EP2107826A1 - Direktionales Hörgerätesystem - Google Patents
Direktionales Hörgerätesystem Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP2107826A1 EP2107826A1 EP08103217A EP08103217A EP2107826A1 EP 2107826 A1 EP2107826 A1 EP 2107826A1 EP 08103217 A EP08103217 A EP 08103217A EP 08103217 A EP08103217 A EP 08103217A EP 2107826 A1 EP2107826 A1 EP 2107826A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- signal
- hearing aid
- aid system
- microphones
- wearer
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 230000008447 perception Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 230000007704 transition Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 10
- 238000005562 fading Methods 0.000 claims description 12
- 230000003595 spectral effect Effects 0.000 claims description 6
- 230000007774 longterm Effects 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000005236 sound signal Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 210000005069 ears Anatomy 0.000 description 4
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- 101000655262 Clostridium perfringens (strain 13 / Type A) Small, acid-soluble spore protein C2 Proteins 0.000 description 2
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- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000003044 adaptive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004458 analytical method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004364 calculation method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000000284 extract Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000000605 extraction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 210000003128 head Anatomy 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
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- 230000002123 temporal effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
- H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
- H04R25/40—Arrangements for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic
Definitions
- the invention relates to hearing aids comprising a directionality system.
- the invention relates specifically to a hearing aid system comprising a body worn part comprising a multitude of microphones, each converting an acoustical signal to an electrical input signal, the microphones being arranged in the system to be able to pick up an acoustical signal from several different directions around a wearer of the body-worn part of the system, when worn in an operational position.
- the invention furthermore relates to a method of controlling the directionality of a hearing aid system comprising a multitude of microphones.
- the invention furthermore relates to use of a hearing aid system.
- the invention may e.g. be useful in a hearing aid for use in situations where the wearer of the hearing aid faces away from an acoustic source intended for being received by the wearer.
- the currently known implementations of directionality in hearing systems focus on the perception of front signals.
- the commonly known ELKO algorithm would suppress all backward sound, even if there is no front sound present at all (cf. e.g. EP 0 869 697 or " A simple first-order adaptive differential microphone" by Gary W. Elko and Anh-Tho Nguyen Pong in proceedings of IEEE ASSP Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, 1995, 15-18 Oct. 1995, pp. 169-172 ).
- WO 2007/098768 analyzes signals arriving at the two ears of a wearer of a pair of hearing instruments based on an evaluation of spectral and temporal modulations of the input signals at the two ears by calculation of an evaluation index of speech intelligibility of the two signals. Based on this analysis a selection between omni and directional mode is decided.
- An object of the present invention is to provide a hearing aid system enabling backwards directed directionality. It is a further object to provide a hearing aid system that automatically switches to the relevant mode of directionality. It is a still further object to provide an analysing method that decides automatically whether the wearer of a hearing instrument in a given moment is likely to prefer back or front directionality thereby avoiding to be forced to turn around to the source of interest only because he is wearing the instrument in directional mode at the time, but that he can e.g. keep working on the computer or write to the blackboard and still know what is going on behind him.
- a hearing aid system comprising a body worn part comprising a multitude of microphones, each converting an acoustical signal to an electrical input signal, the microphones being arranged in the system to be able to pick up an acoustical signal from several different directions around a wearer of the body-worn part of the system, when worn in an operational position, and further comprising
- This new kind of processing overcomes the weaknesses of the currently known directional signal processing patterns, which do not account for backward signals in directional settings having major importance for the listener (wearer of the hearing instrument).
- the new method will help listeners in variable environments to hear the dominant signals better, than non-dominant, while the level of dominance between front and backwards sound would be adjustable by a distinct algorithm.
- Such an algorithm could e.g. be based on a comparison of relevant parameters of front and rear microphone signals.
- An advantage of the invention is that the hearing aid system is suitable for use in a situation where a source of sound intended for being specifically heard is located to the rear of a wearer of the hearing aid system.
