80 results about "Binaural hearing aids" patented technology

A wireless binaural hearing aid system that utilises direct sequence spread spectrum technology to synchronize operation between individual hearing prostheses is provided.

In a method of initializing a binaural hearing aid system (1) both ipse- and contra-lateral individualized adjustment data are stored in both hearing aids of the binaural hearing aid system for transmission between the hearing aids. This provides an easy backup of the data. The invention further provides a hearing aid having means adapted for performing such a method.

A multi-channel signal processing system adapted to provide binaural compressing of tonal inputs is provided. Such a system can be used, for example, in a binaural hearing aid system to provide the dynamic-range binaural compression of the tonal inputs. The multi-channel signal processing system is essentially a system with two signal channels connected by a control link between the two signal channels, thereby allowing the binaural hearing aid system to model behaviors, such as crossed olivocochlear bundle (COCB) effects, of the human auditory system that includes a neural link between the left and right ears. The multi-channel signal processing system comprises first and second channel compressing units respectively located in first and second signal channels of the multi-channel signal processing system. The first and second channel compressing units receive first and second channel input signals, respectively, to generate first and second channel compressed outputs. The multi-channel signal processing system further includes peak detecting means detecting signal peaks of the first and second channel input signals for generating first and second channel control signals. Thereafter, gain adjusting means adjusts signal gains of the first and second channel control signals. The first and second channel compressing units then respectively compress the first and second channel input signals to produce the first and second channel compressed outputs in accordance with the adjusted first and second channel control signals, respectively.

Level compression applied to the acoustic signals (18) received by a binaural hearing aid system (1) counteracts the preservation of inter-aural level differences (ILD) and thereby reduces the user's ability to locate the sound source and consequently his or her ability to understand speech in noisy environments. It is therefore known to increase the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and / or decreasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, which at least in part allows for preserving the ILDs. However, in some situations this instead reduces the user's ability to understand speech, e.g. when acoustic noise is received at one ear (4) at a higher level (53, 54) than simultaneous speech at the other ear (5). The present invention overcomes this problem by decreasing the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and / or increasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, when the difference between the noise-floor levels (55, 56) of the two hearing aids (2, 3) increases.

The present invention relates to a binaural hearing aid system comprising a first hearing aid and a second hearing aid, each of which comprises a microphone and an A / D converter for provision of a digital input signal in response to sound signals received at the respective microphone in a sound environment, a processor that is adapted to process the digital input signals in accordance with a predetermined signal processing algorithm to generate a processed output signal, and a D / A converter and an output transducer for conversion of the respective processed sound signal to an acoustic output signal, and a binaural sound environment detector for binaural determination of the sound environment surrounding a user of the binaural hearing aid system based on at least one signal from the first hearing aid and at least one signal from the second hearing aid for provision of outputs for each of the first and second hearing aids for selection of the signal processing algorithm of each of the respective hearing aid processors so that the hearing aids of the binaural hearing aid system perform coordinated sound processing.

A hearing device is proposed comprising at least one microphone (1), at least one analog-to-digital converter (2), a signal processing unit (3), a communication unit (6) for establishing and / or maintaining a communication link to a second hearing device, and a detection unit (7) for determining a communication link quality. The at least one microphone (1) is operationally connected to the signal processing unit (3) via the at least one analog-to-digital converter (2), and the communication unit (6) is operationally connected to the signal processing unit (3). By providing said detection unit (7), which is operationally connected to the communication unit (6), together with a processing scheme selectable in the signal processing unit (3) in accordance to a determined communication link quality, a binaural hearing system with two hearing devices is for able to adjust its mode in line with the communication link quality, and therewith its capacity.

The invention relates to a hearing aid system with an electrical feedback cancellation path, for compensating acoustic feedback between an output transducer and an input transducer by subtracting an estimate of the acoustical feedback from a signal on the input side of the amplifier part, the electrical feedback cancellation path comprising an adaptive filter for providing a variable filtering function. The invention further relates to a method of compensating acoustic feedback in a hearing aid system and to its use. The object of the present invention is to provide an alternative scheme for estimating the acoustical / mechanical feedback in a hearing aid. The problem is solved in that the hearing aid system comprises a second electrical input signal consisting essentially of the direct part of said first electrical input signal (i.e. without acoustic feedback), and wherein the second electrical input signal is used to influence, preferably enhance, the filtering function of the adaptive filter of the feedback cancellation path. Preferably, the system comprises a second input transducer for generating the second electrical input signal, the second input transducer being spatially located at a position where the amplitude of the acoustical signal from the output transducer at a given frequency is smaller than at the location of the first input transducer, and wherein the electrical signal of the second input transducer is used to adapt the filtering function of the adaptive filter. Preferably, the signal path comprises a generator of an electrical probe signal for use in characterizing the feedback path. The invention may e.g. be used in binaural hearing aid systems or in connection with other electronic devices comprising a second electrical input signal, e.g. generated by a microphone separately located from a first microphone of the hearing aid.

