Oticon A/s

Sennheiser Communications A/s

Thomas Kaulberg

Michael Syskind Pedersen

Karsten Bo Rasmussen

Steen Michael Munk

Anders Thule

Jesper Bruun Jensen

Thomas Bo Elmedyb

Andreas Thelander Bertelsen

Morten Christophersen

Michael Smed Kristensen

Marcus Holmberg

Svend Oscar Petersen

Jan Mark De Haan

Meng Guo

Svend Feldt

Anders Højsgaard Thomsen

Peter Sommer

Ulrik Kjems

Mojtaba Farmani

Anders Meng

Torben Christiansen

Jesper Nøhr Hansen

Claus Benjaminsen

Jesper Hansen

Hong Suong Han

Lars Skovby

Svend Oscar Pedersen

A hearing aid adapted for being worn by a user at or in an ear of the user comprises a) at least one input transducer for converting sound in an environment around the user to at least one electric input signal representing said sound; b) an output transducer for converting a processed output signal provided in dependence of said at least one electric input signal to stimuli perceivable to the user as sound; c) a feedback control system comprising an adaptive filer, the feedback control system being configured to provide an adaptively determined estimate (*(n)) of a current feedback path ((n)) from said output transducer to said at least one input transducer in dependence of c1) said at least one electric input signal, c2) said processed output signal, and c3) an adaptive algorithm. The hearing aid further comprises d) a database comprising a multitude (M) of previously determined candidate feedback paths (); and e) a controller configured to identify a change in the current feedback path ((n)) based on the adaptively determined estimate (*(n)) of the current feedback path and at least one of said multitude of previously determined candidate feedback paths (). A method of operating a hearing aid is further disclosed. The invention may e.g. be used in hearing aids, e.g. binaural hearing aid systems or headsets, or speakerphones, or combinations thereof.

Hearing device comprising a feedback control system

A hearing aid comprises a) first and second microphones b) an adaptive beamformer filtering unit comprising, b1) a memory comprising a first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters representing a first and second beam patterns, b3) an adaptive beamformer processing unit providing an adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) representing an adaptive beam pattern, b4) a memory comprising a fixed adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) representing a third, fixed beam pattern, b5) a mixing unit providing a resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) as a combination of said fixed and adaptively determined frequency dependent adaptation parameters &#x3b2;(k) and &#x3b2;(k), respectively, and b6) a resulting beamformer (Y) for providing a resulting beamformed signal Ybased on first and second microphone signals, said first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters, and said resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k).

Hearing device comprising a beamformer filtering unit

A method detects whether an ear mold of a listening device is correctly mounted in the ear of a user. An indication of whether or not a mold of a listening device is correctly mounted in an ear canal of a user is provided. The method comprises a) providing a long term estimate of the feedback path; b) providing an estimate of the current feedback path; c) comparing the long term feedback path estimate with the current feedback path estimate, and providing a measure of their difference, termed the feedback difference measure FBDM; and optionally d) providing an alarm indication, if the feedback difference measure exceeds a predefined threshold.

Listening device and a method of monitoring the fitting of an ear mould of a listening device

A hearing device comprising a first and a second input sound transducers, a processing unit, and an output sound transducer. The first transducer is configured to be arranged in an ear canal or in the ear of the user, to receive acoustical sound signals from the environment and to generate first electrical acoustic signals from the received acoustical sound signals. The second transducer is configured to be arranged behind a pinna or on, behind or at the ear of the user, to receive acoustical sound signals from the environment and to generate second electrical acoustic signals from the received acoustical sound signals. The processing unit is configured to process the first and second electrical acoustic signals and apply a direction dependent gain. The output sound transducer is configured generate acoustical output sound signals in accordance with the applied direction dependent gain.

Hearing device

A hearing aid comprises a) first and second microphones b) an adaptive beamformer filtering unit comprising, b1) a first and second memories comprising a first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters representing a first and second beam patterns, where said first and second sets of weighting parameters are predetermined initial values or values updated during operation of the hearing aid, b3) an adaptive beamformer processing unit providing an adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) representing an adaptive beam pattern configured to attenuate unwanted noise under the constraint that sound from a target direction is essentially unaltered, b4) a third memory comprising a fixed adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) representing a third, fixed beam pattern, b5) a mixing unit providing a resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k) as a combination of said fixed and adaptively determined frequency dependent adaptation parameters &#x3b2;(k) and &#x3b2;(k), respectively, and b6) a resulting beamformer (Y) for providing a resulting beamformed signal Ybased on first and second microphone signals, said first and second sets of complex frequency dependent weighting parameters, and said resulting complex, frequency dependent adaptation parameter &#x3b2;(k).

A method, device and system enhance an audio signal in a receiving device. The method comprises acoustically propagating a target signal from an acoustic source along an acoustic propagation path, providing a propagated acoustic signal at the receiving device; converting the received propagated acoustic signal to a propagated electric signal, the received propagated acoustic signal comprising the target signal, noise and possible other sounds from the environment as modified by the propagation path from the acoustic source to the receiving device; wirelessly transmitting a signal comprising the target audio signal to the receiving device; receiving the wirelessly transmitted signal in the receiving device; retrieving a streamed target audio signal from the wirelessly received signal comprising the target audio signal; and estimating the target signal from the propagated electric signal and the streamed target audio signal using an adaptive system.