- a wearer of a hearing aid may be put in situations, where a person speaking and intended for being heard by the person wearing a hearing aid can be sometimes located in front of and sometimes to the rear of the person wearing a hearing aid, e.g. if a teacher wearing a hearing aid walks around in a classroom and discusses with the pupils.
- a hearing aid according to the present invention is useful in such situations.
- a multitude of microphones is in the present context taken to mean more than one, such as two or more.
- the multitude of microphones comprises an array of microphones that are arranged to optimize the extraction of directional information from acoustic sources in the environment of the hearing aids system, including to the rear of a wearer of the hearing aid system when worn in an operational position.
- the transition unit is adapted to switch (abruptly) or gradually change (fade) between front- and backward orientation of the signal perception.
- the hearing aid system is adapted to be fully or partially body worn, e.g. head-worn.
- first and second microphones and an output transducer of the hearing aid system are located in the same physical body.
- the listening system comprises at least two (first and second) physically separate bodies, which are capable of being in communication with each other by wired or wireless transmission (be it acoustic, ultrasonic, electrical of optical).
- a first microphone is located in a first body and a second microphone in a second body of the listening system.
- a first microphone is located in a first body together with an output transducer and a second microphone is located in a second body.
- first and second microphones are located in a first body and an output transducer is located in a second body.
- the term 'two physically separate bodies' is in the present context taken to mean two bodies that have separate physical housings, possibly not mechanically connected or alternatively only connected by one or more guides for acoustical, electrical or optical propagation of signals.
- the hearing aid system comprises two or more microphones, e.g. three microphones or more. In an embodiment, the hearing aid system comprises more than four microphones arranged in a regular array.
- the multitude of microphones are arranged to at least be able to differentiate between a sound signal originating from a location, respectively, to the front of and to the rear of the person wearing the hearing aid.
- the hearing aid system comprises a multitude of detectors, which compare a front and a rear sound signal, front and rear being defined relative to a wearer's head, when the hearing aid system is in use by the wearer.
- the hearing aid system is adapted to provide that the comparison of front and rear signals to determine the importance of one signal over the other is based on one or more of the following parameters of a front and a rear signal:
- the transition unit is adapted to implement some kind of fading when switching between front and rear perception.
- the fading time is in this context defined as the time from a change of directionality has been detected to its implementation in the hearing aid (i.e. until the switching has been performed). This has the advantage that short time sounds (e.g. noise) will not immediately change the directionality of the system.
- the time constants of the fading can be adapted according to the current needs of the situation, either automatically based on the noise level of the acoustic environment or manually by a user operable input to the system (e.g. via a button or a remote control).
- the fading involves time constants in the ms to s range, e.g. in the range from 100 ms to 2 s, such as from 200 ms to 800 ms, e.g. around 500 ms.
- a method of controlling the directionality of a hearing aid system comprising a multitude of microphones, each converting an acoustical signal to an electrical input signal, the microphones being arranged in the system to be able to pick up an acoustical signal from several different directions around a wearer of the body-worn part of the system, when worn in an operational position.
- the method comprises
- the comparison of front and rear signals to determine the importance of one signal over the other is based on one or more of the following parameters of a front and a rear signal:
- fading is used when switching between front and rear perception.
- FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a situation where an embodiment of a hearing aid system according to the present invention providing backward directionality is advantageous.
- a first person 11 wearing a listening device 12 (here illustrated as a behind the ear (BTE) hearing instrument) sits at a computer 17 with one or more persons 18 being located behind him (behind him as indicated by arrow 16 relative to plane 14 through the ears of the person 11, leaving the face of the person in the front half-part of the space thereby defined, as indicated by arrow 15 in FIG. 1 ) and with whom a conversation is conducted.
- BTE behind the ear
- a hearing aid system 1 incorporates the following functional blocks as shown in FIG. 2 :
- the multitude of microphones of the hearing aid system here consists of two omni-directional microphones 11, 12, which are combined to produce either an omni-directional or a directional characteristic. Alternatively, three or more microphones can be used.