The invention provides a hearing aid fitting method based on a mobile terminal. The hearing aid fitting method comprises the steps of a connecting step, providing a double-ear heating aid which is internally provided with a microphone and a loudspeaker, wherein the double-ear hearing aid further comprises a storage module in which a self frequency response characteristic and a testing signal of the hearing aid are stored, and the storage module is further used for storing a hearing compensation solution after fitting; connecting the hearing aid with the mobile terminal, and realizing controlling of the hearing aid by the mobile terminal; a calibration step, acquiring a correspondence between the signal level value and an actual sound pressure level of the hearing aid at each frequency point by the mobile terminal according to the self frequency response characteristic stored in the hearing aid; a hearing threshold testing step, after the user wears the double-ear hearing aid, making the hearing aid replay the testing signal by the mobile terminal, and obtaining a hearing threshold curve according to a user feedback; and a compensation solution determining step, determining a hearing compensation solution according to the hearing threshold curve, and storing the hearing compensation solution in the hearing aid. Through storing the testing signal in the hearing aid and introducing the calibration step, hearing aid fitting accuracy based on the mobile terminal is greatly improved.

To provide a hearing aid system (1000) performing dichotic-listening binaural hearing aid processing which improves the clarity of speech and maintains the spatial perception ability. Each of first and second hearing aid devices (1100, 1200) includes a sound pickup unit (1110, 1210) and an output unit (1120, 1220) outputting a sound indicated by a suppressed acoustic signal. The hearing aid system (1000) includes: a first band suppression unit (1300) generating the suppressed acoustic signal indicating the sound outputted from the output unit (1120), by suppressing a signal in a first suppression-target band out of the acoustic signal outputted from the sound pickup unit (1110); and a second band suppression unit (1400) generating the suppressed acoustic signal indicating the sound outputted from the output unit (1220), by suppressing a signal in a second suppression-target band out of the acoustic signal outputted from the sound pickup unit (1210). The suppressed acoustic signals indicating the sounds outputted respectively from the output units (1120, 1220) include, in common, a signal in a non-voice band included in the acoustic signal.

A vice enhancement method based on double-ear sound source positioning and deep learning in a double-ear digital hearing aid belongs to the field of voice signal processing. Firstly a two-stage deep neural network is used for accurately positioning a target voice, and noise in a direction which is different from the direction of target voice is eliminated according to spatial filtering. By means of a deep learning model in which a time delay control bidirectional long-short term memory deep neural network and a classifier are combined, an extracted multi-resolution hearing cepstrum coefficientis used as a characteristic input. Through nonlinear processing capability of deep learning, each time frequency unit of the noise-containing voice is classified to a voice time frequency unit or noise time frequency unit. Finally a voice waveform combining algorithm is used for eliminating the noise in the direction which is same with that of the target voice. The algorithm eliminates the noisein the direction which is different from the direction of the target voice and eliminates the noise in the direction that is same with the target voice, and finally obtains the enhanced voice which satisfies speech intelligibility and comfort of a deaf person. All deep learning models utilize offline training, thereby satisfying a requirement for real-time performance.

The present invention provides a hearing aid with an antenna, wherein the hearing aid includes a housing, and a hearing aid assembly accommodated in a housing, the hearing aid assembly having a first antenna element configured for emission of an electromagnetic field, and a second antenna element comprising a first section and a parasitic antenna element, wherein the first antenna element, the first section, and the parasitic antenna element are configured so that a total electromagnetic field emitted from the hearing aid assembly is substantially the same irrespective of whether the housing is worn in its operational position on a right hand side or a left hand side of a user.

