Acoustic device and ear-hanging hearing aid device

Abstract

The invention provides acoustic equipment and ear-hanging type hearing aid equipment. The acoustic equipment is used for assisting a user in acquiring sound transmitted from a neighborhood along a target direction, and the acoustic sensor module collects external sound from the outside of the acoustic equipment and internal sound emitted from the position of the loudspeaker module to generate a sensor signal; the signal processing circuit performs target operation based on the sensor signal to generate a driving signal; the loudspeaker module receives the driving signal and outputs loudspeaker sound meeting target sensitivity to surrounding sound, the target sensitivity is within a preset auditory frequency range, the acoustic equipment has directivity in distribution of sensitivity to external sound and has the highest value in the target direction, and the loudspeaker sensitivity to internal sound is lower than 3dB. The acoustic equipment not only has a good spatial pointing effect, but also can realize effective suppression of a squeal phenomenon, and provides better acoustic experience for a user.

Description

Acoustic device and ear-hanging hearing aid device TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of acoustic technology, and in particular, to an acoustic device and an ear-hanging hearing aid device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Spatial directivity and howling (feedback) reduction capability are key to the performance of an acoustic device. Howling is caused by the fact that the ambient sound collected by the acoustic sensor includes the sound emitted from the loudspeaker. For example, when a hearing aid is working, it collects ambient sound through an acoustic sensor, amplifies the ambient sound, and then plays it through a loudspeaker to compensate for the user's hearing loss. When the sound emitted by the loudspeaker is re-collected by the acoustic sensor, the hearing aid forms a closed loop, and thus the sound emitted by the loudspeaker is continuously amplified in the closed loop, resulting in howling in the hearing aid, which makes the user feel uncomfortable. Spatial directivity can enable the acoustic device to receive and enhance sound in a specific direction while suppressing sound in other directions, thereby improving the acoustic device's speech recognition ability and the user's hearing experience in a noisy environment. For example, when a hearing aid is working, the user mainly wants to hear the sound of the speaker in front of him. For example, when a singer wears earphones, the user mainly wants to hear his own voice.

[0003] Therefore, it is necessary to provide an acoustic device that has good spatial directivity and can avoid or suppress howling at the same time.

[0004] SUMMARY

[0005] The present disclosure provides an acoustic device and an ear-hanging hearing aid device. The acoustic device not only has good spatial directivity, but also effectively suppresses howling, providing a better acoustic experience for the user.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides an acoustic device. The acoustic device is used to assist a user to obtain sound from a neighborhood along a target direction. The acoustic device includes an acoustic sensor module, a loudspeaker module, and a signal processing circuit. The acoustic sensor module includes a plurality of acoustic sensors that, when working, collect ambient sound and generate sensor signals, wherein the ambient sound includes external sound from outside the acoustic device and internal sound emitted from the position of the loudspeaker module. The loudspeaker module, when working, receives a driving signal and outputs a loudspeaker sound; and

[0007] The signal processing circuit is in communication connection with the acoustic sensor module and the speaker module, and in operation, based on the sensor signal, performs a target operation to generate the drive signal, so that the speaker sound meets a target sensitivity to the ambient sound, wherein the target sensitivity is that, in a preset audible frequency range, the acoustic device has a directivity in the distribution of sensitivity to the external sound and has a highest value in the target direction, and has a speaker sensitivity of less than 3dB to the internal sound.

[0008] In some embodiments, the directivity in the distribution of sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound means that the average sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound in a preset angle listening field has a unique highest value in a range of 360° around the acoustic device, wherein the preset angle listening field is a sector region with a reference listening point as the center and a central angle of the preset angle, and the reference listening point includes at least one of the user's eardrum, the acoustic sensor module or the speaker module.

[0009] In some embodiments, the acoustic device is an ear-hanging hearing aid device. When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the speaker module is located on the front side of the user's pinna, the sound outlet end of the speaker module faces the user's ear, and the sound pickup end of the acoustic sensor module is located on the back side of the pinna.

[0010] In some embodiments, when the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the target direction is a direction towards the user's sound production site.

[0011] In some embodiments, when the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the target direction is a direction towards the user's face, and the listening field is directed away from the acoustic sensor module.

[0012] In some embodiments, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound, the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is in the target direction, and the second external sound is emitted from a second position, the second position is in the opposite direction of the target direction, and the acoustic device has a sensitivity of less than 3dB to the second external sound.

[0013] In some embodiments, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound, the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is in the target direction, and the second external sound is emitted from a second position, the second position is the user's sound production site when the user wears the acoustic device, and the acoustic device has a sensitivity of less than 3dB to the second external sound.

[0014] In some embodiments, the plurality of acoustic sensors comprises K acoustic sensors, K being a positive integer, the K acoustic sensors, when in operation, generate K sub-signals s1, s2, … s K , the sensor signal s comprises the K sub-signals, s = (s1, s2, … s K ) T ; to generate the driving signal based on the sensor signal, the signal processing circuit performs the following operations: filtering the sensor signal s to obtain filtered sub-signals where where are K filtered sub-signals corresponding to the K sub-signals; and generating the driving signal d based on the filtered sub-signals , the driving signal d has directivity in response to the external sound and has the highest value in the target direction, while attenuating the response to the internal sound in the driving signal d.

[0015] In some embodiments, to obtain filtered sub-signals and generate the driving signal d, the signal processing circuit performs the following operations: applying, to each sub-signal s i in the sensor signal s, a corresponding amplitude-phase modulation w i , respectively, to generate the corresponding filtered sub-signals in the filtered signal where i is any integer between 1 and K; and obtaining the driving signal d based on the sum of the K filtered sub-signals.

[0016] In some embodiments, the ear comprises a first ear and / or a second ear; the K acoustic sensors comprise K1 first acoustic sensors and K2 second acoustic sensors, where the first acoustic sensors correspond to the first ear, the second acoustic sensors correspond to the second ear, K1 + K2 = K, and K1 and K2 are integers; and the loudspeaker module comprises a first loudspeaker corresponding to the first ear and / or a second loudspeaker corresponding to the second ear.

[0017] In some embodiments, the internal sound comprises a first internal sound and a second internal sound, the first internal sound being emitted from the position of the first loudspeaker, and the second internal sound being emitted from the position of the second loudspeaker. The transfer function from the first internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer function from the first internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer function from the second internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer functions from the second internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound; the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is at a first distance away from the user's face along the target direction; the second external sound is emitted from a second position; the second position includes a position at a second distance away from the user's face in the opposite direction of the target direction or the user's sound emitting position. In the preset hearing frequency range, the transfer functions of the first external sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions to the reference listening points are respectively Or At least one of the reference listening points corresponds to at least one of the first ear or the second ear, r1, r2 respectively represent the reference listening points of the acoustic device corresponding to the first ear and the second ear. In the preset hearing frequency range, the transfer functions of the second external sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively The amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2, … w i ,…w K ) T So that the first part corresponding to the first external sound in the loudspeaker sound is not attenuated at the reference listening point, while a second part in the driving signal d is attenuated to avoid the occurrence of the loudspeaker howling and the formation of the target sensitivity, wherein the second part corresponds to the second external sound and the internal sound component.

[0018] In some embodiments, in order to make the component corresponding to the first external sound in the loudspeaker sound not attenuated at the reference listening point, the amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2, … w i ,…w K ) T Need to meet And / or In order to make the second part attenuated, the amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2, … w i ,…w K ) T Need to make the comprehensive component of the second external sound and the internal sound minimized, denoted as: wherein a, b, g, e1, e2 are constants preset for reaching the target sensitivity and avoiding the loudspeaker howling, and e1, e2 are greater than or equal to 1.

[0019] In some embodiments, the acoustic device is an ear-hanging hearing aid device for wearing on an ear of the user, the ear comprising a first ear and / or a second ear. The plurality of acoustic sensors comprises K acoustic sensors, K being a positive integer. The K acoustic sensors comprise K1 first acoustic sensors and K2 second acoustic sensors, wherein the first acoustic sensors correspond to the first ear, the second acoustic sensors correspond to the second ear, K1 + K2 = K, and K1 and K2 are both integers. The loudspeaker module comprises a first loudspeaker corresponding to the first ear and a second loudspeaker corresponding to the second ear.

[0020] In some embodiments, the number of the K1 first acoustic sensors is at least 3, and the at least 3 first acoustic sensors are arranged in a non-straight line.

[0021] In some embodiments, the number of the K1 first acoustic sensors is 3, and the 3 first acoustic sensors are arranged in a triangular distribution. Any two first acoustic sensors of the 3 first acoustic sensors form an angle that is not an obtuse angle.

[0022] In some embodiments, the distance between any two first acoustic sensors of the K1 first acoustic sensors is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm.

[0023] In some embodiments, the distance between the centroid of the K1 first acoustic sensors and the centroid of the first loudspeaker ranges from 5 cm to 10 cm.

[0024] In some embodiments, among a plurality of lines connecting the K1 first acoustic sensors and the centroid of the first loudspeaker, at least two lines form an angle that is greater than 6°. Any two lines form an angle that is less than 20°.

[0025] In some embodiments, the signal processing circuit comprises at least one filter element module. The at least one filter element module is communicatively connected to the acoustic sensor module and is configured to perform the filtering on the sensor signals when in operation.

[0026] In some embodiments, the signal processing circuit includes at least one storage medium and at least one processor. The at least one storage medium stores at least one instruction set for generating the driving signal based on the target sensitivity, so that the loudspeaker sound satisfies the target sensitivity with respect to the ambient sound. The at least one processor is communicatively connected to the at least one storage medium, the acoustic sensor module, and the loudspeaker module, wherein the at least one processor executes the at least one instruction set when working and performs the target operation based on the sensor signal to generate the driving signal.

[0027] In a second aspect, the present application provides an ear-hanging hearing aid device. The ear-hanging hearing aid device includes an acoustic sensor module and a loudspeaker module. The acoustic sensor module includes at least three acoustic sensors. The at least three acoustic sensors are arranged in a non-straight line. When a user wears the hearing aid device, the loudspeaker module is located in front of the pinna of the user, and the acoustic sensor module is located behind the pinna.

[0028] In some embodiments, the acoustic sensor module includes three acoustic sensors, and the three acoustic sensors are arranged in an acute triangle or a right triangle.

[0029] In some embodiments, the distance between any two acoustic sensors of the at least three acoustic sensors is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm.

[0030] In some embodiments, the distance between the centroid of the at least three acoustic sensors and the centroid of the position of the loudspeaker module ranges from 5 cm to 10 cm.

