Hearing Aid Audio Replay With Speaker-Selective Conversation Recall
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals with hearing difficulties face challenges in understanding conversations, especially in noisy environments, due to inadequate amplification by hearing aids and storage issues with recording conversations on smartphones.
Innovation Solution
A hearing device with audio replay capabilities that selectively records and replays specific portions of conversations based on user inputs, such as taps or gestures, using voice fingerprints and head pose detection to enhance understanding without disrupting social interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a hearing aid amplifies all audio input, then the user can hear better in quiet environments, but the user cannot distinguish specific speakers or segments in noisy environments with multiple people
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous audio stream into distinct speaker segments using voice print analysis. Each speaker's voice is identified and separated into individual time segments, allowing the hearing device to selectively amplify specific speakers even in noisy environments with multiple people talking simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces voice print analysis as an intermediary process between audio capture and amplification. The system first analyzes the audio to create voice prints that identify different speakers, then uses these voice prints to selectively amplify specific speakers' voices, acting as a mediator that filters and enhances relevant audio information.
2Loss of information
If a smartphone records all conversations, then the user can review missed information later, but the device consumes excessive storage space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential and relevant portions of conversations for storage - specifically, segments containing identified speakers' voices that the user may want to review. By extracting only these meaningful segments rather than recording entire conversations continuously, the system significantly reduces storage requirements while preserving the most valuable information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality levels to different audio segments based on their importance. Segments containing identified speakers' voices are stored with full quality, while other portions are either compressed or not stored at all. This local quality approach ensures that storage space is allocated to the most valuable content while reducing overall storage consumption.
3Speed
If a hearing device stores all audio data locally, then the user has immediate access to replay functionality, but the device requires large internal memory capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores only the essential audio segments that contain identified speakers' voices, rather than storing all captured audio data. This extraction approach provides sufficient replay functionality for user needs while maintaining a compact memory footprint suitable for hearing devices with limited storage capacity.
4Ease of operation
If the hearing device replays audio segments automatically, then the user receives information without effort, but the system cannot determine which segments are most relevant to the user
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback through user inputs (taps, gestures, or vocal commands) that indicate which audio segments the user wants to replay. The system uses this feedback to identify and replay the most relevant segments, ensuring that the replayed content matches user needs and preferences rather than automatically replaying all segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary voice print analysis and speaker identification before replay is requested. This preliminary action prepares the audio data by organizing it into speaker-specific segments with metadata, so that when the user provides input, the system can quickly retrieve and replay the most relevant content without delay or unnecessary processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided herein for providing devices (e.g., a mobile device and a hearing device) with audio replay capabilities. The hearing device receives audio data with one or more voices of one or more people present in an environment. A user wearing the hearing device is present in the environment and is distinct from the one or more people present in the environment. The hearing device stores the received audio data in a memory of the hearing device. Based on receiving an input, on either a user interface of the hearing device or a user interface of a connected mobile device, from the user wearing the hearing device while they are present in the environment, the hearing device selects a portion of the audio data to replay and causes the selected portion of the audio data to be replayed by the hearing device.