Ear-worn hearing device with active occlusion reduction
AssigneeKnowles Electronics, LLC
InventorsThomas Miller, Charles King
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Abstract
An ear-worn hearing device with occlusion reduction is disclosed. The hearing device includes a signal processor configured to generate an anti-occlusion signal based on a feedforward signal from a vibration sensor located to detect tissue-propagated vibration within the user's at least partially occluded ear canal. Optionally, the anti-occlusion signal can also be based on a feedback signal from a microphone located to detect sound within the at least partially occluded ear canal. Unwanted vibrations detected by the vibration sensor can optionally be removed from the anti-occlusion signal based on filtering the anti-occlusion signal.
Claims20
An ear-worn hearing device comprising:
- a housing portion configured to at least partially obstructs a user's ear canal when the hearing device is worn by the user;
- a speaker at least partially disposed in the housing portion and located to emit sound into the user's ear when the hearing device is worn by the user;
- a vibration sensor located to detect tissue-propagated vibration within an at least partially obstructed ear canal;
- a signal processor coupled to the vibration sensor and configured to generate an anti-occlusion signal based on a feedforward signal from the vibration sensor;
- a driver circuit coupled to and configured to drive the speaker with a drive signal comprising the anti-occlusion signal.
An ear-worn hearing device comprising:
- a housing portion configured to at least partially occlude a user's ear canal when the hearing device is worn by the user;
- a speaker at least partially disposed in the housing portion and located to emit sound into the user's ear when the hearing device is worn by the user;
- a vibration sensor located to detect tissue-propagated vibration within an at least partially occluded ear canal;
- a first microphone located to detect sound within the at least partially occluded ear canal;
- a signal processor coupled to the vibration sensor and to the first microphone, the signal processor configured to generate an anti-occlusion signal based on a feedforward signal from the vibration sensor and based on a feedback signal from the first microphone;
- a driver circuit coupled to and configured to drive the speaker with a drive signal comprising the anti-occlusion signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.