[0031] In some embodiments, among a plurality of lines connecting the at least three acoustic sensors and the centroid of the loudspeaker module, at least two lines form an included angle greater than 6°. The included angle formed by any two lines is less than 20°.

[0032] According to the technical solution, the acoustic device is used to assist a user to obtain sound from a neighborhood in a target direction. The acoustic sensor module collects ambient sound and generates a sensor signal. The ambient sound includes external sound from outside the acoustic device and internal sound emitted at the position of the loudspeaker module. The loudspeaker module receives a driving signal and outputs loudspeaker sound. The signal processing circuit performs a target operation based on the sensor signal to generate the driving signal, so that the loudspeaker sound satisfies a target sensitivity to the ambient sound. The target sensitivity is that, in a preset audible frequency range, the sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound has directivity and has a highest value in the target direction, and the sensitivity to the internal sound has a loudspeaker sensitivity of less than 3dB. The acoustic device has a sensitivity of less than 3dB to the internal sound emitted at the position of the loudspeaker module, so that the loudspeaker does not amplify or less amplifies the sound of the loudspeaker received by the acoustic sensor module, thereby achieving the effect of suppressing howling. The acoustic device has a highest value of sensitivity in the target direction, so that the loudspeaker has the best amplification effect on the external sound in the target direction, thereby having good spatial directivity. In summary, the acoustic device provided by the present disclosure not only has good spatial directivity, but also effectively suppresses howling, thereby providing a better acoustic experience for the user.

[0033] Other functions of the acoustic device and the ear-hanging hearing aid device provided by the present disclosure will be partially listed in the following description. According to the description, the following numbers and examples will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The creative aspects of the acoustic device and the ear-hanging hearing aid device provided by the present disclosure can be fully explained by practicing or using the methods, devices and combinations described in the following detailed examples. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0034] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiment description. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art can also obtain other drawings according to these drawings without creative labor.

[0035] FIG. 1A shows a schematic view of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0036] FIG. 1B shows a schematic view of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a hardware device of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0038] FIG. 3 shows a sensitivity diagram of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a target operation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0040] FIG. 5 shows a structural diagram of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0041] FIG. 6A shows a sensitivity diagram of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0042] FIG. 6B shows an energy comparison diagram under different schemes according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0043] FIG. 6C shows a feedback comparison diagram under different schemes according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0044] FIG. 7A shows a sensitivity diagram of an acoustic device when three first acoustic sensors are arranged in a straight line according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0045] FIG. 7B shows a sensitivity diagram of an acoustic device when three first acoustic sensors are arranged in a non-straight line according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0046] FIG. 8 shows an acoustic device and an internal structure diagram of the acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] The following description provides specific applications and requirements of the present disclosure, which is intended to enable a person skilled in the art to manufacture and use the content in the present disclosure. Various local modifications to the disclosed embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the shown embodiments, but to the widest scope consistent with the claims.

[0048] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs; the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this disclosure. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. As used in this disclosure, the term "includes" and / or "containing" means that something contains one or more of the specified elements, but does not exclude other elements. For example, the terms "including," "includes," "include," "contain," "contains," and / or "containing" means that the associated whole includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the specified elements, and does not exclude other elements.

[0049] In the description of the embodiments of the disclosure, the technical terms "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number, specific order or primary and secondary relationship of the indicated technical features. In the description of the embodiments of the disclosure, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly and specifically limited.

[0050] In the description of the embodiments of the disclosure, the term "and / or" is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the three cases of A alone, A and B together, and B alone. In addition, the character " / " herein generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0051] In this disclosure, the meaning expressed by "X includes at least one of A, B, or C" (X includes at least one of A, B, or C) is that X at least includes A (X includes at least A), or X at least includes B (X includes at least B), or X at least includes C (X includes at least C). That is, X only includes any combination of A, B, and C, or any combination of A, B, and C and other possible contents / elements. The any combination of A, B, and C can be A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC.

[0052] In the present disclosure, unless explicitly stated, the association relationship generated between the structures can be a direct association relationship or an indirect association relationship. For example, when describing "A is connected with B", unless it is explicitly stated that A is directly connected with B, it should be understood that A can be directly connected with B or indirectly connected with B; for another example, when describing "A is on B", unless it is explicitly stated that A is directly above B (AB is adjacent and A is above B), it should be understood that A can be directly above B or A can be indirectly above B (there are other elements between AB and A is above B). By analogy.

[0053] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "a plurality of" refers to two or more (including two), and by analogy, "a plurality of groups" refers to two or more groups (including two groups), and "a plurality of pieces" refers to two or more pieces (including two pieces).

[0054] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present disclosure and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the technical terms "mounting", "connecting", "connecting", "fixing" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or it can be integrated; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium; it can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0056] Considering the following description, the features of the present disclosure and other features, the operation and function of related elements of the structure, and the economy of combination and manufacture of components can be obviously improved. Referring to the drawings, all of which form part of the present disclosure. However, it should be clearly understood that the drawings are for illustrative and descriptive purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should also be understood that the drawings are not drawn to scale.

[0057] The flowcharts used in this disclosure show the operations implemented by the system according to some embodiments in this disclosure. It should be clearly understood that the operations of the flowcharts can not be implemented in sequence. Instead, the operations can be implemented in reverse order or simultaneously. In addition, one or more other operations can be added to the flowcharts. One or more operations can be removed from the flowcharts.

[0058] For the convenience of description, the disclosure will explain the terms that will appear in the following description as follows:

[0059] Howling: Howling is a phenomenon that occurs in the working process of an acoustic device, which is a kind of uncontrollable sharp sound. Usually, the howling phenomenon is caused by the self-oscillation of the signal in the acoustic device, which is amplified infinitely. For example, if a loudspeaker and a microphone are included in an acoustic device at the same time, the microphone collects the ambient sound when it works, and in this process, if the loudspeaker also plays sound synchronously, the sound played by the loudspeaker will also be collected by the microphone. The sound signal collected by the microphone is input to the gain amplifier for gain amplification, and then played out through the loudspeaker, thus forming a "loudspeaker-microphone-loudspeaker" closed loop in the acoustic system. In this case, when the self-oscillation of some frequency sound signal occurs, the howling phenomenon occurs. Such howling will make the user feel uncomfortable, and when the howling is serious, it may also cause damage to the acoustic device. In addition, the existence of the howling also limits the gain amplification multiple of the gain amplifier 130, thereby restricting the maximum sound gain that the acoustic device can achieve.

[0060] Echo: Echo is also a phenomenon that often occurs in acoustic systems. In the process of network transmission, the sound signal emitted by the user at network A end is acquired by the microphone, then transmitted from network A end to B end, then played by the loudspeaker at B end and acquired by the microphone at B end, and then transmitted back to A end through the network. This process takes a certain period of time, so the user at network A end will hear his own echo. Such echo will affect the normal communication of the user.

[0061] Pick-up direction pattern: refers to a pattern used to represent the sensitivity of an acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module to sound from different directions. Simply put, the pick-up direction pattern can represent the ability of the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module to pick up sound from different directions. Usually, the pick-up direction pattern can include: omnidirectional shape, heart shape, 8-shaped, super heart shape, etc.

[0062] Null pickup direction: In theory, if the sound sensitivity of an acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module to a certain direction and / or a certain position is 0 or close to 0, the direction and / or the position relative to the direction of the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module is referred to as the null pickup direction. It should be understood that when a sound source is located at the null pickup direction, the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module theoretically does not collect the sound emitted by the sound source. In actual situations, due to manufacturing errors of the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module and the fact that the sound source in reality is not necessarily an ideal point, the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module can still collect a small amount of sound in the null pickup direction. It should be noted that in the present application, the null pickup direction can refer to a specific direction, or a range of directions.

[0063] Sound field directivity pattern: It is a graph used to characterize the sound propagation characteristics of a loudspeaker / loudspeaker module in different directions. Simply put, the sound field directivity pattern can represent the ability of the loudspeaker / loudspeaker module to propagate sound in different directions.

[0064] Null sound field direction: In theory, if the sound pressure of the loudspeaker / loudspeaker module in a certain direction is 0 or close to 0, the direction is referred to as the null sound field direction. In the null sound field direction, the sound volume emitted by the loudspeaker / loudspeaker module is 0 or very small. It should be noted that in the present application, the null sound field can refer to a specific direction, or a range of directions.

[0065] Spatial directivity: The spatial directivity of an acoustic device refers to the specific directional characteristics of the acoustic device in receiving or emitting sound in space.

[0066] Far-field sound source: It can refer to a sound source that is far away from an acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module. Generally, when the distance between the sound source to be measured and the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module is greater than 2-3 times the physical size of the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module, the sound source can be approximated as a far-field sound source. For example, in the context of headphones, a distance greater than or equal to the distance between the wearer's vocal cords and the headphones can be considered a far-field sound source. For example, a sound source with a distance greater than 0.1 m, 0.15 m, 0.2 m, or 0.3 m, etc. can be considered a far-field sound source. Compared to a near-field sound source, the sound wave of the far-field sound source is approximately planar, and the amplitude of the sound wave decreases less with propagation. Far-field sound source also refers to a sound source that is far away from a loudspeaker / loudspeaker module.

[0067] Near-field sound source: can refer to the sound source with a relatively short distance from the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module. Generally, when the distance between the sound source to be measured and the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module is less than 2-3 times the physical size of the acoustic sensor / acoustic sensor module, the sound source can be approximated as a near-field sound source. For example, in the scenario of earphones, the distance less than the distance between the sound band of the wearer and the earphones can be considered as a near-field sound source. For example, the sound source with a distance less than 0.3m, 0.2m, 0.15m, or 0.1m, etc. can be considered as a near-field sound source. Compared with the aforementioned far-field sound source, the sound wave of the near-field sound source is closer to a spherical surface, and the amplitude of the sound wave decreases more greatly with propagation. The near-field sound source can also refer to the sound source with a relatively short distance from the loudspeaker / loudspeaker module.

[0068] The present application will be described in detail below through specific embodiments:

[0069] Spatial directivity is one of the key indicators that affect the performance of many acoustic devices. For example, as an acoustic device, the spatial directivity of the acoustic sensor array of a hearing aid is crucial to improve the speech recognition ability of the user in a noisy environment. Typically, a classic differential microphone array can be realized by two or three acoustic sensor arrays of a unilateral hearing aid, and the pickup pattern of the hearing aid can have a heart shape and a super heart shape, etc., thereby having a certain directivity.

