Smart hearing aid

Abstract

The present invention relates to a smart hearing aid, a main body of which is a pair of glasses that can project keywords and key images onto lenses. The pair of glasses comprises a frame and two lenses integrated therewith. A control apparatus is provided inside a side portion of the frame, and the control apparatus comprises a smart chip and a projector. The smart chip can receive external speech, and determine and select keywords therefrom, and the projector is then used to project the "keywords" and "key images" onto the lenses, so as to allow a hearing-impaired user to accelerate their comprehension of others' speech by using the hearing aid in conjunction with the visually observable "keywords" and "key images" when the user fails to understand the meaning of others' speech using the hearing aid alone. Moreover, the smart chip can convert the received external speech into synthesized sound and transmit the synthesized sound to the user's hearing aid, so as to provide clear and noise-free dialogue sound, thereby further helping the user understand others' true intent, and facilitating the real-time communication between the user and others.

Description

Smart hearing aids Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to an intelligent hearing aid for use by people with hearing impairments. By combining visually perceptible keywords with / or using intelligent speech synthesis to obtain noise-free speech, it enhances their ability to understand the meaning of others' speech, thereby enabling them to communicate quickly with others. Background Technology

[0002] Research indicates that hearing loss triggers three phenomena. The first is cognitive load: if a person cannot hear clearly, the brain works harder to hear, leading to brain fatigue. This results in the accumulation of metabolic waste in the brain's gyri, damaging brain cells and potentially causing dementia. Helping the brain distinguish sounds reduces this workload, thus decreasing the likelihood of dementia. For the deaf, hearing aids should not only provide "good sound," but also enable "understanding" and "communication." However, current hearing aids often fail to meet this requirement, focusing instead on noise reduction, sound quality, and sound directionality, rather than addressing the true need. The second phenomenon is changes in brain structure and function: because the hearing-impaired person cannot hear clearly, the auditory cortex atrophies. The prefrontal cortex then actively activates to assist the atrophied auditory cortex in trying to understand sounds. However, humans differ from other animals because they possess the prefrontal cortex, responsible for crucial higher-level biological processes such as calculation, thinking, and judgment. In people with hearing loss, a large portion of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is removed to supplement the atrophied auditory cortex. This reduces the capacity of the prefrontal cortex responsible for memory, thinking, and other functions, which may explain why people with hearing loss often develop dementia. The third phenomenon is reduced social contact: because they cannot understand what others are saying, deaf people gradually withdraw from society, staying at home and not wanting to go out. With less external stimulation, their reactions slow down, making them more susceptible to dementia. Technical issues

[0003] Current "deaf glasses" are designed to convert all received speech into text and display it on the glasses' screen. However, besides a high error rate, the next sentence often appears before the wearer has even finished reading the previous one. Wearers of these glasses must frantically and nervously "read" the text, fearing they might miss something. This only increases the burden on the brain and, instead of helping, causes a buildup of metabolic waste. This problem has long been a major concern for hearing-impaired individuals, and to date, there is still no effective solution.

[0004] Furthermore, in certain situations, people wear masks, which creates additional communication difficulties for hearing-impaired individuals. This is because they cannot see the lips, and even with hearing aids, they cannot clearly understand what the other person is saying. Lip reading is necessary because observing facial expressions, especially lip movements, provides the listener with numerous cues. Even without fully hearing, they can still infer the other person's meaning. However, when the lips are covered by a mask, these cues are reduced, leading to communication difficulties. This invention, however, directly provides key visual or verbal cues, enabling hearing-impaired individuals to more easily understand others and communicate with them.

