High-frequency high-gain hearing aid system and method suitable for senile deafness and hearing aid

Abstract

The invention discloses a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system and method suitable for senile deafness and a hearing aid, and relates to the technical field of hearing aids. A right ear hearing aid unit; the left microphone collects sound, and the sound is transmitted to the right loudspeaker to be emitted after being processed and is fed into the right ear through the right ear loudspeaker; and / or the right microphone collects sound, the sound is transmitted to the left loudspeaker to be emitted after being processed, and the sound is fed into the left ear through the left loudspeaker, so that opposite transmission of the sound of the left ear and the right ear is formed. The independent microphone, amplifier and loudspeaker are arranged near each ear, the sound collected by the microphone of the left ear is processed and then transmitted to the loudspeaker of the right ear, and the sound collected by the microphone of the right ear is processed and then transmitted to the loudspeaker of the left ear, so that sound transmission of the two ears is realized. The sound transmission mode of the two ears utilizes the attenuation characteristic of the head to high-frequency sound, so that the defect of the structural design mode that a loudspeaker and a microphone of a traditional hearing aid are arranged on the same side is overcome.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of hearing aids, in particular to a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system and method suitable for presbycusis and a hearing aid. BACKGROUND

[0002] Due to the complexity of the pathogenic factors of presbycusis, the pathological changes thereof can involve the entire auditory system including the external ear, the internal ear, the middle ear, the cochlear nerve and the central conduction pathway and the cortex, and the histological changes are mainly degenerative changes in the internal ear, mainly manifested as the loss of hair cells and spiral ganglion cells, and the atrophy of vascular stria. The audiological characteristics of presbycusis are generally as follows: hearing loss is mostly bilateral and symmetric sensorineural hearing loss, and is mainly high-frequency drop above 1 kHz, thereby leading to the inability to hear clearly.

[0003] Due to the structural design of the traditional hearing aid, the microphone and the loudspeaker unit are on the same side, and in actual use, complete sound sealing cannot be achieved. In order to prevent occlusion and ventilation, at least a ventilation hole is generally provided in the earplug part, and a small amount of high-frequency sound leaks, and the sound leaked from the loudspeaker is easily transmitted to the microphone on the same side, and in the case of high gain, self-excitation feedback is caused. Therefore, in addition to using signal processing methods (the gain of a small-power hearing aid is not high, and sound feedback is not easy to occur), in the case of a large-power hearing aid, the output of the high-frequency signal is further lowered to prevent the occurrence of sound feedback. Therefore, the problem of insufficient high-frequency sound compensation after wearing the hearing aid actually occurs. This problem directly leads to a low speech recognition rate, and the improvement of hearing and speech is an important factor that cannot be ignored for the effect of the hearing aid. SUMMARY

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to solve the problem of insufficient high-frequency gain compensation of the traditional hearing aid in actual use in the prior art, and a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system and a hearing aid suitable for presbycusis are provided.

[0005] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application adopts the following technical scheme:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system suitable for presbycusis, comprising:

[0007] a left ear hearing aid unit, the left ear hearing aid unit comprising a left microphone and a left loudspeaker;

[0008] a right ear hearing aid unit, the right ear hearing aid unit comprising a right microphone and a right loudspeaker;

[0009] an amplifier unit, the amplifier unit being electrically connected to the left ear hearing aid unit and / or the left ear hearing aid unit;

[0010] The left microphone collects sound, which, after processing, is transmitted to the right speaker for emission and fed to the right ear through the right ear speaker;

[0011] And / or the right microphone collects sound, which, after processing, is transmitted to the left speaker for emission and fed to the left ear through the left speaker, forming a sound transmission pair for the left ear and the right ear.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the hearing aid system further comprises:

[0013] A signal processing unit for adjusting the output of the left ear hearing aid unit and the right ear hearing aid unit.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the hearing aid system comprises:

[0015] The left microphone is electrically connected to the right speaker, and the right microphone is electrically connected to the left speaker.

[0016] The present application provides, in a second aspect, a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid method for presbycusis, which adopts any one of the high-frequency high-gain hearing aid systems for presbycusis in the first aspect, and the hearing aid method comprises:

[0017] The microphone at any ear position collects environmental sound and converts it into a sound electrical signal;

[0018] The sound electrical signal is amplified by an amplifier and subjected to electrical signal processing to obtain a gain electrical signal;

[0019] The gain electrical signal is fed to the speaker at the other ear position opposite to the microphone that collects the environmental sound, so as to realize sound transmission between the left ear and the right ear.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the method of electrical signal processing comprises:

[0021] One or more combinations of noise filtering, echo suppression, and gain adjustment.