[0070] The physical model of an ideal differential microphone array is based on the assumption of a far-field plane wave, i.e., the wave propagates in a plane, and there is no loss in sound intensity during propagation. The sound signals collected by acoustic sensors at different positions only have a time difference, and the amplitude and direction of the signals are the same. However, the reality is often not like this. The sound intensity received by an acoustic device (such as a hearing aid) is easily affected by the user's head and other body parts, which means that the sound received by the acoustic device is not an ideal plane wave. Moreover, the limited number of acoustic sensors in the acoustic device also makes it difficult to achieve a relatively narrow sound wave receiving range. Therefore, it is difficult for the acoustic sensor array (such as a microphone array) in a traditional acoustic device (such as a hearing aid) to achieve good sound collection ability in only one direction.

[0071] The ability of feedback reduction, i.e. the ability of anti-howling, is also one of the key indicators affecting the performance of acoustic devices. For example, a hearing aid, as an acoustic device, often realizes feedback reduction through the arrangement of its acoustic sensor array. The feedback that needs to be reduced by the hearing aid is usually the sound of the loudspeaker inside the hearing aid. Since the volume of the hearing aid is generally small, the distance between the acoustic sensor array (such as the microphone array) and the loudspeaker is usually very close. Therefore, for the acoustic sensor array, the sound of the loudspeaker is usually a near-field sound source, which does not follow the far-field plane wave assumption. By purposefully constructing the acoustic sensor array, the array null can be pointed to the feedback sound source without attenuating the speech information, so as to reduce the feedback.

[0072] Since the targets of spatial directivity and feedback reduction are different, and the assumptions of the beam premise followed by the two are different, the existing acoustic devices are difficult to achieve both the targets of spatial directivity and feedback reduction. However, the present disclosure provides a solution to simultaneously achieve spatial directivity and feedback reduction.

[0073] The acoustic device provided by the present disclosure has good spatial directivity, and can be used to assist the user to obtain the sound coming from the neighborhood along the target direction; at the same time, the occurrence of howling phenomenon can be avoided or inhibited. Further, the acoustic device can also simultaneously avoid or inhibit the occurrence of the aforementioned echo phenomenon.

[0074] FIG. 1A shows an appearance schematic diagram of an acoustic device 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1B shows a structural schematic diagram of an acoustic device 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0075] In the embodiments shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the acoustic device 200 is a behind-the-ear hearing aid in an ear hook hearing aid. The present disclosure will mainly take the behind-the-ear hearing aid as an example for description. However, those skilled in the art understand that other forms of acoustic devices and other uses of acoustic devices can also adopt the technical solutions in the present disclosure without deviating from the core spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the acoustic device 200 can include, but is not limited to, a headset (such as FIG. 1A), a mobile phone, a computer, a recorder, etc. The headset can include, but is not limited to, a wired headset, a wireless headset, a Bluetooth headset, etc. The headset can include, but is not limited to, a bone conduction loudspeaker, an air conduction loudspeaker. The acoustic device 200 can also include a hearing aid. The hearing aid can include, but is not limited to, an ear hook hearing aid. The ear hook hearing aid can include, but is not limited to, a behind-the-ear hearing aid. As a headset, the acoustic device 200 can be worn on the ear of a user.

[0076] The acoustic device 200 includes a housing 240, an acoustic sensor module 210, a loudspeaker module 220, and a signal processing circuit 230.

[0077] The housing 240 can protect the components inside and facilitate the user to take and wear. The acoustic sensor module 210, the loudspeaker module 220 and the signal processing circuit 230 are arranged in the housing 240. Among them, the loudspeaker module 220 is arranged at position A of the housing 240. When the acoustic device 200 is worn on the user's head as an ear-hanging hearing aid, the acoustic sensor module 210 is located behind the front loudspeaker module 220, that is, the loudspeaker module 220 is located in front of the user's pinna, and the sound outlet of the loudspeaker module 220 faces the user's ear, for example, can face the user's ear canal or near the ear canal. The sound pickup end of the acoustic sensor module 210 is located at the back of the pinna. In this way, on the one hand, the acoustic sensor module 210 can pick up environmental sound, and on the other hand, the acoustic sensor module 210 can pick up as much sound as possible from the loudspeaker module 220.

[0078] The acoustic sensor module 210 includes a plurality of acoustic sensors 211. The acoustic sensor 211 can also be called a sound-electricity converter or a sound pickup device, which is used to collect sound and convert the sound into an electrical signal. For example, the acoustic sensor 211 can be a microphone (MIC). The acoustic sensor 211 can be a device that picks up sound based on at least one of gas, liquid, and solid conduction, which is not limited in the present application. The acoustic sensor 211 can be a MIC itself, or can include a MIC and its attached simple circuit elements.

[0079] The loudspeaker module 220 includes one or more loudspeakers 221. The loudspeaker 221 can also be called an electric-acoustic converter, which is used to convert an electrical signal into an acoustic signal. For example, the loudspeaker 221 can be a loudspeaker. The loudspeaker 221 receives an input signal and converts it into an audio to play out when working. Among them, the input signal refers to an electrical signal carrying sound information, and the audio refers to the sound played out by the loudspeaker 221. In some embodiments, the input signal received by the loudspeaker 221 comes from the acoustic sensor module 221.

[0080] In some embodiments, the input signal received by the loudspeaker 221 can also come from other electronic devices. In some embodiments, the loudspeaker module 220 includes a plurality of loudspeakers 221. In this case, the plurality of loudspeakers 221 are arranged in an array. The loudspeaker 220 can be a device that produces sound based on at least one of gas, liquid, and solid conduction, which is not limited in the present application. The loudspeaker 220 can be a loudspeaker itself, or can include a loudspeaker and its attached simple circuit elements.

[0081] The signal processing circuit 230 is communicatively connected with the acoustic sensor module 210 and the speaker module 220. The signal processing circuit 230 is operative to perform the target operations described in the present disclosure. The signal processing circuit 230 stores data or instructions related to the target operations described in the present disclosure and executes or is used to execute the data or instructions. In some embodiments, the signal processing circuit 230 includes a hardware device having a data information processing function and a program necessary for driving the hardware device to work. The target operations described above will be described in detail in the following content.

[0082] FIG. 2 shows a hardware device schematic diagram of an acoustic device 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signal processing circuit 230 includes at least one storage medium 231 and at least one processor 232. The at least one processor 232 is communicatively connected with the at least one storage medium 231 and the acoustic sensor module 210. In some embodiments, the signal processing circuit 230 is communicatively connected with the speaker module 220. It should be noted that the signal processing circuit 230 in the present disclosure includes at least one storage medium 231 and at least one processor 232 only for the need of demonstration. Those skilled in the art understand that the signal processing circuit 230 also includes other hardware circuit structures, which are not limited in the present disclosure as long as they can meet the functions mentioned in the present disclosure without deviating from the spirit of the present disclosure.

[0083] In some embodiments, the acoustic device 200 further includes a communication port 233. The communication port 233 is used for data communication of the acoustic device 200 with the outside world, for example, the communication port 233 is used for data communication between the acoustic device 200 and other devices / systems. In some embodiments, the acoustic device 200 further includes an internal communication bus 234. The internal communication bus 234 connects different system components. For example, the speaker module 220, the acoustic sensor module 210, the speaker module 220, the processor 232, the storage medium 231 and the communication port 233 are all connected through the internal communication bus 234.

[0084] The at least one storage medium 231 includes a data storage device. The data storage device is a non-transitory storage medium and also a transitory storage medium. For example, the data storage device includes one or more of a magnetic disk 2311, a read-only memory (ROM) 2312 or a random access memory (RAM) 2313. The storage medium 231 further includes at least one instruction set stored in the data storage device. The instruction set includes instructions, which are computer program codes, including programs, routines, objects, components, data structures, processes, modules, etc. that perform the target operations provided in the present disclosure. The at least one instruction set is used to generate a driving signal based on a target sensitivity so that the speaker sound satisfies the target sensitivity with respect to the ambient sound.

[0085] The at least one processor 232 is configured to execute the at least one set of instructions and perform a target operation P100 based on the sensor signals to generate the driving signal. The target operation P100 will be described in detail later in this disclosure. When the acoustic device 200 is in operation, the at least one processor 232 reads the at least one set of instructions and performs the target operation P100 according to the instructions of the at least one set of instructions. The processor 232 performs all the steps or partial steps included in the target operation. The processor 232 is in the form of one or more processors, and in some embodiments, the processor 232 comprises one or more hardware processors, such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an application-specific instruction set processor (ASIP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a physics processing unit (PPU), a microcontroller unit, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an advanced RISC machine (ARM), a programmable logic device (PLD), any circuit or processor capable of executing one or more functions, or the like, or any combination thereof. For ease of illustration and description, the acoustic device 200 shown in FIG. 2 is exemplified as including only one processor 232. However, it should be noted that the acoustic device 200 provided in this application also includes multiple processors, and thus, the operations and / or method steps disclosed in this application are performed by one processor, and also jointly performed by multiple processors. For example, if the processor 232 of the acoustic device 200 performs step A and step B in this application, it should be understood that step A and step B are also jointly or separately performed by two different processors 232 (e.g., a first processor performs step A, and a second processor performs step B, or the first and second processors jointly perform steps A and B).

[0086] Those of ordinary skill in the art can know that FIG. 2 only shows one design scheme of the signal processing circuit 230. The signal processing circuit 230 can also be designed into other hardware forms without departing from the spirit of the application disclosed in this application. The specific design scheme of the signal processing circuit 230 is not limited in this application.

[0087] The above is an introduction to the basic structure of the acoustic device 200.

[0088] Continuing to refer to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the working process of the acoustic device 200 is as follows: the acoustic sensor module 210 collects the ambient sound 300, generates the sensor signals, and then sends them to the signal processing circuit 230. The signal processing circuit 230 performs a target operation based on the sensor signals to generate the driving signal and sends it to the loudspeaker module 220. The loudspeaker module 220 receives the driving signal and outputs the loudspeaker sound.

[0089] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to achieve the directivity of the space and prevent howling, the acoustic device 200 selectively converts the sensor signals into speaker sound after collecting the ambient sound 300. For example, the ambient sound 300 includes external sound 310 from outside the acoustic device 200 and internal sound 320 from a position A.

[0090] Generally, because the position of the speaker module 220 is A, the internal sound 320 is the sound emitted by the speaker module 220 itself. In order to prevent howling, the signal processing circuit 230 attenuates or even completely shields the sensor signal corresponding to the internal sound 320, that is, reduces or eliminates the feedback from the internal sound.