[0005] To address the aforementioned issues, an improved structure has been designed in the prior art, namely the Taiwan Utility Model Patent No. M656391 (PCT / CN2024 / 084911 application). This design uses visual "keywords" and "key images" as cues to help the brain easily understand conversations. This reduces excessive brain use and lowers the amount of brain metabolites. Simultaneously, the prefrontal cortex of hearing-impaired patients is not deprived of its auxiliary auditory cortex, and its function is not impaired. This helps these patients communicate without barriers, encourages them to go out, and ultimately reduces the risk of dementia, demonstrating considerable effectiveness. However, this design requires further improvement for individuals with poor literacy skills. Technical solutions

[0006] This invention relates to an intelligent hearing aid, comprising a main body that is a glasses assembly capable of projecting keywords and key images onto lenses. The glasses assembly includes a frame and two lenses. A control device is located inside the side of the frame, comprising an intelligent chip and a projector. The intelligent chip receives external speech sounds, identifies and selects keywords, and then uses the projector to project the keywords and key images onto the lenses, providing this information to hearing-impaired individuals. When they are unable to understand others' speech using the hearing aid, the visually accessible keywords and key images help them understand the meaning of others more quickly. Simultaneously, the intelligent chip converts the received external speech sounds into synthesized sounds, transmitting them to the user's hearing aid to provide clear, noise-free dialogue, further helping the user understand others' true intentions and facilitating real-time communication, thus achieving practical benefits. Attached Figure Description

[0007] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0008] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structural block of the present invention.

[0009] Figure 2 is a structural diagram of one embodiment of the eyeglasses assembly of the present invention.

[0010] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures

[0011] 1. Eyeglasses set

[0012] 11 Lenses

[0013] 12 frames

[0014] 2. Control device

[0015] 21 Smart Chips

[0016] 22 Projector

[0017] 23 Keywords and key images

[0018] 24 synthesized sounds

[0019] 3. Speech

[0020] 4. Hearing aids. The best embodiment of the present invention

[0021] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention may also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein. Those skilled in the art can make similar extensions without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0022] Please refer to Figures 1 and 2. The present invention is a smart hearing aid, the main body of which is a glasses assembly 1 that can project keywords and key images onto lenses 11. It can be used in conjunction with an existing hearing aid 4. The glasses assembly 1 includes a frame 12 and two lenses 11 connected together. A control device 2 is provided on the side of the frame 12. The control device 2 includes a smart chip 21 and a projector 22. The smart chip 21 can receive external speech sounds, judge and select keywords, and then use the projector 22 to project the "keywords" and "key images" onto the lenses 11, providing them to hearing-impaired people. When they are unable to understand the meaning of others' speech using the hearing aid, the visually visible "keywords" and "key images" can accelerate their understanding of others' meaning. In addition, the smart chip 21 of the present invention can also convert the received external speech into synthesized sound 24 and transmit it to the user's hearing aid 4 to provide clear and noise-free conversation. When each keyword is played, the keyword will be amplified, for example, by making the sound louder and / or slower, which can help the user understand the true meaning of others, so as to facilitate real-time communication with others and achieve the expected effect.

[0023] Therefore, the main features of this invention, in addition to the original use of "keywords" and "key images" to assist hearing-impaired individuals in recognizing sounds when using hearing aids 4, can indeed help them quickly understand the meaning of others' words without causing additional burden on their brains, which is beneficial to helping these people participate in social activities and has an excellent contribution; in addition, for users with poor text reading ability, they can choose to use the speech conversion, synthesis and enhancement functions of the intelligent chip to obtain clear and noise-free synthesized speech, achieving the effect of unimpeded communication.

[0024] Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A smart hearing aid, comprising a main body, the main body being a glasses assembly capable of projecting text or images onto lenses, characterized in that, The eyeglasses set includes a frame and two lenses that are combined, with a control device located on the side of the frame. The control device includes a smart chip and a projector. This smart chip receives external speech, identifies and selects keywords or key images, and converts the speech into synthesized sounds that are transmitted to the hearing aid. When a keyword is played, the synthesized sound is amplified and / or slowed down. The projector projects selected keywords or key images onto the lens, providing a visual viewing experience.

Images