Hearing Aid Voice Control Interface for Speech Intelligibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hearing aid users with conductive, mixed, or age-related hearing loss face challenges in speech intelligibility, especially in difficult listening environments, requiring manual adjustments that can be cumbersome and embarrassing, and often lead to reduced participation in conversations.
Innovation Solution
A hearing aid with a voice control interface that allows users to seamlessly change settings using context-dependent voice commands, such as 'Could you please repeat?', which automatically adjusts audio processing parameters to enhance speech clarity and reduce background noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual adjustments are made to hearing aid settings, then speech intelligibility can be improved in difficult listening environments, but the operation becomes cumbersome and embarrassing for users
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing aid system automatically detects keywords in the acoustic environment and adjusts its own processing parameters without user intervention. The processing parameter controller monitors the acoustic environment, identifies keywords using the keyword detector, and automatically applies optimized processing parameters to improve speech intelligibility in difficult listening conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical adjustments with an automated voice-based control system. Instead of requiring users to physically adjust settings, the system uses keyword detection and automatic processing parameter control to adjust hearing aid settings based on voice commands and environmental analysis.
2Ease of operation
If the hearing aid continuously listens for commands, then voice control responsiveness is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The keyword detector operates periodically to identify keywords in the acoustic environment rather than continuously processing all audio data. The processing parameter controller activates and adjusts parameters based on periodic keyword detection events, reducing overall power consumption while maintaining responsive voice control when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyword detector serves as an intermediary that filters acoustic input before full processing. It identifies specific keywords that trigger the more energy-intensive processing parameter adjustments, allowing the system to remain in a lower-power state between keyword detection events while still providing responsive voice control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users to automatically improve speech understanding in challenging environments without manual intervention, reducing the need for awkward adjustments and enhancing participation in conversations.
Implementation Method 1
at least one input transducer for converting sound in the environment to respective at least one electric input signal
Implementation Method 2
an output transducer for converting an output signal depending on said at least one electric input signal to stimuli perceivable as sound for said user
Data Source
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AI summary
A hearing aid (HA) adapted to be worn by a user comprises a) at least one input transducer for converting sound in the environment to respective at least one electric input signal; b) a configurable audio signal processor (ASP) adapted to apply a number of audio processing algorithms to said at least one electric input signal; c) an output transducer for converting an output signal depending on said at least one electric input signal to stimuli perceivable as sound for said user; d) a processing parameter controller (PPC) configured to identify and apply optimized processing parameters for at least one of said number of audio processing algorithms to said at least one electric input signal, and to provide a processed signal in dependence thereof; e) a voice control interface (VCI) allowing the user to control the hearing aid via one or more spoken commands. The voice control interface comprises el) a keyword detector (KWD) configured to identify at least one of said one or more spoken commands, wherein said at least one of said one or more spoken command is a context dependent command. The processing parameter controller (PPC) is configured to apply the optimized processing parameters for the at least one of the number of audio processing algorithms in dependence of the current acoustic environment of the hearing aid and the context dependent command.