[0091] At the same time, in order to achieve the directivity of the space, the signal processing circuit 230 amplifies or retains the sensor signal corresponding to the external sound 310 from a specific direction (target direction), and retains or attenuates the sensor signal corresponding to the external sound 310 from other directions. The external sound outside the acoustic device 200 includes, but is not limited to, noise existing in the environment where the acoustic device 200 is located, sound emitted by other electronic devices with sound playing function (such as TV, sound box, mobile phone, etc.), and sound emitted by human throat. Among them, the sound emitted by the human throat can include the sound emitted by the throat of the user wearing the acoustic device 200 and the sound emitted by the throat of the person communicating with the user. The ambient sound 300 can be a real sound source or a sound simulation signal. The sensor signal is an electrical signal. The sensor signal generated by the acoustic sensor module 210 includes an external sound signal from the external sound 310 and an internal sound signal from the internal sound 320.

[0092] The effect of this is that the acoustic device listens to the external sound 320 directionally, and suppresses the sound from the speaker module 220 to prevent howling.

[0093] In this regard, for an acoustic device with sound conduction function (i.e., a sound conduction device that collects ambient sound and plays it out through a speaker), the sensitivity of the acoustic device to the ambient sound is defined as the ratio of the volume of the sound emitted by the speaker on the acoustic device to the corresponding ambient sound. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic device 200 in FIGS. 1A and 1B has the following target sensitivity: within a predetermined audible frequency range, the distribution of the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to the external sound has directivity and has the highest value in the target direction, and has a speaker sensitivity of less than 3dB to the internal sound. That is, the speaker sound emitted by the acoustic device 200 satisfies the above target sensitivity to the ambient sound.

[0094] It is worth mentioning that, in the normal use of the acoustic device 200, the internal sound 320 and the loudspeaker sound are both sounds emitted by the loudspeaker module 220, but the physical concepts of the two are different. The loudspeaker sound is the sound emitted by the loudspeaker module 220, which contains the information of the surrounding sound collected by the acoustic sensor module 210, and meets the target sensitivity distribution of the acoustic device 200. The internal sound is the sound emitted from the position A, which is the object of the acoustic device 200 to reduce feedback. In other words, if the loudspeaker module 220 is removed from the shell 240 and moved to another position, and a third-party loudspeaker is placed at the position A, the sound emitted by the third-party loudspeaker will be shielded or played very small by the acoustic device 200 because it is an internal sound.

[0095] As mentioned above, in the preset audible frequency range, the sensitivity distribution of the acoustic device 200 to the external sound has directivity and has the highest value in the target direction, and has a sensitivity of less than 3dB to the internal sound.

[0096] The preset audible frequency range can be set according to the use purpose and user group of the acoustic device 200. For example, when the acoustic device 200 is used as a hearing aid device and the target user group is normal people, the preset audible frequency range is the sound frequency range that can be heard by the ears of normal people. For example, the preset audible frequency range can be 20Hz-20000Hz. For another example, when the acoustic device 200 is used as a hearing aid device and the target user group is people with hearing impairment, the preset audible frequency range can be the sound frequency range that can be heard by the ears of people with hearing impairment. For example, due to aging, the hearing range of the elderly can be reduced to 50Hz-10000Hz, and at this time, the preset audible frequency range can be 50Hz-10000Hz. For another example, the acoustic device 200 can also be a hearing aid device customized for individual users, and at this time, the preset audible frequency range is also the sound frequency range that can be actually heard by the ears of a single user wearing the acoustic device 200. The acoustic device 200 can be personalized according to different users.

[0097] The loudspeaker sound is the output sound of the acoustic device 200. Therefore, the acoustic device 200 satisfying the target sensitivity to the surrounding sound can also be expressed as the loudspeaker sound satisfying the target sensitivity to the surrounding sound. As mentioned above, the sensitivity refers to the ratio of the power of the sound output by an acoustic device to the power of the received sound signal. The greater the sensitivity, the greater the power value of the electrical signal converted by the acoustic device 200 from the sound signal of unit power. In some embodiments, the greater the sensitivity can be considered as the greater the volume of the sound.

[0098] The sensitivity distribution of the acoustic device 200 to external sound has directivity and has a highest value in a target direction. The target direction can refer to a direction, i.e., the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to external sound has a highest value in 360° in the direction. In some embodiments, the target direction can also refer to a range of directions, such as a neighborhood of a certain direction. FIG. 3 is a sensitivity diagram of the acoustic device 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, due to the influence of environmental interference and measurement errors, the sensitivity distribution of the acoustic device 200 in 360° obtained by measurement has burrs and is not smooth or continuous. Therefore, the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 in a direction v is selected as the average value S of the sensitivity in a listening field range of an angle a centered on the direction. A . The listening field is a sector area with the reference listening point O as the center and the central angle a. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the reference listening point O of the acoustic device 200 is the acoustic sensing module 210. Of course, in other cases, the reference listening point can also include at least one of the user's eardrum, the acoustic sensor module 210, or the loudspeaker module 220. The elliptical dashed line in FIG. 3 is the continuous and / or smooth sensitivity distribution formed by the average value.

[0099] Correspondingly, the sensitivity distribution of the acoustic device 200 to external sound has directivity means that the average sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to external sound in a listening field of a preset angle a has a unique highest value in a range of 360° around the acoustic device 200.

[0100] The purpose of setting the preset angle is to highlight the directivity, so as to eliminate the interference factors of measurement and obtain a continuous and / or smooth sensitivity distribution. For example, the preset angle a is 20°, 15°, 10°, 5°, etc. The preset angle a of the listening field serves as an index of whether the acoustic device 200 has good spatial directivity. For example, the smaller the preset angle, the better the spatial directivity of the acoustic device 200. The larger the preset angle, the more sensitivity measurement points that need to be averaged, and the worse the spatial directivity of the acoustic device 200. Different configurations of the acoustic device 200 can use different sizes of the preset angle a to better judge the directivity.

[0101] The reference listening point can be set at different positions. Different positions of the reference listening point have different effects on the performance of the acoustic device 200.

[0102] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the reference listening point is the acoustic sensor module 210, the sound sensitivity in the listening field of the preset angle a is related to the target operation of the signal processing circuit 230. The signal processing circuit 230 performs the target operation on the external sound picked up by the acoustic sensor module 210, so that the preset angle is small, and the sensitivity of the target direction has the highest value, so that the acoustic device 200 has good spatial directivity. The above-mentioned target operation will be described in detail in the following content.

[0103] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the reference listening point is the loudspeaker module 220, the sound sensitivity in the listening field of the preset angle is related to the sound field directivity pattern of the loudspeaker module 220. That is, the distribution of the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to the external sound has directivity because the propagation ability of the loudspeaker module 220 to the external sound has directivity. And the listening field of the preset angle / target direction is the direction or direction range in which the loudspeaker module 220 propagates sound the strongest. However, the sound field distribution of the loudspeaker array is also easily affected by the user's head and the like, and is subject to the number of loudspeakers 221, and it is relatively difficult to achieve a relatively narrow beam range, so that it is relatively difficult to rely only on the loudspeaker array to achieve good sound propagation ability in a certain direction. That is, the preset angle is large, and the spatial directivity of the acoustic device 200 is poor.

[0104] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the reference listening point is the loudspeaker module 220, the sound sensitivity in the listening field of the preset angle is related to the target operation of the signal processing circuit 230. The signal processing circuit 230 performs the target operation on the sound output by the loudspeaker module 220, so that the preset angle is small, and the ability to propagate sound in the target direction is the strongest, so that the acoustic device 200 has good spatial directivity. The above-mentioned target operation will be described in detail in the following content.

[0105] When the acoustic device 200 is a hearing aid, the distance between the user's eardrum and the acoustic sensor module 210 or the loudspeaker module 220 is small. Therefore, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the reference listening point is the user's eardrum, the sound sensitivity in the listening field of the preset angle is related to the pickup directivity pattern of the acoustic sensor module 210 or the sound field directivity pattern of the loudspeaker module 220. In other embodiments, when the reference listening point is the user's eardrum, the listening field of the preset angle / target direction is the direction or direction range in which the user can hear the loudest or clearest at the user's eardrum.

[0106] The acoustic device 200 has a sensitivity to internal sound that is lower than 3dB. 3dB is the sensitivity to avoid the acoustic device from generating howling. In this case, the volume of the sound corresponding to the sound emitted by the speaker module 210 in the speaker sound of the acoustic device 200 is low, thereby avoiding or suppressing the generation of howling.

[0107] The acoustic device 200 can adopt different designs to achieve a sensitivity to internal sound that is lower than 3dB.

[0108] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic device 200 has a lower sensitivity to internal sound is achieved by the acoustic sensor module 210. For example, the speaker module 220 is arranged near the sound pickup zero point position of the acoustic sensor module 210, or is arranged on or near the zero point sound pickup direction of the acoustic sensor module 210. In this way, since the acoustic sensor module 210 reduces the pickup of internal sound, the internal signal component from the speaker module 220 in the sensor signal is reduced, thereby achieving the effect of suppressing howling. It should be noted that since the speaker module 220 can include multiple speakers, the position thereof can be a certain range, and the above-mentioned "arranging the speaker module 220 on or near the zero point sound pickup direction of the acoustic sensor module 210" should be understood as that the zero point sound pickup direction generally points to the speaker module 220. For example, the zero point sound pickup direction points to the center point of the speaker module 220. For another example, the zero point sound pickup direction points to any point on the sound emitting surface of the speaker module 220. For another example, the zero point sound pickup direction points to a preset region on the sound emitting surface of the speaker module 220. For another example, assuming that the center point of the speaker module 220 corresponds to a direction angle θ1, then the direction angle corresponding to the zero point sound pickup direction is located in the range of , wherein is a preset domain value of the direction angle θ1, and the size thereof is determined by the actual design of the acoustic device 200 for the purpose of preventing howling.

[0109] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic device 200 has a lower sensitivity to internal sound can also be achieved by the speaker module 220. For example, the acoustic sensor module 210 is located at the sound field zero point position of the speaker module 220, or the zero point sound field direction of the speaker module 220 points to the acoustic sensor module 210. This means that the internal sound emitted by the speaker module 220 propagates to the acoustic sensor module 210 at a volume of 0 or almost 0. Since the speaker module 220 reduces the volume of the internal sound propagating to the acoustic sensor module 210, the internal signal component from the speaker module 220 in the sensor signal is reduced (or the signal strength from the speaker module 220 is reduced), thereby achieving the effect of suppressing howling.

