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US 12,701,369 B2Granted
Hearing aid comprising a speaker unit
AssigneeOticon A/S
InventorsMichael Syskind Pedersen, Rasmus Lundgaard Christensen, Fares El-Azm, Adam Kuklasiński, Gerard Encina Llamas, Svend Oscar Petersen
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a hearing aid adapted to be worn at an ear of a user including one or more microphones and a processor configured to apply one or more processing algorithms. The processor can include a feedback control system for estimating a feedback path. The processor can be configured to estimate a speaker unit size in dependence of an estimated feedback path, wherein the feedback path is estimated while said hearing aid is located in a specific position away from the user's head. A method of operating a hearing aid is further disclosed.
Claims7
A hearing aid adapted to be worn at an ear of a user, the hearing aid comprising:
- a microphone adapted to pick up sound from an environment around the user and to provide an electric input signal representative of said sound;
- a processor configured to apply one or more processing algorithms to the electric input signal or to a signal or signals originating therefrom and to provide a processed signal in dependence of said electric input signal and processing parameters of said one or more processing algorithms,
- an output transducer for converting said processed signal to an acoustic signal;
- a BTE-part adapted for being located at or behind the ear of the user, the BTE part comprising said microphone;
- and
- a speaker unit adapted to be located at least partly in an ear canal of the user, the speaker unit comprising said output transducer and a cable electrically connecting said BTE-part and said output transducer;
- wherein the processor comprises a feedback control system for estimating a feedback path from said output transducer to at least one of said multitude of microphones;
- and
- wherein the processor is configured to estimate optimized processing parameters related to the acoustic properties of said ear of the user for said one or more processing algorithms in dependence of said estimated feedback path,
- wherein said optimized processing parameters comprise one or more of specific relative acoustic transfer functions used to define a target direction for a listener, a steering or look vector parameter in an MVDR beamformer, a set of fixed beamformer weights, such as fixed beamformer weights for a hyper-cardioid or a beamformer having its null(s) towards a specific direction(s).
7 more elements
A hearing aid adapted to be worn at an ear of a user, the hearing aid comprising:
- a microphone adapted to pick up sound from an environment around the user and to provide an electric input signal representative of said sound;
- a processor configured to apply one or more processing algorithms to the electric input signal or to a signal or signals originating therefrom and to provide a processed signal in dependence of said electric input signal and processing parameters of said one or more processing algorithms,
- an output transducer for converting said processed signal to an acoustic signal;
- a BTE-part adapted for being located at or behind the ear of the user, the BTE part comprising said microphone;
- and
- a speaker unit adapted to be located at least partly in an ear canal of the user, the speaker unit comprising said output transducer and a cable electrically connecting said BTE-part and said output transducer;
- wherein the processor comprises a feedback control system for estimating a feedback path from said output transducer to at least one of said multitude of microphones;
- and
- wherein the processor is configured to estimate optimized processing parameters related to the acoustic properties of said ear of the user for said one or more processing algorithms in dependence of said estimated feedback path
- the hearing aid being configured to provide said optimized processing parameters related to the acoustic properties of said ear of the user for one of said one or more processing algorithms based on a database of corresponding known values of:
- measured feedback paths for one or more microphones of the hearing aid, or of a pair of hearing aids of a binaural hearing aid system for different artificial or natural persons, and
- associated optimized parameters for said one of said one or more processing algorithms for said different artificial or natural persons.
9 more elements
A hearing aid adapted to be worn at an ear of a user, the hearing aid comprising:
- at least one microphone adapted to pick up sound from an environment around the user and to provide respective at least one electric input signal representative of said sound;
- a processor configured to apply one or more processing algorithms to the at least one electric input signal or to a signal or signals originating therefrom and to provide a processed signal in dependence of said electric input signal and processing parameters of said one or more processing algorithms,
- an output transducer for converting said processed signal to an acoustic signal;
- a BTE-part adapted for being located at or behind the ear of the user, the BTE part comprising said microphone;
- and
- a speaker unit adapted to be located at least partly in an ear canal of the user, the speaker unit comprising said output transducer and a cable electrically connecting said BTE-part and said output transducer, the speaker unit being defined by a speaker unit size;
- wherein said processor is configured to estimate optimized processing parameters related to the acoustic properties of said ear of the user for said one or more processing algorithms in dependence of said current speaker unit size,
- wherein said optimized processing parameters comprise one or more of specific relative acoustic transfer functions used to define a target direction for a listener, e.g. a steering or look vector parameter in an MVDR beamformer, a set of fixed beamformer weights, such as fixed beamformer weights for a hyper-cardioid or a beamformer having its null(s) towards a specific direction(s).
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.