- the microphones 11, 12 each convert the acoustic signal 2 at their location to an electrical signal 13, 14, which is fed to respective analogous to digital converters 16, 15 ( AD -blocks).
- the digitized electrical signals 18, 19 are fed to the processing block 20 (DIR-W block) for extracting directional information and decide on the weight between relevant acoustic signals being located in front and to the rear of the wearer of the hearing aid system.
- Directionality of the acoustic input signals provided to the DIR-part of processing unit 20 in digitized electrical form can e.g. achieved by application of a delay line at the microphones' output signals (in analogue 13, 14 or digital 18, 19 form), which is adjusted for minimum rear-signal level.
- minimum rear level depends on the assumed characteristic of the rear sound.
- different directional characteristics such as cardiod, hyper-cardiod, or super-cardiod can apply.
- Different directional patterns (see above) in different frequency bands are state of the art, cf. e.g. EP 1463378 .
- For the detection of the rear sound the same algorithm/means can apply with the exception, that front signals are suppressed instead of rear signals, cf. e.g. WO 2007/147418 or US 5,473,701 .
- the weighting unit ( W -part of the DIR-W -block 20 in FIG. 2 ) preferably includes several detectors, which compare the front sound and rear sound. Examples of sensed parameters that are relevant for the comparison of front and rear signals are:
- the outputs 21, 22 of the detector part of the DIR-W- block 20 can either be simple front-rear detection or a gradually changing value defining a quasi linear measure for the front-rear weighting.
- the outputs 21, 22 are fed to the transition unit 23 ( T -block).
- the transition unit 23 is adapted to control the switching between front and rear perception and to incorporate some kind of fading between the modes. It is advantageous to have the transition unit 23 configurable in respect of fading characteristic and fading time, allowing adjusting the perceived behaviour at the wearer's ears more smoothly or aggressively.
- a separate fading unit can be arranged within the processing unit 20 ( DIR-W- block), which extracts the directional information from the microphones. This will allow to fade gradually between front and rear perception without the danger of producing drops in signal due to unwanted, accidentally met 180°-phase conditions along the fading slope.
- the hearing aid system preferably comprises a feedback cancellation system (not shown in FIG. 2 ) for minimizing or cancelling acoustic feedback from the output transducer 29 to the microphones 11, 12.
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- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Neurosurgery (AREA)
- Otolaryngology (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Circuit For Audible Band Transducer (AREA)
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP08103217A EP2107826A1 (de) | 2008-03-31 | 2008-03-31 | Direktionales Hörgerätesystem |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP08103217A EP2107826A1 (de) | 2008-03-31 | 2008-03-31 | Direktionales Hörgerätesystem |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| EP2107826A1 true EP2107826A1 (de) | 2009-10-07 |
Family
ID=39689420
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP08103217A Withdrawn EP2107826A1 (de) | 2008-03-31 | 2008-03-31 | Direktionales Hörgerätesystem |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP2107826A1 (de) |
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE102012206759A1 (de) * | 2012-04-25 | 2013-10-31 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. | Verfahren zum Steuern einer Richtcharakteristik und Hörsystem |
| US9398379B2 (en) | 2012-04-25 | 2016-07-19 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Method of controlling a directional characteristic, and hearing system |
| EP3490270A1 (de) * | 2017-11-23 | 2019-05-29 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Verfahren zum betrieb eines hörgerätes |
