Hearing aid having level and frequency-dependent gain

A hearing aid for compensating for loss of hearing in a human ear wherein the ear is characterized by an ear canal that terminates at an eardrum and wherein the hearing capabilities of an individual are defined by a threshold of audibility, comprising:

• a microphone for picking up incident sound to be received by the human ear and converting it to an electrical audio signal, the incident sound being characterized by varying sound pressure levels,
• an analog-to-digital converter for converting the electrical audio signal produced by the microphone to a digital audio signal,
• an earpiece including an output transducer, said earpiece being positionable within the ear canal of the human ear for producing a sound output in response to incident sound picked-up by said microphone, said earpiece being acoustically transparent to allow incident sound to reach the eardrum without amplification, and
• a digital signal processor for processing the digital audio signal resulting from incident sound picked-up by the microphone, said digital signal processor having a digital signal output,
• a digital-to-analog converter for converting the digital signal output of the digital signal processor to a processed electrical audio signal,
• an amplifier for receiving and amplifying, the processed electrical audio signal to produce an amplified electrical audio signal for driving the output transducer of the earpiece such that the output transducer produces amplified sound output,
• the digital signal processor being configured to cause the output transducer of the earpiece to produce the amplified sound output having the following characteristics:
• i) the sound output is amplified within a frequency band where the individual's threshold of audibility is identified as contributing to hearing loss;
• and
• ii) a gain of the amplified sound output within such frequency band continuously decreases from a maximum gain at the lowest incident sound pressure levels to a minimum gain at incident sound pressure levels near a set cut-off sound pressure level for incident sound, wherein the cut-off level is set based on the individual's threshold of audibility.