Hearing Prosthesis Sound Processor Visual Interaction Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hearing prostheses lack an efficient method to automatically configure sound processing settings based on the user's visual focus on external devices, leading to suboptimal audio processing in scenarios where the user is interacting with visual content.
Innovation Solution
A hearing prosthesis system that receives a control signal from an external device indicating the user's visual focus, allowing it to automatically configure its sound processor settings to optimize audio processing based on the type of visual and audio content being presented, such as reducing noise or adjusting gain and frequency filtering accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the sound processor uses fixed settings, then the device complexity is reduced, but the adaptability to different usage scenarios deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sound processor automatically detects visual interaction scenarios and self-configures appropriate settings without requiring manual user intervention. The system monitors for visual content detection from external devices and autonomously adjusts sound processing parameters, allowing the device to serve itself in adapting to different usage contexts.
Solution Approach 2:
The sound processor transitions from fixed settings to dynamic, scenario-based configuration. The system continuously adapts its sound processing parameters based on detected visual interaction states, enabling flexible adjustment of noise reduction, gain, and frequency filtering according to the current usage scenario.
2Reliability
If the sound processor dynamically adjusts settings based on audio evaluation, then the audio processing quality is improved, but the loss of time for real-time processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-configures sound processing settings based on detected visual interaction scenarios before audio processing begins. By anticipating the needed configuration when visual content is detected, the system avoids real-time calculation delays and prepares appropriate parameters in advance for immediate application.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from visual content detection to trigger appropriate sound processing configurations. When an external device detects visual content and communicates this state to the hearing prosthesis, the sound processor receives feedback about the current scenario and adjusts its settings accordingly, creating a closed-loop adaptive system.
3Ease of operation
If the hearing prosthesis integrates communication with external devices, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hearing prosthesis integrates multiple functions including audio processing, visual interaction detection, and automatic configuration within a single system. The external device serves multiple purposes by both providing visual content and communicating scenario information to trigger appropriate sound processing modes, reducing the need for separate control mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
As disclosed, an external device is associated with the recipient of a hearing prosthesis and provides to the hearing prosthesis a control signal carrying an indication that the recipient is looking at output of the external device, perhaps including an indication of one or more characteristics of visual output and/or audio output from the external device. In response to such a control signal, the hearing prosthesis then automatically configures its sound processor in a manner based at least in part on the provided indication, such as to help process audio coming from the external device and/or to process audio in a manner based on the indicated characteristic(s) of visual output and/or audio output.