[0022] The present application provides, in a third aspect, a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid for presbycusis, which adopts any one of the high-frequency high-gain hearing aid systems for presbycusis in the first aspect or realizes any one of the high-frequency high-gain hearing aid methods for presbycusis in the second aspect.

[0023] In one possible implementation, the hearing aid further comprises:

[0024] A micro touch switch for controlling the hearing aid to perform hearing aid;

[0025] A volume key for controlling the volume of the hearing aid.

[0026] A right ear hook connected with the right ear hearing aid unit, the right ear hook is used for wearing the right ear hearing aid unit;

[0027] A left ear hook connected with the left ear hearing aid unit, the left ear hook is used for wearing the left ear hearing aid unit;

[0028] A back hanging line used for connecting the left ear hook and the right ear hook;

[0029] A battery used for supplying power for the hearing aid.

[0030] In a feasible scheme, the back hanging line is made of elastic material.

[0031] The present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0032] The present application realizes the binaural sound transmission by equipping independent microphone, amplifier and loudspeaker near each ear, transmitting the sound collected by the microphone of the left ear to the loudspeaker of the right ear after processing, and transmitting the sound collected by the microphone of the right ear to the loudspeaker of the left ear after processing. The present application overcomes the shortcomings of the traditional hearing aid loudspeaker and microphone on the same side by designing the binaural sound transmission mode using the attenuation characteristics of the head to high frequency sound, so that the high frequency part of the leaked sound in the transmission mode obtains additional attenuation, ensuring that in this transmission mode, the hearing aid can obtain higher high frequency gain without sound feedback in actual use, without relying on further reducing the high frequency gain part to prevent the occurrence of sound feedback phenomenon. That is, the present application effectively solves the problem of insufficient high frequency gain compensation of the traditional hearing aid in actual use in the prior art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0033] Fig. 1 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of a high frequency high gain hearing aid for senile deafness provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Fig. 2 Another schematic diagram of the overall structure of a high frequency high gain hearing aid for senile deafness provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Fig. 3 A schematic diagram of the circuit control of a high frequency high gain hearing aid for senile deafness provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0036] The symbols in the figure are as follows:

[0037] 1, rear hanging line; 2, right microphone; 3, volume key; 4, micro touch switch; 5, right ear hook; 6, left speaker; 7, right speaker; 8, left ear hook; 9, left microphone. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0039] It should be noted that all directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) in the embodiments of the present application are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement condition, etc. between components in a certain posture (as shown in the drawings), and if the certain posture changes, the directional indications will also change accordingly.

[0040] In the present application, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "connection", "fixation", etc. should be understood in a broad sense, for example, "fixation" can be fixed connection, or detachable connection, or integral; can be mechanical connection, or electrical connection; can be direct connection, or indirect connection through an intermediate medium; can be internal communication of two elements or interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise explicitly limited. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0041] In addition, if the present application has descriptions involving "first", "second", etc., the "first", "second", etc. are only for the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance of the indicated technical features or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features with "first" and "second" can explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, the meaning of "and / or" appearing throughout the text includes three parallel solutions. Taking "A and / or B" as an example, it includes A solution, or B solution, or A and B solution. In addition, the technical solutions of each embodiment can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the realization of those skilled in the art, when the combination of technical solutions appears contradictory or unachievable, it should be considered that the combination of technical solutions does not exist, and is not within the scope of protection claimed by the present application.

[0042] REFERENCE Figs. 1 to 3The application discloses a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system suitable for senile deafness, and solves the problem of high-frequency gain and in-ear high-frequency noise elimination of a traditional hearing aid in the prior art.

