Binaural Hearing Aid Phase Restoration for Noise Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current binaural beamformers struggle to effectively reduce noise while preserving binaural cues, especially in dynamic environments where residual noise distortion occurs, often requiring unavailable real-time information or compromising noise reduction.
Innovation Solution
A method for operating a binaural hearing system that decomposes the binaural beamformer signal into magnitude and phase components, using the phase information from one side to restore binaural cues, particularly in frequency bands below 2 kHz, to maintain noise reduction properties and spatial perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If binaural beamforming is used to reduce noise, then noise reduction performance is improved, but binaural cues of residual noise are distorted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the binaural beamformer signal into magnitude and phase components. The magnitude component undergoes noise reduction processing while the phase component is preserved separately. This segmentation allows differential processing that maintains both noise reduction effectiveness and binaural cue integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing step where phase information from one side is used to restore binaural cues in the output signal. This intermediary phase restoration mechanism acts as a mediator between the noise-reduced magnitude signal and the final binaural output, ensuring that binaural cues are preserved without compromising noise reduction.
2Measurement precision
If conventional beamforming is applied to enhance target sound, then signal-to-noise ratio is improved, but spatial perception of residual noise is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
By separating magnitude and phase components, the patent enables the magnitude to be optimized for signal-to-noise ratio through beamforming while the phase component preserves the spatial information necessary for accurate perception of residual noise sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the processing parameters applied to different components of the signal. The magnitude component receives aggressive noise reduction to improve SNR, while the phase component is handled differently to preserve spatial perception, allowing each parameter to be optimized for its specific function.
3Measurement precision
If phase information is preserved from both sides, then binaural cue accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetric processing where phase information from one side is used to restore binaural cues in the output signal. This asymmetric approach maintains binaural cue accuracy while reducing system complexity compared to symmetric processing of both sides.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention discloses a method (18) for operating a binaural hearing system (20), said binaural hearing system (20) comprising a first hearing aid (24) an a second hearing aid (26), wherein in the first hearing aid (24), a first reference signal (28) is generated from a sound signal (22) by a first reference microphone (30), wherein in the second hearing aid (26), a second reference signal (36) is generated from the sound signal (22) by a second reference microphone (38), wherein the first reference signal (28) and the second reference signal (36) are both used to derive a first binaural beamformer signal (50), wherein for at least a number of frequency bands, the first reference signal (28) is used to derive a first phase (54), and wherein for said number of frequency bands, a first output signal (62) is derived from the first binaural beamformer signal (50) and the first phase (54). The invention further discloses a binaural hearing system (20), comprising a first hearing aid (24) and a second hearing aid (26) and a signal processor, said signal processor being configured to perform such a method (18).