Directional hearing is improved given the binaural coverage for a hearing aid user with two hearing aid devices wearable at the ears. The respective signal transit times and / or signal amplitudes and / or amplifications of an electrical signal are respectively measured in a signal path between an input transducer and an output transducer and that data with respect to the measured signal transit times and / or signal amplitudes and / or gains is transmitted onto the respectively other hearing aid device. As a result, the signal transit times and the signal amplitudes of the electrical signals through the two hearing aid devices can be matched to one another. The hearing aid devices thus cause no phase or amplitude distortion, and the natural phase shift as well as the natural amplitude difference of a sound signal incident from a specific direction are thus preserved. The directional information is thus also preserved for the hearing aid user.

Between ITE hearing aids for binaural hearing assistance, energy-saving communication is made possible by disposing an antenna device with a preferred direction of transmission in the hearing aid housing such that, in a state in which the hearing aid is attached to or inserted one ear of the patient, the preferred direction of transmission is substantially toward the other ear of the patient. In this way it is ensured that the directions of transmission of the two hearing aids in the fitted state lie substantially on a straight line, so that optimum transmission can be achieved.

Between ITE hearing aids for binaural hearing assistance, energy-saving communication is made possible by disposing an antenna device with a preferred direction of transmission in the hearing aid housing such that, in a state in which the hearing aid is attached to or inserted one ear of the patient, the preferred direction of transmission is substantially toward the other ear of the patient. In this way it is ensured that the directions of transmission of the two hearing aids in the fitted state lie substantially on a straight line, so that optimum transmission can be achieved.

A hearing assistance suitability determining device (120) according to the present invention is a hearing assistance suitability determining device (120) which determines a suitability (153) of a subject for dichotic hearing assistance, and includes: a hearing ability information obtaining unit (130) which obtains left-ear hearing ability information (150) and right-ear hearing ability information (151) each of which indicates a hearing ability for frequencies; a hearing ability type determining unit (131) which determines, among hearing ability types each of which is defined by a tendency in a change of the hearing ability with respect to the frequencies, a hearing ability type (152) of the hearing ability indicated by the left-ear hearing ability information (150) and the right-ear hearing ability information (151); and a suitability deciding unit (132) which determines, with reference to a suitability database (144), the suitability (153) of the subject for the dichotic hearing assistance based on a suitability corresponding, in the suitability database (144), to the hearing ability type (152) determined by the hearing ability type determining unit (131), the suitability database (144) showing a correspondence relationship between each of the hearing ability types and one of suitabilities of the subject for dichotic hearing assistance.

A magnetic induction system is disclosed, which has antenna diversity at the transmitter side, but which does not require a bidirectional link to pass information regarding received signal quality back to the transmitter. The system uses a time division multiplexing access (TDMA) arrangement, to transmit the same, or correlated, information with a level of redundancy, from two, or more, antenna to at least a receiver. The or each receiver is configured to determine a received signal quality from the channel received from one antenna, and, in response to inadequate signal quality, to switch to another antenna.A receiver, and a transmitter for such a magnetic induction system are also disclosed, as is an associated method.A non-limiting application of such a system is in binaural hearing aids, in which antenna diversity is preferred at the transmitter because of space limitations.

This invention discloses a frequency-no-masking hearing aid for ears. The novel double-ear hearing aid uses a new method to compensate the comprehension of a hearing-impaired user in noise. The novel method comprises steps of providing at least microphone audio frequency signal (18,20) by responding to the sound; and providing at least one evaluation of evaluations of object signal (26) and noise signals (30) based on at least one microphone audio frequency signal (18,20). At least one of the evaluations of the object signals (26) and the noise signals (30) is modified by the following methods of modifying the evaluation of the object signal (26) and the evaluation of the noise signal (30) which are positioned within different frequency bands; sending an evaluation of modified the object signal to the drumhead of the user of the double-ear hearing aid (10); and sending another modified evaluation of the noise signal of the drumhead of the user.

The present invention relates to a method of exchanging data packages between a first portable communication device and a second portable communication device over a bi-directional wireless communication channel and a wireless binaural hearing aid system where at least one of the first and second portable communication devices comprises a hearing instrument. The method comprises generating, by the first portable communication device, a first plurality of data packages wherein a first subset of the first plurality of data packages belongs to a first packet category comprising audio data and a second subset of the first plurality of data packages belongs to a second packet category without audio data. The method further comprises transmitting the first plurality of data packages from the first to the second portable communication device and receiving, at the first portable communication device, a second plurality of data packages belonging to the first or second packet category from the second portable communication device; wherein a size of data packages belonging to the second packet category is smaller than a size of data packages belonging to the first packet category.

