Smartphone Hearing Aid Analog Interface Unit
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional smartphone-based hearing aids face challenges in miniaturization, cost reduction, and audio performance due to the need for separate power supplies and digital signal processors, leading to increased size, expense, and latency issues that affect sound quality.
Innovation Solution
A smartphone-based hearing aid design that connects an analog interface unit with a single integrated circuit chip between multiple microphones and a smartphone, utilizing the smartphone's CPU and GPU for digital signal processing without a separate digital signal processor, and using the smartphone's power supply, thereby reducing size, cost, and latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a separate digital signal processor and power supply device are used in the hearing aid, then signal processing performance is improved, but device size and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the digital signal processing function from a separate dedicated processor and relocates it to the smartphone's application processor. The hearing aid device removes the DSP chip, keeping only the analog interface unit with ADC/DAC functions, while the smartphone handles all digital signal processing tasks including beamforming, noise reduction, and audio enhancement through its existing CPU and GPU capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The smartphone's application processor is utilized for multiple purposes: it serves as the hearing aid's digital signal processor, executes hearing aid control algorithms, and maintains its original functions for smartphone operations. The GPU is similarly leveraged for parallel processing of audio signals while maintaining its graphics processing capabilities, making the smartphone a multi-functional platform that eliminates the need for dedicated hearing aid processing hardware.
2Volume of moving object
If the hearing aid size is reduced, then wearability is improved, but power consumption increases due to reduced battery capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the power consumption burden from the hearing aid by relocating the digital signal processing operations to the smartphone. The hearing aid's battery only needs to power the low-power analog interface unit and microphones, while the energy-intensive DSP tasks are executed on the smartphone which has its own power supply, dramatically reducing the hearing aid's power requirements and enabling further miniaturization.
Solution Approach 2:
The smartphone acts as an intermediary that provides the computational power and energy resources needed for high-performance signal processing. By offloading DSP tasks to the smartphone's application processor and GPU, the system achieves hearing aid功能的 performance without requiring the hearing aid itself to have high power consumption, as the smartphone serves as the energy-providing intermediary.
3Reliability
If digital signal processing is performed in the smartphone, then processing capability is improved, but latency increases affecting sound quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring the smartphone's application processor and GPU to handle audio signal processing in real-time. The system establishes direct communication channels between the hearing aid's analog interface unit and the smartphone's processing units, with optimized data pathways that minimize buffering and processing delays. The GPU's parallel processing capability is specifically leveraged to perform multiple audio processing operations simultaneously, reducing overall latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional sequential mechanical signal processing with parallel electronic processing using the smartphone's GPU. Instead of processing audio signals through a single CPU core in sequence, the system utilizes the GPU's multiple cores to perform parallel computations on audio data streams, significantly reducing processing time and latency while maintaining high processing capability for complex audio algorithms.
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
This design achieves low-cost, compact, and high-performance audio processing with reduced latency, enabling efficient digital signal processing within milliseconds using the smartphone's embedded CPU and GPU, improving sound quality and user experience.
Implementation Method 1
a microphone array configured with a plurality of microphones for converting a received sound signal into an electric signal
Implementation Method 2
amplifying the plurality of analog signals output by the microphone array
Implementation Method 3
converting the amplified analog signals into respective digital signals
Implementation Method 4
the speaker converting the analog signal, received from the first audio jack or the second audio jack, into a sound signal
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a smartphone-based hearing aid which does not employ a separate power supply or digital signal processing device and instead has an analogue interface unit, configured with a single integrated circuit chip, connected between a plurality of microphones and a smartphone, thereby realizing a compact size, reducing the cost and enhancing the audio performance. Instead of employing a digital signal processing chip which is essentially used in the existing hearing aids or personal sound amplifiers, the smartphone-based hearing aid according to the present invention utilizes components such as a smartphone-embedded application processor (AP), RAM, digital-analogue converter, speaker and display and is therefore affordable. In particular, if a CPU and a GPU which are embedded in the application processor of the smartphone are utilized, digital signal processing necessary for the operation of the hearing aid can be performed within a short time of milliseconds (ms) just by using software.