Auditory Prosthesis Voice Control for Discreet Setting Adjustment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals with auditory prostheses face challenges in differentiating desirable sounds from undesirable sounds in complex sound environments, leading to difficulties in adjusting device settings without drawing attention, especially in social situations.
Innovation Solution
A control system that detects natural language indicators, such as 'excuse me?' or 'pardon me?', during conversations to automatically adjust auditory prosthesis settings, allowing discreet adjustments without the need for conventional hardware interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional hardware interfaces (buttons, dials) are used to adjust auditory prosthesis settings, then users can manually control device parameters, but the adjustment process becomes obtrusive and draws attention in social situations
Solution Approach 1:
The auditory prosthesis automatically adjusts its own settings by detecting control expressions in the user's speech, eliminating the need for manual hardware interaction. The system monitors audio input, identifies commands like 'excuse me?' or 'pardon me?', and autonomously modifies parameters such as noise reduction levels or gain settings, thereby resolving the contradiction between ease of adjustment and social embarrassment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical hardware interfaces (buttons, dials, switches) with an acoustic field-based control system. Instead of physical manipulation, users speak natural language commands that are captured by a microphone and processed by speech recognition algorithms, substituting mechanical action with acoustic signaling to achieve discreet control.
2Reliability
If users manually adjust auditory prosthesis settings in real-time, then audio processing can be optimized for current conditions, but the adjustment process is time-consuming and interrupts conversation flow
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the audio environment and user speech for control expressions in advance of actual adjustment needs. When a control expression is detected (such as 'excuse me?' indicating difficulty hearing), the system is already positioned to immediately execute the appropriate adjustment, eliminating delays associated with manual intervention and ensuring timely optimization of audio processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The auditory prosthesis incorporates a feedback loop where the user's spoken control expressions serve as input signals that trigger automatic parameter adjustments. The system listens for specific phrases, processes the intent, and modifies audio settings accordingly, creating a closed-loop control system that responds to user needs in real-time without requiring manual operation.
3Measurement precision
If the auditory prosthesis uses sophisticated speech recognition to detect control expressions, then automatic adjustment accuracy improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than implementing a comprehensive, complex speech recognition system that analyzes all aspects of speech, the patent applies local quality by focusing specifically on detecting particular control expressions (such as 'excuse me?' or 'pardon me?'). The system uses targeted acoustic feature analysis tuned to identify these specific phrases, achieving high detection accuracy for the intended function while avoiding the complexity of analyzing the entire speech signal in detail.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for performing non-obtrusive, automatic adjustment of an auditory prosthesis are disclosed. A control expression can be detected during a conversation. Upon detection of the control expression, an audio setting adjustment can be selected and applied to the auditory prosthesis. Multiple adjustments can be made in response to identifying multiple control expressions during a conversation.