A new binaural hearing aid system is provided with a hearing aid in which signals that are received from external devices, such as a spouse microphone, a media player, a hearing loop system, a teleconference system, a radio, a TV, a telephone, a device with an alarm, etc., are filtered with binaural filters in such a way that a user perceives the signals to be emitted by respective sound sources positioned in different spatial positions in the sound environment of the user, whereby improved spatial separation of the different sound sources is facilitated.

A hearing aid (100) comprises first wireless link means configured to receive a first data signal using a first carrier frequency and second wireless link means configured to receive a second data signal using a second carrier frequency, wherein a first electrical antenna of the first wireless link means also forms part of a first band pass filter of the second wireless link means. The invention provides a hearing aid, a binaural hearing aid system and a method of receiving a first and second wireless signal.

The disclosure relates to binaural hearing instruments and more particularly to reduction of processing time required in a binaural hearing aid system. According to the disclosure, there is provided a method comprising mono-directional transmission of data blocks comprising audio and / or information frames from one hearing instrument to the other hearing instrument or vice versa in a binaural hearing aid. According to the disclosure, the direction of transmission is determined by a quantity characterizing the presence of usable information content in the sound signal picked up by the hearing instruments of the binaural hearing aid. It is proposed to use one or more of local SNR, local voice activity detection indication, local level, local speech intelligibility estimate to determine the direction of transmission, although other quantities may be used.

Level compression applied to the acoustic signals (18) received by a binaural hearing aid system (1) counteracts the preservation of inter-aural level differences (ILD) and thereby reduces the user's ability to locate the sound source and consequently his or her ability to understand speech in noisy environments. It is therefore known to increase the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and / or decreasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, which at least in part allows for preserving the ILDs. However, in some situations this instead reduces the user's ability to understand speech, e.g. when acoustic noise is received at one ear (4) at a higher level (53, 54) than simultaneous speech at the other ear (5). The present invention overcomes this problem by decreasing the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and / or increasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, when the difference between the noise-floor levels (55, 56) of the two hearing aids (2, 3) increases.

Provided is a wireless binaural compressor. New binaural hearing aid systems and methods are provided in which binaural processing of input sound is performed based on wireless transmission of data between the hearing aids of the system with a low data rate and therefore with low power consumption, and wherein each of the hearing aids of the system comprises a microphone and an A / D converter for provision of a digital input signal in response to sound signals received at the respective microphone, a signal level detector for determining and outputting a signal level that is a first function of the digital input signal, a signal parameter detector for determining and outputting a signal parameter that is a second function of a signal in the hearing aid, a transceiver for wireless data communication of the signal parameter with the other hearing aid, a processor that is configured to process the digital input signal in accordance with a selected signal processing algorithm into a processed digital output signal, including a compressor for compensation of dynamic range hearing loss based on the signal level, and a D / A converter and an output transducer for conversion of the processed digital output signal to an acoustic output signal, and wherein the gain of the compressor is controlled by a compressor control signal and wireless data communication is performed at a data transmission rate with a longer time period between trigger and release time periods of the compressors.

A binaural hearing aid system is provided comprising a first hearing aid and a second hearing aid, each of which comprises a microphone and an A / D converter for provision of a digital input signal in response to sound signals received at the respective microphone, a processor that is configured to process the digital input signal in accordance with a selected signal processing algorithm into a processed digital output signal, including a compressor for compensation of dynamic range hearing loss based on the signal level, a D / A converter and an output transducer for conversion of the processed sound signal to an acoustic output signal, a transceiver for data communication with the other hearing aid, and wherein the gain of the compressor of the first hearing aid is controlled by a signal with a value that is substantially identical to the value of the signal controlling the gain of the compressor of the second hearing aid, whereby sense of direction is maintained.

A binaural hearing instrument set is described in which algorithms are split into a server part and a thin-client part. The respective server part of the algorithm is located in a first hearing instrument unit, while the thin-client part is located in a second unit in the binaural hearing instrument set. This is advantageous in that it enables optimization of the usage of combined processing resources in the two units.

A method of adjusting a signal processing parameter for a first hearing aid and a second hearing aid forming parts of a binaural hearing aid system to be worn by a user is provided. The binaural hearing aid system comprises a user specific model representing a desired asymmetry between a first ear and a second ear of the user. The method includes detecting a request for processing a parameter change at the first hearing aid, adjusting the signal processing parameter in the first hearing aid, and adjusting a processing parameter for the second hearing aid based on the request for processing parameter change and the user specific model.