[0110] It is to be noted that the "zero-point sound field direction pointing acoustic sensor module 210" is understood as that the zero-point sound field direction is generally pointing to the acoustic sensor module 210. For example, the zero-point sound field direction points to the center point of the acoustic sensor module 210. For another example, the zero-point sound field direction points to any point on the sound pickup surface of the acoustic sensor module 210. For yet another example, the zero-point sound field direction points to a preset region on the sound pickup surface of the acoustic sensor module 210. For yet another example, assuming that the center point of the acoustic sensor module 210 corresponds to a direction angle θ2, then the zero-point sound field direction corresponds to a direction angle within a preset range of θ2, where θ2- Δθ is a preset range value of the direction angle θ2, which is determined by the actual design of the acoustic device 200, and the size thereof is for the purpose of preventing howling.

[0111] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic device 200 has a lower sensitivity to internal sound by performing a target operation by the signal processing circuit 230. The target operation will be described later.

[0112] As described above, the distribution of the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to external sound has directivity and has the highest value in the target direction. According to the specific use of the acoustic device 200 as a hearing aid device, the target direction can have multiple orientation choices.

[0113] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the acoustic device 200 is worn on the ear of the user, the target direction is the direction towards the sound emitting part of the user. That is, in the sound output by the acoustic device 200, the sound volume of the user's own voice is the largest. For example, when a singer is performing, the sound volume of the performance on the spot is too large, or the sound of the instrument accompaniment is too large, which will interfere with the accuracy of the singer's own voice. Therefore, the singer needs to wear a hearing aid device to help himself hear his own voice. At this time, the acoustic device 220 can be a hearing aid earphone for the singer. The microphone on the earphone collects the surrounding sound, and in the sound output by the speaker on the earphone, the singer's own voice is the largest.

[0114] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the acoustic device 200 is worn on the ear of a user, the target direction is the direction in which the face of the user is oriented, and accordingly, according to the structure shown in FIG. 1, the target sound field is oriented away from the acoustic sensor module 210. That is, among the sound output by the acoustic device 200, the sound volume in the direction in which the face of the user is oriented is the largest. For example, the acoustic device 200 is a hearing aid used by a hearing-impaired person. The user using this type of hearing aid usually most needs to hear clearly the object talking face-to-face with the user. Therefore, the target direction is set to the direction in which the face of the user is oriented. Of course, for a special case of a user, the direction in which the face of the user is oriented can also be another direction relative to the body of the user. For example, the face of a hunched user is usually oriented toward the ground, and the object talking with the user is usually in the direction in which the forehead of the user is oriented. At this time, the target direction can be set to the direction in which the forehead of the user is oriented.

[0115] As described above, the distribution of the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to external sound has directivity, and has a preset direction with a sensitivity lower than 3 dB upward. According to the specific use of the acoustic device 200 as a hearing aid device, the preset direction can have multiple orientation options.

[0116] For example, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound. The first external sound is emitted from a first position. The first position is in the target direction, and the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 to the first external sound is the highest value described above. The second external sound is emitted from a second position. The second position is in the opposite direction of the target direction. The acoustic device 200 has a sensitivity lower than 3 dB to the second external sound. For example, the acoustic device 200 is a hearing aid. The user wearing the hearing aid usually most needs to hear the sound emitted by the interlocutor in front of the user. The sound behind the user can be the sound of the interlocutor talking or the sound that the user is not interested in. Therefore, the acoustic device 200 has a sensitivity lower than 3 dB to the sound behind the user.

[0117] At this time, the acoustic device 200 has the highest sensitivity to the first external sound located in the target direction, and has a lower sensitivity to the second external sound located in the opposite direction of the target direction, and also has a lower sensitivity to the internal sound. Therefore, the acoustic device 200 can achieve the suppression of howling and has good spatial directivity.

[0118] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound. The first external sound is emitted from a first location. The first location is in the target direction. The second external sound is emitted from a second location. The second location is where the user himself speaks when the user wears the acoustic device. The acoustic device has a sensitivity lower than 3dB for the second external sound. Since the first location is in the target direction, the acoustic device 200 has the highest sensitivity for the first external sound as described above. For example, the acoustic device 200 is a hearing aid. As described above, the user wearing the hearing aid usually wants to hear the most the sound emitted by the interlocutor in front of him. The user usually does not need the sound of his own to be amplified by the hearing aid. This is because on the one hand the user is clear about what he is saying, and the sound of his own is very close to the user's ear, and the sound of his own can be heard by the user through various ways such as air conduction and bone conduction. Therefore, the acoustic device 200 can be configured to have a sensitivity lower than 3dB for the sound of the user's own, so as to inhibit the acoustic device 200 from delivering the sound of the user's own. The ambient sound, especially the sound emitted by the interlocutor in front of the user, can be enhanced by the acoustic device 200, so that the user can more easily distinguish the sound of the other person.

[0119] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic device 200 has a sensitivity lower than 3dB for both the sound in the direction opposite to the target direction and the sound of the user's own. In some other embodiments, the acoustic device 200 has a sensitivity lower than 3dB for more than three sounds, so as to meet the communication habits and communication needs of the user.

[0120] Next, the present disclosure will introduce how the acoustic device 200 realizes the sensitivity distribution with directivity and prevents howling.

[0121] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic sensor module 220 includes K acoustic sensors 211. Wherein K is a positive integer. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, the acoustic sensor module 210 includes 2 acoustic sensors 211. For another example, the acoustic sensor module 210 can include 3 acoustic sensors 211.

[0122] As mentioned above, when the acoustic device 200 is a BTE hearing aid, the BTE hearing aid is worn by the user at the ear part of the user. The ear of the user includes a first ear and / or a second ear. Accordingly, the acoustic sensor module 210 includes K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 and / or K2 second acoustic sensors 2102. The first acoustic sensors 2101 correspond to the first ear; the second acoustic sensors 2101 correspond to the second ear. Wherein, K1 and K2 are both integers, and K1+K2=K. For those BTE hearing aids equipped with hearing aids for both ears of the user, K1 and K2 are both not 0; for those BTE hearing aids equipped with hearing aids for only the first ear of the user, K1=K, K2=0; for those BTE hearing aids equipped with hearing aids for only the second ear of the user, K2=K, K1=0.

[0123] Accordingly, the loudspeaker module 220 also includes a first loudspeaker 2201 corresponding to the first ear and / or a second loudspeaker 2202 corresponding to the second ear.

[0124] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the acoustic sensor module 210 only includes the first acoustic sensor 2101 or the second acoustic sensor 2102. For example, at the Grammy Awards ceremony, the host wears an acoustic device 200 which is a wireless earphone, and only wears one earphone. The acoustic sensor module 220 can include 3 acoustic sensors 211. The 3 acoustic sensors 211 can all be first acoustic sensors 2101 or second acoustic sensors 2102.

[0125] In other embodiments, the acoustic sensor module 210 can simultaneously include the first acoustic sensor 2101 and the second acoustic sensor 2102. Generally, the first acoustic sensor 2101 and the second acoustic sensor 2102 include an equal number of acoustic sensors 211, but can also be unequal when applied to special occasions. For example, such as the case of a hearing-impaired person wearing a hearing aid. At this time, the acoustic device 200 is a wireless earphone. The user wears two earphones. The acoustic sensor module 220 includes 5 acoustic sensors. Because the hearing of the two ears of the user is different, according to the actual situation of the user, 2 acoustic sensors 211 are first acoustic sensors 2101; 3 acoustic sensors 211 are second acoustic sensors 2102.

[0126] Below, the case where the acoustic device 200 includes multiple first acoustic sensors 2101 and multiple second acoustic sensors 2101 will be introduced to describe how the acoustic device 200 realizes the spatial directivity of bilateral feedback reduction and sensitivity distribution through target operation P100. FIG. 5 shows a structural schematic diagram of the acoustic device 200 provided according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0127] As can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the acoustic device 200 implements a special case of spatial directivity of unilateral feedback reduction and sensitivity distribution. After understanding how to implement spatial directivity of bilateral feedback reduction and sensitivity distribution, one of ordinary skill in the art can implement spatial directivity of unilateral feedback reduction and sensitivity distribution according to the same principle.

[0128] In some embodiments, the K acoustic sensors operate to generate K sub-signals s1, s2, … sK. K The sensor signal s includes the K sub-signals, s = (s1, s2, … sK). K T That is, each sub-signal is a sensor signal generated by the acoustic sensor 211 based on the ambient sound. As previously described, the signal processing circuit 230 operates to perform a target operation based on the sensor signal to generate the drive signal such that the loudspeaker sound satisfies a target sensitivity to the ambient sound. FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a target operation P100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. To generate the drive signal based on the sensor signal, the signal processing circuit 230 performs the target operation P100. The target operation P100 includes:

[0129] P110: filtering the sensor signal s to obtain K filtered sub-signals

[0130] The filtered sub-signals The filtered sub-signals are K filtered sub-signals corresponding to the K sub-signals. In some embodiments, filtering the sensor signal s can be implemented by a filter.

[0131] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, implementing the filtering can have various design schemes. For example, the filtering can be implemented by the processor 232 in the signal processing circuit 230 in FIG. 2 invoking corresponding instructions in the memory 231 and performing a filtering processing algorithm according to the instructions. For another example, the filtering can also be implemented by a hardware filter 235 in the signal processing circuit 230 in FIG. 2. In this case, the signal processing circuit 230 includes at least one filter element module 235. The at least one filter element module 235 is communicatively connected with the acoustic sensor module 210 and is configured to perform the filtering on the sensor signal when in operation. The filter element module 235 includes a plurality of filters. For example, the filter element module 235 includes K filters corresponding to the K acoustic sensors 211, respectively.

[0132] P130: generating the drive signal d based on the filtered sub-signals

[0133] ​​The response of the driving signal d to the external sound has directivity and has the highest value in the target direction, while the response of the driving signal d to the internal sound is attenuated to avoid loudspeaker howling in the operation of the acoustic device 200.

[0134] In some embodiments, in order to obtain the filtered sub-signals and generate the driving signal d, the signal processing circuit 230 performs: applying a corresponding amplitude-phase modulation w i to each sub-signal s i in the sensor signal s, respectively, to generate a filtered signal corresponding to the filtered sub-signals where i is any integer between 1 and K. And the driving signal d is obtained based on the sum of the K filtered sub-signals.

[0135] By selecting appropriate amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2, … w i , … w K ) T , the first part of the loudspeaker sound corresponding to the first external sound can be made not to be attenuated at the reference listening point O, while the second part of the driving signal d is attenuated to avoid loudspeaker howling and form a target sensitivity, where the second part corresponds to the second external sound and the internal sound component. The specific implementation will be described later.