[0043] Specifically, the application provides a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system for presbycusis in the first aspect, which comprises a left ear hearing aid unit, a right ear hearing aid unit and an amplifier unit, the left ear hearing aid unit comprises a left microphone 9, an amplifier and a left speaker 6, the right ear hearing aid unit comprises a right microphone 2, an amplifier and a right speaker 7, and the amplifier unit is electrically connected with the left ear hearing aid unit and / or the right ear hearing aid unit, that is, the left microphone can be selectively connected with the right speaker or the left speaker through the amplifier unit, and the right microphone can be selectively connected with the right speaker or the left speaker through the amplifier unit. The left microphone 9 collects sound, transmits the processed sound to the right speaker 7 and feeds the sound into the right ear through the right ear speaker, and / or the right microphone 2 collects sound, transmits the processed sound to the left speaker 6 and feeds the sound into the left ear through the left speaker 6, so as to form sound transmission between the left ear and the right ear. That is, in the embodiment, a binaural hearing aid system is adopted, wherein an independent microphone, an amplifier and a speaker are arranged near each ear. The sound collected by the microphone of each ear is processed and then transmitted to the speaker of the opposite ear instead of being directly fed back to the speaker of the same ear. Specifically, the sound collected by the microphone of the left ear is processed and then transmitted to the speaker of the right ear, and the sound collected by the microphone of the right ear is processed and then transmitted to the speaker of the left ear. In the traditional hearing aid, the microphone and the speaker are usually located in the same device, so that part of the amplified sound is easily fed back to the microphone through the speaker, thereby causing acoustic feedback. In the application, the sound is transmitted from the microphone of one ear to the speaker of the opposite ear, and the shielding effect of the head on the sound wave is utilized to reduce the feedback phenomenon. In particular, for high-frequency sound, the acoustic blocking effect of the head is obvious, and the attenuation of the head to the high-frequency sound can reach 15-20 dB in the frequency band above 1.5 kHz, thereby effectively reducing the probability of feedback. In addition, the application makes full use of the attenuation characteristics of the head to high-frequency sound, so that the sound leaked from the left ear speaker is effectively attenuated by the head before it is transmitted to the right ear microphone, and the binaural hearing aid has high isolation, so that the high-frequency sound does not need to be in-ear sound attenuation. Due to the large attenuation of high-frequency sound during transmission, the hearing aid can provide a high-frequency compensation of more than 20 dB higher than the hearing loss threshold of the traditional design. This is particularly important for patients with high-frequency hearing loss, and can significantly improve speech understanding, especially the recognition of consonants. That is, in the embodiment, the physical isolation effect of the head on the sound wave is utilized. According to the physical characteristics of the head, for sound waves with a wavelength shorter than the width of the head (such as high-frequency sound waves), the head plays an obvious blocking role. The sound transmission between the left ear and the right ear is effectively physically isolated, and unlike the traditional hearing aid, in addition to the signal processing method, the application can provide a significant high-frequency gain improvement and reduce the occurrence of whistling in actual use.

[0044] In the embodiment, in order to better control the sound conduction of the hearing aid system, the hearing aid system further comprises a signal processing unit, which is configured to adjust the output of the adjustment signal of the left ear hearing unit and the right ear hearing unit. That is, the signal processor is configured to adjust the output of the adjustment signal to adapt to the hearing needs of the wearer. It should be noted that, for details, please refer to Fig. 3 In the embodiment, the hearing aid system comprises that the left microphone 9 is electrically connected with the right loudspeaker 7, and the right microphone 2 is electrically connected with the left loudspeaker 6. In order to achieve that the sound collected by the microphone of the left ear is transmitted to the loudspeaker of the right ear after processing, and the sound collected by the microphone of the right ear is transmitted to the loudspeaker of the left ear after processing, so as to realize the binaural sound transmission.

[0045] It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the hearing aid system can communicate using any currently known or future developed network protocol, such as HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and can be interconnected with any form or medium of digital data communication (for example, a communication network). Examples of communication networks include local area networks (“LAN”), wide area networks (“WAN”), internetworks (for example, the Internet), and end-to-end networks (for example, ad hoc end-to-end networks), as well as any currently known or future developed network.

[0046] The functions described above herein can be performed at least in part by one or more hardware logic components. For example, non-limiting examples of exemplary types of hardware logic components that can be used include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard products (ASSPs), system on a chip (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and the like.

[0047] The application provides a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid method for presbycusis in a second aspect. The hearing aid method comprises the following steps: collecting environmental sound by a microphone at any ear position and converting the environmental sound into an electrical signal; amplifying the electrical signal by an amplifier and processing the electrical signal to obtain a gain electrical signal; and feeding the gain electrical signal to another ear position opposite to the microphone to realize sound transmission between the left and right ear positions. In this embodiment, the sound collected by the microphone at the left ear is transmitted to the right ear through the right loudspeaker after signal processing, and the sound collected by the microphone at the right ear is transmitted to the left ear through the left loudspeaker after signal processing. This design makes the sound transmitted to the other ear through a loudspeaker which is relatively far away from the microphone. As a result, the position of the microphone and the loudspeaker is far away from each other. Since the sound leakage signal of the loudspeaker at one side is attenuated by the head at high frequency and then transmitted to the microphone at the other side, the high-frequency signal transmitted to the microphone is reduced, and the high-frequency feedback problem is effectively reduced, and the sound quality is improved. The head shadow effect is used to make the high-frequency sound transmission between the left and right ears more effectively physically isolated, thereby reducing the high-frequency feedback caused by the loudspeaker sound leakage. Therefore, the application can improve the high-frequency gain and reduce the occurrence of howling. In this embodiment, in order to further reduce the interference of other factors, the method of processing the electrical signal comprises one or more combinations of noise filtering, echo suppression and gain adjustment.

