Binaural Hearing Aid Compressor Coordination
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Hearing impaired individuals face challenges in maintaining directional cues due to differences in sound pressure levels and timing between ears, leading to loss of sense of direction when using conventional binaural hearing aids, which fail to coordinate compression effectively across both ears.
Innovation Solution
A binaural hearing aid system with coordinated processing across both ears, where the gain of the compressor in one hearing aid is controlled by a signal with a value identical to that of the other, maintaining interaural level differences and time differences to preserve directional cues, using multi-channel compression and signal processing algorithms that adjust compressor control signals to ensure identical values for both ears.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional binaural hearing aids apply independent compression to each ear, then dynamic range loss is compensated, but directional cues are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the compression control of both hearing aids by having each hearing aid receive and process the other's compression control signal. This ensures that both hearing aids apply identical compression ratios and parameters, maintaining interaural level differences and directional cues while still providing dynamic range compression for hearing impairment compensation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by having each hearing aid transmit its compression control signal to the other hearing aid via a communication link. This feedback loop ensures that both hearing aids continuously adjust their compression parameters to remain identical, thereby preserving directional information while compensating for dynamic range loss.
2Adaptability or versatility
If compression parameters are adjusted independently in each hearing aid, then individual hearing loss compensation is optimized, but interaural level differences change
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the compression parameter sets of both hearing aids by exchanging and synchronizing their compression control signals. This ensures that both hearing aids use identical compression ratios, knee-point levels, and attack/release time constants, thereby maintaining interaural level differences while still providing customized compensation for each user's hearing loss profile.
3Productivity
If binaural compression is applied without coordination, then processing efficiency is maintained, but sense of direction is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains processing efficiency by implementing a feedback mechanism where each hearing aid receives the compression control signal from the other and adjusts its parameters accordingly. This coordinated approach ensures that both hearing aids apply identical compression, preserving interaural level differences and the user's sense of direction, while still operating independently to maintain processing efficiency.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
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.