Binaural Hearing Aid Bluetooth Profile Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Binaural hearing assistance systems face challenges in maximizing battery lifetime and device longevity while maintaining robust connectivity and balanced power consumption during audio streaming via Bluetooth links.
Innovation Solution
The system dynamically switches the roles of hearing devices by modifying the set of Bluetooth profiles advertised to an external device based on mode switching criteria, ensuring both devices remain connected and balancing power consumption by relaying audio streams through a binaural link when a weak Bluetooth link is detected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If one hearing device receives audio stream via Bluetooth and relays it to the other device, then power consumption is reduced for one device, but connectivity reliability deteriorates when the Bluetooth link is weak
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between two operational modes based on link quality conditions. In the first mode, one hearing device receives the audio stream via Bluetooth and relays it to the other device via binaural link. In the second mode, both devices receive independent Bluetooth streams. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to optimize power consumption when link quality is good while ensuring connectivity reliability when link quality deteriorates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter (receiving mode) based on the Bluetooth link quality parameter. When link quality exceeds a threshold, the system uses the power-efficient relay mode. When link quality falls below the threshold, the system switches to the redundant reception mode, thereby adapting to changing conditions to maintain both power efficiency and reliability.
2Use of energy by moving object
If roles of hearing devices are switched based on battery levels, then power consumption is balanced between devices, but device complexity increases due to role management
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from battery level monitoring to automatically trigger role switching between hearing devices. When one device's battery level falls below a threshold while the other has sufficient charge, the system automatically switches roles so that the device with lower power consumption responsibilities (receiving vs. relaying) can extend its operational life. This feedback mechanism balances power consumption without requiring complex manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The hearing devices autonomously manage their own roles based on their battery status. Each device monitors its own power level and can initiate role switching without external control, allowing the system to self-optimize power distribution and extend overall system operational life.
3Reliability
If both hearing devices remain connected to external device, then connectivity reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of active Bluetooth connections based on link quality conditions. In the first mode (good link quality), only one device maintains a Bluetooth connection while the other receives audio via the binaural link, reducing power consumption. In the second mode (poor link quality), both devices maintain Bluetooth connections to ensure connectivity reliability. This dynamic connection management resolves the contradiction between reliability and power consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A hearing assistance system, having first and second hearing devices worn at respective ears of a user, each hearing device having a BLUETOOTH® interface for wireless reception from an external audio source device, the hearing devices being adapted to establish a binaural data link between each other, wherein the hearing devices are adapted to define first and second sets of BLUETOOTH® profiles assigned to the first and second hearing devices respectively, with the first set and the second set differing by at least one profile, wherein the first devices are adapted to establish a BLUETOOTH® connection to an external device and to advertise their BLUETOOTH® profile to the external device, wherein the hearing devices are adapted to modify, by data exchange via the binaural link, the first and second set of BLUETOOTH® profiles by moving at least one of the profiles from one of the sets to the other set.