[0136] The acoustic device 200 includes a plurality of first acoustic sensors 2101 and a plurality of second acoustic sensors 2101; at the same time, the acoustic device 200 also includes one or more first loudspeakers 2201 and one or more second loudspeakers 2201. Therefore, the internal sound of the acoustic device includes first internal sound and second internal sound. The first internal sound is emitted from the position of the first loudspeaker 2201. The second internal sound is emitted from the position of the second loudspeaker 2202. Wherein the transfer function from the first internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer function from the first internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer function from the second internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer function from the second internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors is respectively

[0137] For example, in FIG. 5, the acoustic sensor module 210 includes 2 first acoustic sensors 2101 (MIC1 and MIC2 respectively). The acoustic sensor module 210 includes 2 second acoustic sensors 2102 (MIC3 and MIC4 respectively). The acoustic device 200 can have one speaker on each of the left and right sides, which are 2201 (SPK1) and 2202 (SPK2) respectively. The first internal sound NS1 is emitted by SPK1. The second internal sound NS2 is emitted by SPK2. The sound emitted by the speaker 221 can be transmitted to the acoustic sensor 211 (MIC) on the corresponding side and to the acoustic sensor 211 (MIC) on the opposite side. Among them, the acoustic sensor 211 on the corresponding side of the speaker 221 can be the acoustic sensor 211 on the same side of the user as the speaker 221, for example, the speaker 221 and the acoustic sensor 211 are both on the left side of the user. The acoustic sensor 211 on the corresponding side of the speaker 221 can be the acoustic sensor on the opposite side of the user as the speaker 221, for example, the speaker 221 is on the left side of the user and the acoustic sensor 211 is on the right side of the user.

[0138] The transfer functions of NS1 emitted by SPK1 to MIC1 and MIC2 on the corresponding side are The transfer functions of NS1 emitted by SPK1 to MIC3 and MIC4 on the opposite side are The transfer functions of NS2 emitted by SPK2 to MIC1 and MIC2 on the opposite side are The transfer functions of NS2 emitted by SPK2 to MIC3 and MIC4 on the corresponding side are

[0139] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the acoustic device 200 is worn by the user, the transmission of the speaker 221 to the acoustic sensor 210 on the opposite side can be affected by the user's head or other parts of the body. And the sound emitted by the speaker 221 is mainly picked up by the acoustic sensor 210 on the corresponding side, causing howling. Therefore, the transfer function of the sound emitted by the speaker 221 to the opposite side is considered to be 0. For example,

[0140] When the acoustic device 200 is worn on the user's ear, the acoustic device 200 can receive multiple external sounds from all directions. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the external sounds can include first to eighth external sounds FS1-FS8. The volume and distance of different external sounds from the acoustic device 200 can be different. For example, the third external sound FS3 can be closer to the acoustic device 200 than the fourth external sound FS4; the fourth external sound FS4 can have a larger volume than the fifth external sound FS5.

[0141] For the convenience of illustration and exposition, the case where the external sound includes a first external sound FS1 and a second external sound FS2 is introduced.

[0142] The first external sound FS1 can be emitted from a first position. The first position is at a first distance from the user's face in the direction of the target direction. The second external sound FS2 can be emitted from a second position. The second position includes a position at a second distance from the user's face in the opposite direction of the target direction or the user's sound emitting position. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the second position is a position at a second distance from the user's face in the opposite direction of the target direction. The first external sound FS1 and the second external sound FS2 are respectively in the direction of the target direction and the opposite direction of the target direction.

[0143] For example, when the acoustic device 200 is a hearing aid, the first external sound FS1 is a sound emitted by a converser in a conversation with the user. The first distance can be selected according to experience or statistical data. For example, the first distance is 1-3 meters. The second external sound FS2 is a sound located behind the user. The second external sound FS2 is also the user's own sound. The second distance can be selected according to experience or statistical data. For example, the second distance is 1.5-4 meters.

[0144] In a preset audible frequency range, the transfer functions of the first external sound FS1 to the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 are respectively The transfer functions of the second external sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors 2102 are respectively The transfer functions of the second external sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors 2102 are respectively Or For example, the reference listening point corresponds to at least one of the first ear or the second ear. For example, the first reference point is the first ear, and the second reference point is the second ear. r1, r2 respectively represent the acoustic device 200 corresponding to the first reference point and the second reference point. The transfer functions of the acoustic sensor 211 to the first reference point can be The transfer functions of the acoustic sensor 211 to the second reference point can be. In a preset audible frequency range, the transfer functions of the second external sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 are respectively The transfer functions of the second external sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors 2102 are respectively

[0145] For example, the transfer functions of the first external sound FS1 to MIC1 and MIC2 are respectively The transfer functions of the first external sound FS1 to MIC3 and MIC4 are respectively The transfer functions of the second external sound FS2 to MIC1 and MIC2 are respectively The transfer functions of the second external sound FS2 to MIC3 and MIC4 are

[0146] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the reference listening point O also corresponds to at least one of the first acoustic sensor 2101 or the second acoustic sensor 2102. For example, the reference listening point O corresponds to MIC1 and to MIC3.

[0147] As previously mentioned, by choosing the appropriate amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2,... w i ,…w K ) T , the first part of the loudspeaker sound corresponding to the first external sound FS1 is made non-attenuated at the reference listening point, while a second part of the drive signal d is made attenuated to avoid the occurrence of loudspeaker howling and to form a target sensitivity, where the second part corresponds to the second external sound FS2 and the internal sound component. In some embodiments, applying the amplitude-phase modulation to the sub-signals can be implemented by filters.

[0148] The K amplitude-phase modulations correspond to the K acoustic sensors 211. The second part of the drive signal d is made attenuated is to reduce the strength or amplitude of the signal of the second part. For example, the second part of the drive signal d is made attenuated is to attenuate the internal signal of the internal sound, and to attenuate the external signal corresponding to the second external sound. Wherein, attenuating the internal signal of the internal sound includes attenuating the internal signal of the first internal sound NS1 and / or the second internal sound NS2. The signal processing circuit 230 makes the second external sound in the drive signal d attenuated to form a target sensitivity. The signal processing circuit 230 makes the internal sound attenuated to avoid the occurrence of loudspeaker howling.

[0149] In some embodiments, in order to make the component of the loudspeaker sound corresponding to the first external sound non-attenuated at the reference listening point, the amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2,... w i ,…w K T The following needs to be satisfied:

[0150] and / or

[0151] ​wherein the first equation above can represent that the energy of the transfer function of the first external sound to the corresponding side reference listening point after the amplitude-phase modulation of the K1 transfer functions of the transfer of the first external sound is equal to a constant times the energy of the transfer function of the first external sound to the corresponding side reference listening point. The second equation above can represent that the energy of the transfer function of the first external sound to the corresponding side reference listening point after the amplitude-phase modulation of the K2 transfer functions of the transfer of the first external sound is equal to a constant times the energy of the transfer function of the first external sound to the corresponding side reference listening point. That is, the energy of the first external sound can remain unchanged in the transfer from the sound source position thereof to the acoustic device 200, and the component of the first external sound is not attenuated at the reference listening point, so that the acoustic device 200 can output the first external sound with a large volume and a good listening effect for the user.

[0152] In order to make the second part attenuate, the amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2, … w i ,…w K ) T The combination of the second external sound and the internal sound needs to be minimized, which is represented as:

[0153] wherein a, b, g, e1, e2 are constants preset for achieving the target sensitivity and avoiding the loudspeaker howling, and e1, e2 are greater than or equal to 1.

[0154] The equation above can represent that the sum of the energy of the transfer function of the internal sound emitted by the loudspeaker 221 to the corresponding side acoustic sensor 211 after the amplitude-phase modulation thereof and the energy of the K1 transfer functions of the transfer of the second external sound after the amplitude-phase modulation thereof is minimized. That is, the energy of the second external sound and the internal sound is reduced to a minimum value, for example, to zero, in the transfer from the acoustic position to the acoustic device 200, so that the acoustic device 200 outputs the sound with a very low volume emitted by the loudspeaker 221 again, thereby avoiding or inhibiting the generation of the howling phenomenon, and the volume of the second external sound is also very low, for example, much lower than the volume of the corresponding first external sound emitted by the acoustic device 200, so that the acoustic device 200 has a good spatial directivity.

[0155] For example, when the acoustic device 200 includes MIC1, MIC2, MIC3, MIC4, SPK1 and SPK2, the amplitude-phase modulation needs to satisfy:

[0156] and / or

[0157] That is:

[0158] and / or

[0159] As mentioned before, in some embodiments, The reference listening point corresponds to MIC1, and to MIC3. Therefore, the condition that the amplitude-phase modulation needs to satisfy is:

[0160] and / or

[0161] In some embodiments, the condition that the amplitude-phase modulation needs to satisfy is also

[0162] and / or and

[0163] There are more variations of the condition that the amplitude-phase modulation needs to satisfy. In this application, no limitation is made as long as the function mentioned in this application can be fulfilled without deviating from the spirit of this application. The amplitude-phase modulation obtained by the above method makes the acoustic device 200 suppress howling and have good spatial directivity.

[0164] In some embodiments, the point multiplication of the transfer function and the amplitude-phase modulation represents that the transfer function and the amplitude-phase modulation are convolved. The convolution can be realized by a filter. For example, the convolution is realized by the filter element module 235 in FIG. 2, or the processor 232 realizes it by executing the corresponding instruction set stored in the memory 231. The filter element module 235 includes K filters. Each filter corresponds to one acoustic sensor 211.

[0165] In some embodiments, when the acoustic device 200 only realizes unilateral feedback reduction and spatial directivity, K2 in the above is brought into 0, so as to obtain the corresponding amplitude-phase modulation formula.

[0166] In some embodiments, the above minimization formula is solved by using gradient descent, Lagrange, or convex optimization solving, etc.

[0167] In some embodiments, before solving, the tester collects enough transfer function data. The transfer function information is collected under the conditions of multiple people, multiple wearing, and multiple spatial angles, as the input of the above solving. Among them, the external sound is a sweep or other signals whose transfer function can be obtained.

[0168] It is understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the acoustic device 200 can receive and process more external sounds, for example, the 8 external sounds FS1-FS8 described above. For example, in one scenario, a user wants to preserve the sounds located at his left side, for example, FS3-FS5, and wants to mask the rest of the sounds, for example, FS1-FS2 and FS6-FS8. Similarly, the acoustic device 200 can use the above-mentioned method to modulate the transfer function in amplitude and phase, and thus meet the user's hearing needs by reducing or maintaining or increasing the energy of the external sound, which is not limited in the present application as long as it can meet the functions mentioned in the present application without deviating from the spirit of the present application.

