Ear-associated inertial-acoustic fusion with deterministic audio-IMU synchronization

Abstract

An ear-associated assistive system is disclosed that integrates acoustic sensing and inertial sensing to generate motion-compensated spatial parameters for hearing assistance and, in certain embodiments, to control stimulation for implantable auditory and/or vestibular interfaces. The system maintains temporal alignment between inertial samples and audio samples by maintaining a deterministic mapping between inertial sample times and audio sample indices, including across power-state transitions, thereby enabling reliable sensor fusion and consistent outputs. In certain implementations, an ear-frame coordinate system is established based on fixed mechanical placement of an inertial sensing subsystem relative to one or more microphones, and calibration parameters are stored to align sensor axes, microphone geometry and latency. A processor computes a head-motion state from inertial data and transforms an ear-frame direction estimate derived from acoustic data into a stabilized direction parameter expressed in a stabilized coordinate frame, optionally outputting a quality metric indicative of validity. The stabilized direction parameter and/or quality metric may be used for beamforming, binaural rendering and routing. The system may further detect motion events and apply safety gating rules to mitigate motion artifacts and constrain acoustic output and/or stimulation, subject to safety constraints and, in certain embodiments, clinician-defined bounds. Interoperability with an external directional accessory is also described, wherein inertial-acoustic fusion is used to stabilize directional operation and maintain consistent routing.

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