Hearing device adapted to perform a self-test and a method for testing a hearing device
AssigneeSonova AG
InventorFethi Cherigui
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Hearing devices capable of performing a self-test as well as a method for automatically testing a hearing device. A hearing device includes a measurement bridge circuit connected to the receiver of the hearing device in parallel with the audio amplifier of the hearing device. A method for self-testing a hearing device includes the steps of i) disabling the audio amplifier connected to the receiver, in particular by putting the amplifier in a high impedance state, ii) applying with a measurement bridge circuit a direct current (DC) and/or an alternating current (AC) to the receiver, iii) measuring with the measurement bridge circuit (5) a voltage at the receiver, and iv) detecting a presence or absence of a fault condition based on the measured voltage.
Claims21
A hearing device, comprising:
- an input transducer (1);
- a signal processor (2);
- an amplifier (3), in particular a class D amplifier with an H-bridge;
- a receiver (4),
- a measurement bridge circuit (5) connected to the receiver (4) in parallel with the amplifier (3),
- wherein the input transducer (1) is connected to the signal processor (2), the signal processor (2) is connected to the amplifier (3), and the amplifier (3) is connected to the receiver (4),
- wherein a direct current or an alternating current is provided by a respective current steering digital-to-analogue converter (7, 7′),
- wherein the measurement bridge circuit (5) is adapted to controllably supply the direct current or the alternating current to the receiver (4) and to measure a voltage at the receiver (4),
- wherein the hearing device is operable in a normal mode and in a measurement mode,
- wherein in the normal mode the amplifier (3) is enabled and provides an amplified output signal to the receiver (4),
- wherein in the measurement mode the amplifier (3) is connected to the receiver and is disabled, and the measurement bridge circuit (5) supplies the direct current and/or alternating current to the receiver (4) and measures the voltage at the receiver (4),
- wherein the current steering digital-to-analogue converter comprises a current source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.