Hearing Aid Adaptation via Mobile App and Wireless Link
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The current process for fitting hearing aids is inefficient, requiring multiple visits to an audiologist for adjustments and lengthy optimization, as users often find initial settings uncomfortable, necessitating gradual adaptation to optimal sound quality.
Innovation Solution
A hearing assistance system that uses a mobile device to communicate with the hearing aid, allowing professionals to set initial and final settings, with automatic gradual adjustments over time, leveraging real-time data and wireless connectivity to ease the adaptation process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple iterations of interview and adjustment are performed to optimize hearing aid settings, then sound quality satisfaction is improved, but the number of visits to audiologist office and time required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically adjusting hearing aid settings between fitting sessions based on wearer feedback and usage data. The mobile application communicates with the hearing aid to implement gradual setting changes without requiring the audiologist's physical presence, thereby reducing the number of visits needed while maintaining optimization quality
Solution Approach 2:
The hearing aid system enables self-service by automatically adapting settings based on wearer responses and environmental data collected through the mobile application. The device can autonomously implement setting adjustments without requiring continuous professional intervention, allowing optimization to continue between visits independently
2Manufacturing precision
If initial hearing aid settings are set to optimal levels, then sound quality is improved, but wearer comfort and adaptation difficulty worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic adjustment by gradually transitioning hearing aid settings from initial to optimal levels over time based on wearer feedback. The mobile application monitors wearer responses and automatically modifies settings in incremental steps, allowing the system to adapt dynamically to the wearer's comfort level while progressing toward optimal sound quality
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters by automatically adjusting hearing aid settings based on wearer feedback and usage patterns. The mobile application communicates parameter modifications to the hearing aid, enabling gradual optimization of sound quality parameters while monitoring wearer adaptation comfort and adjusting the rate of change accordingly
Data Source
AI summary
A hearing assistance system for delivering sounds to a listener provides for programming of a hearing assistance device, such as a hearing aid, using a communication link with a secondary device such as a smartphone. An example hearing assistance system may compensate for a patient's hearing deficit in a gradually progressing fashion over a configured period of absolute time, device operation time, or a combination of absolute and operation time. The hearing assistance device may be programmed by an application operating on the secondary device to successively select a parameter set that defines an operating characteristic of the signal processing circuit from a group of such parameter sets over a period of time or in response to a listener or physician input. The physician input may be received by the secondary device over a network. The defined sequence may end in a parameter set that optimally compensates the patient's hearing.