[0048] It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the hearing aid method can select the hearing aid strategy according to the wearer's own condition, that is, if the wearer's own hearing loss is not too serious and does not cause high-frequency sound feedback, the sound transmission mode does not need to be adopted. That is, the hearing aid is still left microphone 9 to left speaker 6, and right microphone 2 to right speaker 7. It is exactly the same as the traditional hearing aid mode. If the wearer finds that sound feedback occurs in the left sound channel when adopting the traditional mode during fitting, the left microphone 9 sound signal at the left ear is amplified and transmitted to the right speaker 7. At the same time, the amplifier of the left speaker 6 at the left ear is turned off. Only the sound amplification mode of the left microphone 9 to the right speaker 7 of the hearing aid is retained. Conversely, if the patient finds that sound feedback occurs in the right sound channel when adopting the traditional mode during fitting, the right microphone 2 sound signal at the right ear is amplified and transmitted to the left speaker 6. At the same time, the amplifier of the right speaker 7 at the right ear is turned off. Only the sound amplification mode of the right microphone 2 to the left speaker 6 of the hearing aid is retained. In addition, if the patient finds that sound feedback occurs in both sound channels when adopting the traditional mode during fitting, the amplified sound signal is transmitted to the ear with less high-frequency hearing loss. For example, the right ear has less hearing loss, so the left microphone 9 sound signal at the left ear is amplified and transmitted to the right speaker 7. At the same time, the amplifier of the left speaker 6 at the left ear is turned off. Only the sound amplification mode of the left microphone to the right speaker 7 of the hearing aid is retained. Similarly, when the left ear has less hearing loss, the right microphone 2 sound signal is amplified and transmitted to the left speaker 6, and the amplifier of the right speaker 7 at the right ear is turned off.

[0049] The present application provides a high-frequency high-gain hearing aid for presbycusis in a third aspect, which adopts the high-frequency high-gain hearing aid system for presbycusis in any one of the first aspect, or realizes the high-frequency high-gain hearing aid method for presbycusis in any one of the second aspect. The hearing aid further comprises a micro switch 4, a volume key 3, a right ear hook 5, a left ear hook 8, a rear hanging line 1, a battery, the micro switch 4 is used to control the hearing aid to hear; the volume key 3 is used to control the volume of the hearing aid; the right ear hook 5 is connected with the right ear hearing unit, and the right ear hook 5 is used to wear the right ear hearing unit; the left ear hook 8 is connected with the left ear hearing unit, and the left ear hook 8 is used to wear the left ear hearing unit; the rear hanging line 1 is used to connect the left ear hook 8 and the right ear hook 5; and the battery is used to power the hearing aid.

[0050] In the embodiment, in order to improve the wearing experience, the back hanging line 1 is made of elastic material, that is, the back hanging line 1 can be adjusted according to the body shape of the wearer, so as to realize the wearing of the back hanging line 1 to the head region of the wearer. In addition, it should be noted that the hearing aid can adopt an open ear design, which can effectively reduce the humidity of the external auditory canal, reduce the erosion of water vapor, sweat and the like on the hearing aid, and prolong the service life of the hearing aid. By increasing the opening area, the external auditory canal is in communication with the outside air, the humidity of the external auditory canal is reduced, which is helpful to keep the ear canal clean and hygienic, and reduce the risk of ear canal infection.

[0051] In a feasible scheme, the hearing aid can obtain individual ear canal shape data through three-dimensional laser scanning technology, and then be customized, and a 3D printing technology is used to manufacture an ear mold or a shell, so as to ensure the wearing comfort and concealment of the hearing aid, and enhance the power and feedback control.

