Methods and systems for hearing device signal enhancement using a remote microphone

A hearing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
• receive a first signal output by a local microphone that is a part of the hearing device and it at a first location, the first signal representative of a degraded version of audio content as detected by the local microphone, the audio content provided by an audio source at a second location and degraded by noise;
• receive a second signal from a remote microphone system located in proximity of the second location, the second signal representative of a cleaner version of the audio content as detected by the remote microphone system, the cleaner version less impacted by the noise;
• determine a relatedness factor between the first signal and the second signal;
• apply, based on the relatedness factor, a signal enhancing operation to the first signal to output an enhanced first signal;
• identify, based on an envelope of the second signal, a portion of the second signal that does not include speech content;
• abstain from determining the relatedness factor for a portion of the first signal that is temporally aligned with the portion of the second signal;
• and
• apply a gain model dependent on the envelope to the portion of the first signal.

A system comprising:

• a hearing device configured to receive a first signal output by a local microphone that is at a first location, the first signal representative of a degraded version of audio content as detected by the local microphone, the audio content provided by an audio source at a second location and degraded by noise;
• and
• a remote microphone system configured to detect a cleaner version of the audio content while the remote microphone system is located in proximity of the second location, the remote microphone system configured to provide a second signal representative of the cleaner version of the audio content to the hearing device, the cleaner version less impacted by the noise than the degraded version;
• wherein the hearing device is further configured to
• receive the second signal from the remote microphone system,
• determine a relatedness factor between the first signal and the second signal,
• apply, based on the relatedness factor, a signal enhancing operation to the first signal to output an enhanced first signal,
• identify, based on an envelope of the second signal, a portion of the second signal that does not include speech content,
• abstain from determining the relatedness factor for a portion of the first signal that is temporally aligned with the portion of the second signal, and
• apply a gain model dependent on the envelope to the portion of the first signal.