Hearing Aid Personalized Sound Range Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current hearing aids do not effectively enhance speech and sound intelligibility, particularly in noisy environments, and fail to adapt to individual hearing needs, leading to suboptimal user experience and quality of life for individuals with hearing loss.
Innovation Solution
A hearing aid system with electronically connected left and right bodies that conform to the external ear, featuring a programmed electronic signal processor for personalized sound ranges, and the ability to pair with smart devices for distributed computing and mode adjustments, including dominant sound, immediate background, and background modes to suppress ambient noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hearing aids amplify all sounds to compensate for hearing loss, then users can hear better, but speech intelligibility deteriorates in noisy environments due to amplified background noise
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing aid applies different processing to different sound sources: speech signals receive enhancement while background noise receives suppression. The system identifies speech components and applies selective gain, rather than uniform amplification, thereby improving speech intelligibility while maintaining overall hearing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the presence of background noise as a cue to identify and enhance speech signals. By detecting noise characteristics, the hearing aid can selectively amplify speech components that stand out from the noise, converting the harmful noise environment into an opportunity for speech enhancement.
2Ease of manufacture
If hearing aids provide fixed sound ranges, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to individual hearing needs deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing aid incorporates adjustable sound ranges that can be dynamically modified based on individual user needs. The device allows programming of specific frequency ranges and gain settings that can be customized for each user's hearing profile, transitioning from fixed to adaptive configuration while maintaining a standardized hardware platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables modification of acoustic parameters such as frequency response, gain, and bandwidth to match individual hearing requirements. By allowing these parameters to be adjusted and programmed, the hearing aid achieves personalized optimization without requiring custom manufacturing for each user.
3Reliability
If hearing aids process all audio signals, then complete sound coverage is achieved, but processing speed deteriorates due to computational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing aid extracts and processes only the most critical audio components for speech intelligibility, such as speech-frequency ranges and transient sounds. By selectively processing only relevant signals rather than all audio content, the system maintains complete coverage of important sounds while reducing overall computational load and improving processing speed.
4Device complexity
If hearing aids lack smart device integration, then device complexity is reduced, but ease of operation deteriorates due to limited user control
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing aid uses a smart device as an intermediary for complex control functions. The hearing aid itself remains relatively simple, while the paired smart device provides the interface for programming, adjustment, and monitoring. This allows sophisticated user control without significantly increasing the complexity of the hearing aid hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
A hearing aid and method for use of the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the hearing includes a body that at least partially conforms to the contours of an external ear and is sized to engage therewith. Various electronic components are contained within the body, including an electronic signal processor that is programmed with a respective left ear qualified sound range and a right ear qualified sound range. Each of the left ear qualified sound range and the right ear qualified sound range may be a range of sound corresponding to a preferred hearing range of an ear of the patient modified with a subjective assessment of sound quality according to the patient. Sound received at the hearing aid is converted to the qualified sound range prior to output.