[0052] Reference Fig. 3 In the embodiment, in order to facilitate understanding of how the hearing aid works, the following is illustrated, the hearing aid can adopt a Bluetooth master chip as a signal processing unit, so as to realize that the Bluetooth master chip is responsible for processing the sending and receiving of Bluetooth signals, and controlling the pairing, connection and data transmission of the Bluetooth device. The antenna crystal oscillator is used to provide a stable clock signal to ensure the accurate frequency of Bluetooth communication. 26M means that the working frequency of the crystal oscillator is 26MHz, the MEMS microphone is responsible for capturing sound signals and converting them into electrical signals, and then the electrical signals captured by the microphone are enhanced through the amplifier, so as to enable the user with hearing impairment to clearly hear the sound of the surrounding environment. Then the amplified electrical signal is converted into a sound signal through a loudspeaker, and is transmitted to the wearer's ear through the air. In this process, the battery provides the power required for the operation of the hearing aid. In addition Fig. 3 The LED indicator in the embodiment is used to display the working state of the hearing aid, such as battery charging, Bluetooth connection state and the like. The Type-C charging interface is used to charge the battery of the hearing aid. In the embodiment, the tactile switch is used to control the on-off of the hearing aid. The battery management integrated circuit is responsible for monitoring and managing the charging and discharging process of the battery, ensuring that the battery works within a safe range, and optimizing the life of the battery.

[0053] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of this disclosure. In this regard, each block in a flowchart or block diagram may represent a module, segment, or portion of code containing one or more executable instructions for implementing a specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions indicated in the blocks may occur in a different order than those indicated in the drawings. For example, two consecutively indicated blocks may actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they may sometimes be executed in reverse order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each block in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, can be implemented using a dedicated hardware-based system that performs the specified function or operation, or using a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0054] The above description is merely a selection of preferred embodiments of this disclosure and an explanation of the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of the invention involved in the embodiments of this disclosure is not limited to technical solutions formed by specific combinations of the above-described technical features, but should also cover other technical solutions formed by arbitrary combinations of the above-described technical features or their equivalents without departing from the above-described inventive concept. For example, technical solutions formed by substituting the above-described features with (but not limited to) technical features with similar functions disclosed in the embodiments of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid system suitable for age-related hearing loss, characterized in that, include: A left-ear hearing aid unit, comprising: a left microphone and a left speaker; The right ear hearing aid unit includes: a right microphone and a right speaker; An amplifier unit, wherein the amplifier unit is electrically connected to the left ear hearing aid unit and / or the left ear hearing aid unit respectively; The left microphone collects sound, processes it, and transmits it to the right speaker, which then feeds it into the right ear through the right ear speaker. The right microphone collects sound, processes it, and transmits it to the left speaker. The sound is then fed into the left ear through the left speaker, creating a sound transmission between the left and right ears.

2. The high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid system for age-related hearing loss according to claim 1, characterized in that, The hearing aid system also includes: The signal processing unit is used to output adjustment signals for the left and right hearing aid units.

3. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid system for age-related hearing loss according to claim 2, characterized in that, The hearing aid system includes: The left microphone is electrically connected to the right speaker, and the right microphone is electrically connected to the left speaker.

4. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid method suitable for age-related hearing loss, characterized in that, The high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid system for age-related hearing loss according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hearing aid method comprises: A microphone at any ear position collects ambient sound and converts it into an electrical signal. The sound electrical signal is amplified by an amplifier and then processed to obtain a gain electrical signal. The gain signal is fed to a speaker at the opposite ear position from the microphone used to collect ambient sound, thus enabling sound transmission between the left and right ears.

5. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid method for age-related hearing loss according to claim 4, characterized in that, The method for performing electrical signal processing includes: One or more of the following: noise filtering, echo suppression, and gain adjustment.

6. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid suitable for age-related hearing loss, characterized in that, The invention employs a high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid system suitable for age-related hearing loss as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, or implements a high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid method suitable for age-related hearing loss as described in any one of claims 4 to 5.

7. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid suitable for age-related hearing loss according to claim 6, characterized in that, The hearing aid also includes: A micro-touch switch, wherein the micro-touch switch is used to control the hearing aid to provide hearing assistance; Volume buttons, used to control the volume of the hearing aid; The right ear hook is connected to the right ear hearing aid unit and is used to wear the right ear hearing aid unit. The left ear hook is connected to the left ear hearing aid unit and is used to wear the left ear hearing aid unit. A rear hanging cable, used to connect the left ear hook and the right ear hook; A battery used to power the hearing aid.

8. A high-frequency, high-gain hearing aid suitable for age-related hearing loss according to claim 7, characterized in that, The rear hanging line is made of elastic material.

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