a device body to be worn on the body, particularly on the head, of a user. A continuous wave radar (CW) unit is arranged in or on the device body and configured to send out a (unmodulated) CW radar signal and to receive a corresponding reflected radar signal. A controller is configured to detect a signal portion characteristic of a micro-Doppler effect from a radar reception signal that is output by the CW radar unit upon receiving the reflected radar signal and to establish therefrom a distance of the device body from an object in a vicinity of the user.