[0169] FIG. 6A shows a sensitivity diagram of an acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C respectively show energy and feedback comparison diagrams under different schemes according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 6A is a sensitivity diagram when the first acoustic sensor 2101 includes three acoustic sensors 211. The black solid line in FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C represents the sensitivity of the acoustic device 200 using a single acoustic sensor, the black dashed line represents the sensitivity when using classical differential, and the gray dashed line represents the sensitivity when the acoustic device 200 uses the target operation provided by the present disclosure.

[0170] As shown in FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C, compared with using classical differential, the target operation provided by the present disclosure makes the acoustic device 200 have better sound attenuation in the backward (180°) in most frequency bands, and has good directivity and feedback attenuation for medium and high frequencies.

[0171] As mentioned before, the acoustic device 200 is an ear-hanging hearing aid. The K acoustic sensors 211 include K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 and K2 second acoustic sensors 2102. The first acoustic sensors 2101 correspond to the first ear of the user. The second acoustic sensors 2102 correspond to the second ear of the user. The speaker module 220 includes a first speaker 2201 corresponding to the first ear and a second speaker 2202 corresponding to the second ear. Only the first acoustic sensor 2101 will be introduced below, and the second acoustic sensor 2102 also has similar or identical structure, which will not be described herein.

[0172] In some embodiments, the number of K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 is at least 3. The at least 3 first acoustic sensors 2101 are arranged in a non-linear manner. FIG. 7A shows a sensitivity distribution diagram of the acoustic device 200 when the 3 first acoustic sensors 2101 are arranged in a linear manner. FIG. 7B shows a sensitivity distribution diagram of the acoustic device 200 when the 3 first acoustic sensors 2101 are arranged in a non-linear manner.

[0173] As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the acoustic device 200 has better sound attenuation in backward (180°) multi-frequency bands and better directivity and feedback attenuation for mid-high frequencies when the first acoustic sensors 2101 are arranged in a non-straight line relative to the first acoustic sensor 2101 arranged in a straight line.

[0174] In some embodiments, the number of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 is 3. The 3 acoustic sensors 211 are arranged in a triangular shape. The angle formed by connecting any two of the 3 first acoustic sensors 2101 is a non-obtuse angle. For example, the angle formed by connecting any two of the 3 first acoustic sensors 2101 is an acute angle or a right angle. This is because, assuming a fixed side of the triangle, at the same height, a non-obtuse angle has a shorter acoustic sensor distance than an obtuse angle, and the distance between the acoustic sensors 211 can affect the frequency bandwidth of beamforming, and the shorter the distance, the greater the bandwidth that can be processed.

[0175] In some embodiments, the distance between any two of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm. For example, the distance between any two of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 can be 1 cm, 1.5 cm, 2 cm, 2.5 cm, etc. This is because, if the distance between the acoustic sensors 211 is too large, it can cause the processing bandwidth to decrease, and if the distance between the acoustic sensors 211 is too small, it is difficult to capture the difference in feedback on each acoustic sensor 211, which will cause the feedback cancellation effect to decrease.

[0176] In some embodiments, the distance between the centroid of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 and the centroid of the first loudspeaker 2201 is in the range of 5-10 cm. The centroid of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 refers to the geometric center of the mass of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101, and the centroid of the first loudspeaker 2201 refers to the geometric center of the first loudspeaker 2201. For example, the distance between the centroid of the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 and the centroid of the first loudspeaker 2201 can be in the range of 5 cm, 6 cm, 7 cm, 8 cm, etc. This is because, at this distance scale, the response difference between the loudspeaker 221 and the acoustic sensor 211 can be significantly distinguished from the sound source in the target direction.

[0177] In some embodiments, among the multiple lines connecting the K1 first acoustic sensors 2101 and the centroid of the first loudspeaker 2201, at least two lines form an angle greater than 6°, and any two lines form an angle less than 20°. For example, the angle between two lines connecting the centroid of the two first acoustic sensors 2101 and the first loudspeaker 2201 is 10°, 15°, etc. This is because, under this angle scale, the response difference between the loudspeaker 221 and the acoustic sensor 211 can be significantly distinguished from the sound source in the target direction.

[0178] The present application also provides an ear-hanging hearing aid. FIG. 8 shows an ear-hanging hearing aid 400 and a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 includes an acoustic sensor module 210 and a loudspeaker module 220. The acoustic sensor module 210 includes at least 3 acoustic sensors 211. For example, the acoustic sensor module 210 can include 3 acoustic sensors 211. For another example, the acoustic sensor module 210 can include 5 acoustic sensors 211. The at least 3 acoustic sensors 211 are arranged in a non-straight line. When the user wears the hearing aid, the loudspeaker module 220 is located on the front side of the user's pinna, and the acoustic sensor module 210 is located on the back side of the pinna. In this way, on the one hand, it is convenient for the acoustic sensor 211 to pick up environmental sound, and on the other hand, it is possible to reduce the pickup of the sound emitted by the loudspeaker module 220 by the acoustic sensor module 210. The acoustic sensor module 210 and the loudspeaker module 220 are the same as or similar to the acoustic sensor module 210 and the loudspeaker module 220 provided in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 7B. The sensitivity comparison chart of the plurality of acoustic sensors 211 arranged in a non-straight line and arranged in a straight line in the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 can refer to FIGS. 7A and 7B, which will not be described herein again.

[0179] In some embodiments, the acoustic sensor module 210 includes 3 acoustic sensors 211 arranged in an acute triangle or a right triangle. The 3 acoustic sensors 211 arranged in an acute triangle or a right triangle can be that the triangle formed by the lines connecting the centroids of any two acoustic sensors 211 is an acute triangle or a right triangle. The centroid of the acoustic sensor 211 can be the geometric center of the mass of the acoustic sensor 211, or the geometric center of the position of the acoustic sensor 211. This is because, assuming a fixed triangle side, under the same height, a non-obtuse angle has a shorter acoustic sensor distance than an obtuse angle, and the distance between any two acoustic sensors 211 can affect the frequency bandwidth of beamforming, and the shorter the distance, the greater the bandwidth that the acoustic sensor 211 can handle.

[0180] As shown in FIG. 8, the acoustic sensor module 210 can include acoustic sensors 210A, 210B, and 210C. The three acoustic sensors 211 are arranged in an acute triangle.

[0181] In some embodiments, the distance between any two of the at least three acoustic sensors is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm. For example, the distance between two acoustic sensors 211S can be 1 cm, 1.5 cm, 2 cm, 2.5 cm, etc. This is because if the distance between acoustic sensors 211 is too large, the processing bandwidth can be reduced; if the distance between acoustic sensors 211 is too small, it is difficult to capture the difference in feedback on each acoustic sensor 211, which will cause the feedback cancellation effect to decrease.

[0182] In some embodiments, the distance between the centroid of the positions of the at least three acoustic sensors 210 and the centroid of the positions of the loudspeaker module 220 ranges from 5 to 10 cm. For example, the distance between the centroids of the acoustic sensors 211 and the loudspeaker module 220 can range from 5 cm, 6 cm, 7 cm, 8 cm, etc. This is because at this distance scale, the response difference of the loudspeaker 221 to the acoustic sensors 211 can be significantly distinguished from the sound source in the target direction.

[0183] In some embodiments, among the multiple lines connecting the at least three acoustic sensors 210 and the loudspeaker module 220, at least two lines form an angle greater than 6°; and the angle formed by any two lines is less than 20°. For example, the angle between the two lines connecting the centroids of the two acoustic sensors 211 and the loudspeaker 221 is 10°, 15°, etc. This is because at this angle scale, the response difference of the loudspeaker 221 to the acoustic sensors 211 can be significantly distinguished from the sound source in the target direction.

[0184] As shown in FIG. 8, the loudspeaker module 220 can include a loudspeaker 221. The line connecting the acoustic sensor 210A and the loudspeaker 221 is L1; the line connecting the acoustic sensor 210B and the loudspeaker 221 is L2; and the line connecting the acoustic sensor 210C and the loudspeaker 221 is L3. The angle between L1 and L2 can be θ1; the angle between L1 and L3 can be θ2; and the angle between L2 and L3 can be θ3. Among them, 6° < θ1 < 20°; 6° < θ2 < 20°; and 6° < θ3 < 20°. θ1, θ2, and θ3 can be the same or different.

[0185] It is worth noting that the positional relationship between the acoustic sensor module 210 and the loudspeaker module 220 shown in FIG. 8 is only illustrative, and the actual positions of the two inside the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 can be the same as or different from the illustration in the figure.

[0186] In summary, the acoustic device 200 provided by the present application has a sensitivity of less than 3dB to the internal sound emitted from the position of the loudspeaker module 220, so that the loudspeaker 221 does not amplify or less amplifies the sound of the loudspeaker 211 received by the acoustic sensor module 210, thereby achieving the effect of suppressing howling. The acoustic device 200 has the highest sensitivity to the target direction, so that the amplification effect of the loudspeaker 211 on the external sound in the target direction is the best, thereby having good spatial directivity. In summary, the acoustic device 200 provided by the present application not only has good spatial directivity effect, but also can effectively suppress the howling phenomenon, thereby providing better acoustic experience for the user. In addition, the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 provided by the present application has a plurality of acoustic sensors 211 arranged in a non-linear manner, so that the ear-hanging hearing aid 400 can have better spatial directivity effect and can better avoid or suppress the generation of howling phenomenon.

[0187] Another aspect of the present application provides a non-transitory storage medium storing at least one set of executable instructions for performing signal processing. When the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the executable instructions direct the processor to implement the target operation P100 described in the present application. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the present application are also implemented in the form of a program product including program code. When the program product is run on the acoustic device 200, the program code is used to cause the acoustic device 200 to perform the steps of the target operation P100 described in the present application. The program product for implementing the above-mentioned method includes program code and is run on the acoustic device 200. However, the program product of the present application is not limited to this, and in the present application, the readable storage medium is any tangible medium containing or storing a program that is used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system. The program product uses any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium can be a readable signal medium or the readable medium can be a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium, for example, but is not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or apparatus, or any combination of the above. More specific examples of the readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disc, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above. The computer readable storage medium includes a data signal propagating in the baseband or as a carrier wave part of a carrier wave, in which readable program code is carried. Such a propagated data signal takes on many forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal, or any suitable combination of the above. The readable storage medium is also any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium, which transmits, propagates or transfers a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus. The program code contained on the readable storage medium is transmitted by any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical fiber, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the above. The program code for performing the operations of the present application is written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language such as Java, C++, etc., and a conventional procedural programming language such as the "C" language or a similar programming language. The program code is executed entirely on the acoustic device 200, partially on the acoustic device 200, as a standalone software package, partially on the acoustic device 200 and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device.

