Hearing assistance device and method with automatic security control

Abstract

There is provided a hearing assistance device to be worn by a user, comprising: a microphone arrangement (12) for capturing audio signals from ambient sound, an audio signal processing unit (14) for processing the captured audio signals, and an ear-level output transducer (16) for stimulating the user's hearing according to the processed audio signals, at least one wireless interface (18, 20, 42,44) for signal reception from an external device (11, 40), a context detection unit (46) for determining, by regularly analyzing signals received via the at least one wireless interface, present values of a set of context parameters, the context parameters being indicative of the present location of the hearing assistance device (10), with the context detection unit being configured to select, based on the determined location, one location context out of a plurality of location contexts as the presently valid location context, and a security control unit (48) for controlling security aspects of the hearing assistance device according to a security policy selected from a plurality of security policies, each security policy specifically setting security levels for access to services of the hearing assistance device; wherein each location context is associated with one of the security policies, and wherein the security control unit is adapted to select that security policy which is associated with the presently valid location context.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a hearing aid device to be worn by a user, usually at ear level, comprising: a microphone arrangement for capturing audio signals from ambient sounds; an audio signal processing unit for processing the captured audio signals and an ear-level output transducer for stimulating the user's hearing in accordance with the processed audio signal; and also including at least one wireless interface for receiving a signal from an external device, such as a GPS signal, a Bluetooth signal, or Wi-Fi signal. Background technique [0002] In general, hearing aids such as hearing instruments (hereinafter also referred to as “hearing devices”) provide different services (including access to data and signals provided by the hearing aids) in different scenarios. Typically, a specific scene is associated with a specific position of the hearing aid. For example, hearing device fitting, i.e. adjustments to hearing device settings, may only be allo...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, explicitly switching security policies for each scenario can be demanding and error-prone

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