| CN111836162A (zh) * | 2019-04-18 | 2020-10-27 | 西万拓私人有限公司 | 用于听力设备的进行定向信号处理的方法 |
Citations (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5473701A (en) | 1993-11-05 | 1995-12-05 | At&T Corp. | Adaptive microphone array |
| EP0869697A2 (de) | 1997-04-03 | 1998-10-07 | Lucent Technologies Inc. | Steuerbare und variable Differentialmikrofonsanordnung erster Ordnung |
| EP1463378A2 (de) | 2003-03-25 | 2004-09-29 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH | Verfahren zur Bestimmung einer Einfallsrichtung eines Signals einer akustischen Signalquelle und Vorrichtung zur Durchführung des Verfahrens |
| WO2005029914A1 (en) * | 2003-09-19 | 2005-03-31 | Widex A/S | A method for controlling the directionality of the sound receiving characteristic of a hearing aid and a signal processing apparatus for a hearing aid with a controllable directional characteristic |
| WO2007098768A1 (en) | 2006-03-03 | 2007-09-07 | Gn Resound A/S | Automatic switching between omnidirectional and directional microphone modes in a hearing aid |
| WO2007106399A2 (en) * | 2006-03-10 | 2007-09-20 | Mh Acoustics, Llc | Noise-reducing directional microphone array |
| WO2007147418A1 (en) | 2006-06-23 | 2007-12-27 | Gn Resound A/S | A hearing instrument with adaptive directional signal processing |
-
2008
- 2008-03-31 EP EP08103217A patent/EP2107826A1/de not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5473701A (en) | 1993-11-05 | 1995-12-05 | At&T Corp. | Adaptive microphone array |
| EP0869697A2 (de) | 1997-04-03 | 1998-10-07 | Lucent Technologies Inc. | Steuerbare und variable Differentialmikrofonsanordnung erster Ordnung |
| EP0869697B1 (de) | 1997-04-03 | 2001-09-26 | Lucent Technologies Inc. | Steuerbare und variable Differentialmikrofonsanordnung erster Ordnung |
| EP1463378A2 (de) | 2003-03-25 | 2004-09-29 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH | Verfahren zur Bestimmung einer Einfallsrichtung eines Signals einer akustischen Signalquelle und Vorrichtung zur Durchführung des Verfahrens |
| WO2005029914A1 (en) * | 2003-09-19 | 2005-03-31 | Widex A/S | A method for controlling the directionality of the sound receiving characteristic of a hearing aid and a signal processing apparatus for a hearing aid with a controllable directional characteristic |
| WO2007098768A1 (en) | 2006-03-03 | 2007-09-07 | Gn Resound A/S | Automatic switching between omnidirectional and directional microphone modes in a hearing aid |
| WO2007106399A2 (en) * | 2006-03-10 | 2007-09-20 | Mh Acoustics, Llc | Noise-reducing directional microphone array |
| WO2007147418A1 (en) | 2006-06-23 | 2007-12-27 | Gn Resound A/S | A hearing instrument with adaptive directional signal processing |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
| Title |
|---|
| GARY W. ELKO; ANH-THO NGUYEN PONG, PROCEEDINGS OF IEEE ASSP WORKSHOP ON APPLICATIONS OF SIGNAL PROCESSING TO AUDIO AND ACOUSTICS, 15 October 1995 (1995-10-15), pages 169 - 172 |
Cited By (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE102012206759A1 (de) * | 2012-04-25 | 2013-10-31 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. | Verfahren zum Steuern einer Richtcharakteristik und Hörsystem |
| US9398379B2 (en) | 2012-04-25 | 2016-07-19 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Method of controlling a directional characteristic, and hearing system |
| DE102012206759B4 (de) * | 2012-04-25 | 2018-01-04 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Verfahren zum Steuern einer Richtcharakteristik und Hörsystem |
| EP3490270A1 (de) * | 2017-11-23 | 2019-05-29 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Verfahren zum betrieb eines hörgerätes |
| US10674284B2 (en) | 2017-11-23 | 2020-06-02 | Sivantos Pte. Ltd. | Method of operating a hearing device and a hearing device |
| CN111836162A (zh) * | 2019-04-18 | 2020-10-27 | 西万拓私人有限公司 | 用于听力设备的进行定向信号处理的方法 |
| CN111836162B (zh) * | 2019-04-18 | 2021-12-28 | 西万拓私人有限公司 | 用于听力设备的进行定向信号处理的方法 |
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