[0188] The foregoing has described specific embodiments of this disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims are performed in a different order than in the embodiments and still achieve the desired result. Furthermore, the processes depicted in the drawings do not necessarily require a specific or sequential order to achieve the desired result. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing are also, or may be, advantageous.

[0189] In summary, after reading this detailed disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that the foregoing detailed disclosure is presented by way of example only and is not restrictive. Although not explicitly stated herein, those skilled in the art will understand that the requirements of this disclosure encompass various reasonable changes, improvements, and modifications to the embodiments. These changes, improvements, and modifications are intended to be made by this disclosure and are within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

[0190] Furthermore, certain terms in this disclosure have been used to describe embodiments of this disclosure. For example, "an embodiment," "an embodiment," and / or "some embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of this disclosure. Therefore, it is emphasized and should be understood that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "an embodiment" or "alternative embodiment" in various parts of this disclosure do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Moreover, specific features, structures, or characteristics may be appropriately combined in one or more embodiments of this disclosure.

[0191] It should be understood that in the foregoing description of the embodiments of this disclosure, various features are combined in a single embodiment, drawing, or description for the purpose of simplifying the understanding of a feature. However, this does not mean that the combination of these features is necessary, and those skilled in the art, upon reading this disclosure, may readily identify some of the devices as separate embodiments. That is, the embodiments in this disclosure are also understood as an integration of multiple secondary embodiments. It is also valid when each secondary embodiment contains fewer than all the features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

[0192] Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative of the principles of the embodiments of this disclosure. Other modified embodiments are also within the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein are merely examples and not limitations. Those skilled in the art will implement the applications of this disclosure using alternative configurations based on the embodiments in this disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments of this disclosure are not limited to the embodiments precisely described in the applications.

Claims

1. An acoustic device for assisting a user in acquiring sound coming from a neighborhood in a target direction, the device comprising: The acoustic device comprises: an acoustic sensor module comprising a plurality of acoustic sensors, which, in operation, collect ambient sound and generate sensor signals, wherein the ambient sound comprises external sound from outside the acoustic device and internal sound emitted at a location of the speaker module; a speaker module, which, in operation, receives a driving signal and outputs speaker sound; and a signal processing circuit, which, in operation, performs a target operation based on the sensor signals to generate the driving signal such that the speaker sound meets a target sensitivity to the ambient sound, wherein the target sensitivity is that, in a preset audible frequency range, a distribution of sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound has directivity and has a highest value in the target direction, and has a speaker sensitivity to the internal sound that is lower than 3 dB. The directivity of the distribution of sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound means that an average sensitivity of the acoustic device to the external sound in a preset angle of a listening field has a unique highest value in a range of 360° around the acoustic device.

2. The acoustic device of claim 1, wherein, The preset angle of the listening field is a sector region with a reference listening point as a center and a central angle of the preset angle, and the reference listening point comprises at least one of an eardrum of the user, the acoustic sensor module, or the speaker module. The acoustic device is an ear-hanging hearing aid device; and 3. The acoustic device of claim 2, wherein, When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the speaker module is located on the front side of the pinna of the user, the sound outlet end of the speaker module faces the user's ear, and the sound pickup end of the acoustic sensor module is located on the back side of the pinna. When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, 4. The acoustic device of claim 3, wherein, The target direction is a direction towards a sound emitting part of the user. When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, 5. The acoustic device of claim 3, wherein, The target direction is a direction of the user's face, and the listening field is directed away from the acoustic sensor module. The external sound comprises first external sound and second external sound, the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is in the target direction, and the second external sound is emitted from a second position, the second position is in the opposite direction of the target direction, and the acoustic device has a sensitivity to the second external sound that is lower than 3 dB.

6. The acoustic device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, The external sound comprises first external sound and second external sound, the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is in the target direction, and the second external sound is emitted from a second position, the second position is the user's sound emitting part when the user wears the acoustic device, and the acoustic device has a sensitivity to the second external sound that is lower than 3 dB.

7. The acoustic device of claim 5, wherein, To generate the driving signal based on the sensor signals, the signal processing circuit:

8. The acoustic device according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein, The plurality of acoustic sensors comprises K acoustic sensors, K being a positive integer, the K acoustic sensors generating K sub-signals si, s2,... s K , when in operation, the sensor signal s comprising the K sub-signals, s = (si, s2,... s K ) T ; generates K filtered sub-signals corresponding to the K sub-signals; and filtering the sensor signal s to obtain a filtered sub-signal wherein ​ ​ based on the filtered sub-signals The driving signal d is generated, the driving signal d has directivity to the response of the external sound and has the highest value in the target direction, while attenuating the response of the internal sound in the driving signal d.

9. The acoustic device of claim 8, wherein, In order to obtain the filtered sub-signals and generate the drive signal d, the signal processing circuit performs operations: applying a corresponding amplitude-phase modulation w i to each sub-signal s i of the sensor signal s, respectively, generating the filtered signal corresponding filtered sub-signals Wherein i is any integer between 1 and K; And The driving signal d is obtained based on the sum of the K filtered sub-signals.

10. The acoustic device of claim 9, wherein, The ear includes a first ear and / or a second ear; The K acoustic sensors include K1 first acoustic sensors and K2 second acoustic sensors, wherein the first acoustic sensors correspond to the first ear, the second acoustic sensors correspond to the second ear, K1 + K2 = K, and K1 and K2 are integers; and The speaker module includes a first speaker corresponding to the first ear and / or a second speaker corresponding to the second ear.

11. The acoustic device of claim 10, wherein, The internal sound includes a first internal sound emitted from a position of the first speaker and a second internal sound emitted from a position of the second speaker; the transfer functions from the first internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors, respectively The transfer functions from the first internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions of the second internal sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions from the second internal sound to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively When the acoustic device is worn on the ear of the user, the external sound includes a first external sound and a second external sound; the first external sound is emitted from a first position, the first position is at a first distance from the user's face in the direction opposite to the target direction; the second external sound is emitted from a second position; the second position includes a position at a second distance from the user's face in the direction opposite to the target direction or a sound emitting position of the user; In the preset hearing frequency range, a transfer function of the first external sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer functions to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively The transfer functions to the reference listening point are respectively or At least one of the reference listening points corresponds to at least one of the first ear or the second ear, r1, r2 respectively represent the reference listening points of the acoustic device corresponding to the first ear and the second ear; In the preset hearing frequency range, a transfer function of the second external sound to the K1 first acoustic sensors is respectively The transfer functions to the K2 second acoustic sensors are respectively And said amplitude phase modulation w = (w1, w2,... w i ,…w K ) T such that a first part of said loudspeaker sound corresponding to said first external sound is not attenuated at said reference listening point, while a second part of said drive signal d is attenuated to avoid said loudspeaker howling and to form said target sensitivity, wherein said second part corresponds to said second external sound and said internal sound component.

12. The acoustic device of claim 11, wherein, To ensure that the component of the speaker sound corresponding to the first external sound does not attenuate at the reference listening point, the amplitude phase modulation w = (w1, w2, ... w i ,…w K ) T The following conditions must be met: and / or And In order to cause the second portion to attenuate, the amplitude-phase modulation w = (w1, w2,... w i ,…w K ) T It is desirable to minimize the combined contribution of the second external sound and the internal sound, denoted as: Wherein a, β, γ, ε1, ε2 are constants preset to achieve the target sensitivity and avoid the speaker howling, and ε1, ε2 are greater than or equal to 1.

13. The acoustic device of claim 1, wherein, The acoustic device is an ear-hanging hearing aid device, which is worn on the ear of the user, the ear includes a first ear and / or a second ear; The plurality of acoustic sensors includes K acoustic sensors, the K is a positive integer; The K acoustic sensors include K1 first acoustic sensors and K2 second acoustic sensors, wherein the first acoustic sensors correspond to the first ear, the second acoustic sensors correspond to the second ear, K1 + K2 = K, and K1 and K2 are integers; and The speaker module includes a first speaker corresponding to the first ear and a second speaker corresponding to the second ear.

14. The acoustic device of claim 13, the number of the K1 first acoustic sensors is at least 3, and the at least 3 first acoustic sensors are arranged in a non-linear manner.

15. The acoustic device of claim 14, wherein, The number of the K1 first acoustic sensors is 3, and the 3 first acoustic sensors are in a triangular distribution. An included angle formed by connecting any two of the 3 first acoustic sensors is a non-obtuse angle.

16. The acoustic device of claim 13, wherein A distance between any two of the K1 first acoustic sensors is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm.

17. The acoustic device of claim 13, wherein A distance between a centroid of the K1 first acoustic sensors and a centroid of the first loudspeaker ranges from 5 cm to 10 cm.

18. The acoustic device of claim 13, wherein In a plurality of lines connecting the K1 first acoustic sensors and the centroid of the first loudspeaker, at least two of the lines form an included angle with an angle greater than 6°; and An angle of an included angle formed by any two of the lines is less than 20°.

19. The acoustic device of any one of claims 1-18, wherein, The signal processing circuit includes: at least one filter element module in communication with the acoustic sensor module and configured to perform the filtering of the sensor signals when in operation.

20. The acoustic device of any one of claims 1-18, wherein, The signal processing circuit includes: at least one storage medium storing at least one instruction set for generating the drive signal based on the target sensitivity such that the loudspeaker sound satisfies the target sensitivity with respect to the ambient sound; and at least one processor in communication with the at least one storage medium, the acoustic sensor module, and the loudspeaker module, wherein the at least one processor, when in operation, executes the at least one instruction set and performs the target operation based on the sensor signals to generate the drive signal.

21. An ear-hanging hearing assistance device, comprising: an acoustic sensor module including at least 3 acoustic sensors arranged in a non-straight line; and a loudspeaker module; when a user wears the hearing assistance device, the loudspeaker module is located in front of an auricle of the user, and the acoustic sensor module is located behind the auricle.

22. The hearing assistance device of claim 21, wherein, The acoustic sensor module includes 3 acoustic sensors arranged in an acute triangle or a right triangle.

23. The hearing assistance device of claim 21 or 22, wherein A distance between any two of the at least 3 acoustic sensors is greater than 0.5 cm and less than 3 cm.

24. The hearing assistance device of any one of claims 21-23, wherein A distance between a centroid of the at least 3 acoustic sensors and a centroid of a position of the loudspeaker module ranges from 5 cm to 10 cm.

25. The hearing assistance device of any one of claims 21-24, wherein In a plurality of lines connecting the at least 3 acoustic sensors and the loudspeaker module, at least two of the lines form an included angle with an angle greater than 6°; and An angle of an included angle formed by any two of the lines is less than 20°.

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