Hearing Instrument Offline Speech Message Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users wearing hearing instruments, such as hearing aids, often miss notifications and reminders as they require visual confirmation, which can be inconvenient and disruptive.
Innovation Solution
A hearing instrument system that receives and converts text-based messages from electronic time management and communication tools into speech messages, allowing for timely auditory notification without the need for additional equipment or actions, using a device connected via a Wide-Area-Network for synchronization and message transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If notifications and reminders are delivered through visual displays on computers or mobile devices, then users can see the content of messages, but users wearing hearing instruments may miss these notifications and require additional actions to access them
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a hearing instrument as an intermediary device that receives text messages from a communication device, converts them to speech through text-to-speech conversion, and delivers them audibly to the user. This mediator bridges the gap between visual notification systems and hearing-impaired users, allowing them to receive notifications reliably without needing to check visual displays.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the visual-mechanical interaction (reading text on a display) with an acoustic-electronic system (hearing instrument receiving and playing back speech). The hearing instrument captures text data, converts it to audio signals through text-to-speech processing, and delivers it through acoustic output, substituting the need for visual confirmation with auditory perception.
2Adaptability or versatility
If text messages are converted to speech messages using text-to-speech processing, then hearing instrument users can receive auditory notifications, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the text-to-speech system into separate functional components: the communication device handles text message reception and initial processing, while the hearing instrument handles speech conversion and auditory output. This segmentation allows each device to specialize in specific functions, reducing the complexity burden on any single device while maintaining overall system versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The hearing instrument is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a hearing aid for amplifying sounds and as a notification device for delivering text messages as speech. This universal design allows the same device to perform multiple functions, reducing the need for separate specialized devices and thereby managing complexity while increasing adaptability.
3Speed
If speech messages are transmitted to the hearing instrument in advance of playback, then data transmission can occur independently of playback timing, but the memory storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by transmitting speech messages to the hearing instrument in advance of their scheduled playback time. Messages are received, converted to speech, and stored in memory before the user needs to hear them. This allows the system to prepare notification content ahead of time, ensuring immediate playback capability when the scheduled time arrives without requiring high-speed real-time transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of text messages in speech format and stores them in the hearing instrument's memory. Rather than transmitting and processing messages in real-time at playback moment, the system pre-converts text to speech and stores the audio copies, allowing fast retrieval and playback while managing memory usage through selective storage of upcoming notifications.
4Loss of time
If the hearing instrument plays back speech messages at scheduled times, then users receive timely reminders and notifications, but the system requires precise timing synchronization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the hearing instrument receives timing information from the communication device, stores it alongside speech messages, and uses it to trigger playback at the correct moment. The system continuously monitors the current time against scheduled playback times and adjusts accordingly, ensuring accurate delivery while managing timing complexity through structured data storage and comparison logic.
Data Source
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AI summary
A hearing instrument configured for use with a device, the hearing instrument includes: an interface for reception of a message and/or a speech message from the device, wherein the speech message is a converted form of the message and is generated using a text-to-speech processor; a memory for storage of the message and/or the speech message, and a message processor configured for, at a selected time, outputting audio samples of the speech message for transmission to a user of the hearing instrument.