Hearing device comprising a beamformer filtering unit

Abstract

A hearing aid comprises a) first and second microphones b) an adaptive beamformer filtering unit comprising, b1) a first and second memories comprising a first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters representing a first and second beam patterns, where said first and second sets of weighting parameters are predetermined initial values or values updated during operation of the hearing aid, b3) an adaptive beamformer processing unit providing an adaptation parameter representing an adaptive beam pattern configured to attenuate unwanted noise under the constraint that sound from a target direction is essentially unaltered, b4) a third memory comprising a fixed adaptation parameter representing a third, fixed beam pattern, a mixing unit providing a resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter as a combination of said fixed and adaptively determined frequency dependent adaptation parameters, respectively, and a resulting beamformer for providing a resulting beamformed signal YBF based on first and second microphone signals, said first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters, and said resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter .

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to the field of hearing devices such as hearing aids, and in particular to spatial filtering and hearing aids comprising an adaptive beamformer filter unit. Background technique [0002] The directivity achieved by beamformers in hearing aids is an effective way to attenuate unwanted noise, as the direction-dependent gain cancels out noise from one direction while preserving sounds of interest from another, making possible Improve speech intelligibility. Typically, a beamformer in a hearing instrument has a beam pattern that is continuously adjusted to minimize noise without changing the sound from the direction of the target. [0003] Despite the aforementioned potential benefits, directionality also has some disadvantages. The result of noise removal may also remove some sounds of interest. Adaptive beamformers have the potential to completely cancel sound from certain directions. By this, the ability to remain aware...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In a very noisy environment, this beamformer may behave as desired to maintain intelligibility, but in a less noisy environment, such a beamformer is less desirable because the listener prefers to know the sound coming from all directions. sound ability

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