Hearing Aid Real-Time Speech Processing Delay Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hearing aids face challenges in real-time speech processing due to sound distortion and output delay caused by frequency processing, particularly in amplifying high-frequency sounds for hearing-impaired individuals.
Innovation Solution
The method involves dividing input speech into audio segments, identifying soundless and non-soundless segments, and selectively applying frequency processing only to high-frequency segments while deleting soundless segments to reduce or eliminate processing delay.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If frequency processing is performed on all audio segments to reduce distortion, then sound quality is improved, but output delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The input speech is divided into multiple audio segments, allowing selective processing of different segments based on their characteristics. This segmentation enables the system to apply frequency processing only where necessary while bypassing it for segments where it would cause excessive delay.
Solution Approach 2:
Different processing strategies are applied to different audio segments based on their local characteristics. Soundless segments are deleted without processing, low-frequency non-soundless segments are output without frequency processing, and only high-frequency non-soundless segments undergo frequency processing. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying quality enhancement only where needed.
2Manufacturing precision
If frequency processing is performed on high-frequency sounds only to reduce distortion, then sound quality is improved, but computation time increases causing output delay
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying frequency processing to all audio segments or even all high-frequency segments, the system applies it only to necessary high-frequency non-soundless segments. This partial action approach reduces computation time while still achieving the goal of reducing distortion in the critical high-frequency range that hearing-impaired listeners need.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and removes soundless segments from the audio stream before processing, eliminating unnecessary computation. It also separates low-frequency and high-frequency segments, applying processing only where needed, thereby extracting only the essential processing operations that contribute to sound quality improvement.
3Loss of information
If soundless segments are kept in the output to maintain complete speech, then speech completeness is preserved, but processing delay increases due to processing all segments
Solution Approach 1:
The system discards soundless segments from the output, removing portions of the audio that contain no meaningful speech information. This discarding action reduces the total processing load and eliminates delay caused by processing and outputting silent periods, while the important speech information in non-soundless segments is preserved and output timely.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for enhancing speech output in real time is used in a hearing aid device. The input speech is divided into multiple audio segments first. Then each audio segment is analyzed for its attribute: high frequency, low frequency, or soundless. Low frequency segments are outputted without undergoing frequency processing. High frequency segments are outputted after undergoing frequency processing. All or some of the soundless segments are deleted without being outputted. The deletion of soundless segments can reduce the delay caused by the frequency processing of the high frequency segments.