External Audio Processing for Affordable AI Hearing Aid Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hearing aids with Bluetooth capabilities are expensive and out of reach for many individuals with hearing loss, and existing technologies face challenges in providing affordable solutions for improved audio processing and speech recognition during online communication.
Innovation Solution
A communication device external to the hearing aid system processes audio signals using personal audibility features and artificial intelligence, distributing computational effort to enhance audio quality and speech recognition, utilizing external microphones and processors to provide affordable and effective hearing solutions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If all audio processing and adaptation are carried out in the hearing aids, then audio quality and speech recognition are improved, but device cost and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the audio processing system into multiple segments: the hearing aid device handles basic audio capture and transmission, while the external communication device (PC, smartphone, or server) performs advanced audio processing, speech recognition, and adaptation. This segmentation allows complex functions to be offloaded from the hearing aid to external devices, reducing hearing aid complexity while maintaining high speech recognition accuracy through distributed computing resources.
2Measurement precision
If advanced AI mechanisms are integrated into hearing aids for speech recognition, then speech recognition accuracy is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive AI speech recognition mechanisms from the hearing aid device and places them in external communication devices or cloud servers. The hearing aid only needs to capture and transmit audio signals, while the expensive AI processing is performed externally where the computational resources already exist, thereby reducing manufacturing costs for the hearing aid itself while maintaining high speech recognition accuracy.
3Measurement precision
If high-quality microphones and processors are used in hearing aids, then audio processing quality is improved, but device cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary communication device (PC, smartphone, or server) that acts as a mediator between the hearing aid and the audio processing functions. The hearing aid uses simple microphones to capture audio, which is then transmitted to the intermediary device that performs high-quality audio processing using its own processors and resources, thereby achieving high audio processing quality without requiring expensive components in the hearing aid itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication device is provided. The communication device may include a wireless communication terminal and/or terminal interface, at least one processor configured to receive a signal representing an audio signal from the wireless communication terminal and/or terminal interface, and a storage element coupled to the processor having a personal audibility feature (PAF) file stored therein, the PAF file including a personal audibility feature of a predetermined user, wherein the processor is further configured to modify the signal according to the PAF file and to provide another signal representing an audio stream based on the modified signal to the wireless communication terminal.