Signal enhancement using wireless streaming

A hearing device comprising a first and a second input sound transducers, a processing unit, and an output sound transducer. The first transducer is configured to be arranged in an ear canal or in the ear of the user, to receive acoustical sound signals from the environment and to generate first electrical acoustic signals from the received acoustical sound signals. The second transducer is configured to be arranged behind a pinna or on, behind or at the ear of the user, to receive acoustical sound signals from the environment and to generate second electrical acoustic signals from the received acoustical sound signals. The processing unit is configured to process the first and second electrical acoustic signals. The output sound transducer is configured to be arranged in the ear canal of the user and to generate acoustical output sound signals from electrical acoustic signals.

The application relates to a hearing assistance device and to a method of performing a real ear measurement. The method comprises providing a first controlled acoustic feedback path from an output transducer to a measurement input transducer via a standard acoustic coupler; generating a first probe signal; estimating and storing a first estimate of the first controlled acoustic feedback path; and providing a second controlled acoustic feedback path from the output transducer to the measurement input transducer via the residual volume between the ITE part of the hearing aid device and the user's eardrum; generating a second probe signal; estimating and storing a second estimate of the second controlled acoustic feedback path; and determining a real ear to coupler difference from said first and second acoustic feedback estimates. An alternative and relatively simple method of determining an RECD-value in hearing assistance device of a particular user is thereby provided.

Method of performing an RECD measurement using a hearing assistance device

An audio processing device comprises a multitude of electric input signals, each electric input signal being provided in a digitized form, and a control unit receiving said digitized electric input signals and providing a resulting enhanced signal. The control unit is configured to determine the resulting enhanced signal from said digitized electric input signals, or signals derived therefrom, according to a predefined scheme.

Method of reducing un-correlated noise in an audio processing device

Level compression applied to the acoustic signals () received by a binaural hearing aid system () counteracts the preservation of inter-aural level differences (ILD) and thereby reduces the user's ability to locate the sound source and consequently his or her ability to understand speech in noisy environments. It is therefore known to increase the gain () in the hearing aid () receiving the louder signal and/or decreasing the gain () in the hearing aid () receiving the quieter signal, which at least in part allows for preserving the ILDs. However, in some situations this instead reduces the user's ability to understand speech, e.g. when acoustic noise is received at one ear () at a higher level () than simultaneous speech at the other ear (). The present invention overcomes this problem by decreasing the gain () in the hearing aid () receiving the louder signal and/or increasing the gain () in the hearing aid () receiving the quieter signal, when the difference between the noise-floor levels () of the two hearing aids () increases.

Method for controlling a binaural hearing aid system and binaural hearing aid system

A method of operating an audio processing device to improve a user's perception of an input sound includes defining a critical frequency fbetween a low frequency range and a high frequency range, receiving an input sound by the audio processing device, and analyzing the input sound in a number of frequency bands below and above the critical frequency. The method also includes defining a cut-off frequency fbelow the critical frequency f, identifying a source frequency band above the cut-off frequency f, and extracting an envelope of the source band. Further, the method identifying a corresponding target band below the critical frequency f, extracting a phase of the target band, and combining the envelope of the source band with the phase of the target band.

Sound perception using frequency transposition by moving the envelope

The invention relates to a method of processing an audio signal in a portable listening device, the audio signal comprising a low frequency part having an LF-bandwidth &#x394;fand a high-frequency part having a HF-bandwidth &#x394;f. The invention further relates to a listening device and to a listening system. The object of the present invention is to improve performance or save power in a portable listening device. The problem is solved in that the method comprises a) providing an audio input signal consisting of said low frequency part having an LF-bandwidth &#x394;f; b) performing at least one signal processing step on the low frequency part of the audio signal; and c) performing a bandwidth extension process on said low frequency part of the audio signal to generate said high-frequencyof the audio signal, thereby generating or regenerating said audio output signal with a full bandwidth &#x394;fcomprising said LF-bandwidth &#x394;fand said HF-bandwidth &#x394;f. An advantage of this is that power consumption is reduced. The invention may e.g. be used for portable communication device, mobile telephones or listening devices, such as a hearing aids, ear protection devices, headsets, head phones, etc.

Audio processing in a portable listening device

Disclosed is a method of reducing feedback in a hearing aid adapted to be worn by a user, the method comprising the step of: receiving an audio input signal in an input transducer in the hearing aid; wherein the method further comprises the steps of: transforming the input signal into the frequency domain; dividing the audio signal into a plurality of frequency bands; determining a threshold frequency over which a plurality of upper frequency bands lies; multiplying each of the plurality of upper frequency bands by a random phase, thereby obtaining a plurality of phase randomized upper frequency bands; synthesizing the plurality of phase randomized upper frequency bands and the lower frequency bands to an output signal; transforming the output signal into the time-domain; and transmitting the output signal to an output transducer of the hearing aid.

Method to reduce feedback in hearing aids

A listening device includes an ear-part for being worn in or at an ear of a user, a microphone system including at least two microphones each converting an input sound to an electrical microphone signal, and a TF-conversion unit for providing a time-frequency representation of the at least two microphone signals. Each signal representation includes complex or real values of the signal in a particular time-frequency unit. The listening device also includes a DIR-unit with a directionality system providing a weighted sum of the at least two electrical microphone signals thereby providing at least two directional microphone signals having maximum sensitivity in spatially different directions and a combined microphone signal. Each time-frequency unit of the combined signal is attributable to a particular direction. A frequency shaping-unit modifies one or more selected time-frequency units to indicate directional cues of input sounds providing an improved directional output signal.

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Smørum, Denmark

Thomas Kaulberg