Ear-worn device with neural network-based noise modification and/or spatial focusing

An ear-worn device, comprising:

• two or more microphones;
• and
• noise reduction circuitry comprising neural network circuitry,
• wherein the neural network circuitry is configured to:
• receive multiple audio signals wherein at least two of the multiple audio signals each originate from a different one of the two or more microphones and/or at least one of the multiple audio signals is a beamformed audio signal originating from the two or more microphones;
• and
• implement one or more neural network layers trained to perform background noise modification and spatial focusing, such that the neural network circuitry generates, based on the multiple audio signals, two or more neural network outputs,
• wherein the noise reduction circuitry is configured to generate an output audio signal comprising:
• a target speech signal comprising a first spatially-focused version of a speech signal, wherein the speech signal comprises speech in a first audio signal among the multiple audio signals;
• an interfering speech signal comprising a second spatially-focused version of the speech signal;
• and
• a background noise signal comprising background noise in the first audio signal,
• wherein the noise reduction circuitry is further configured to generate the output audio signal such that, in the output audio signal:
• a change in volume of the background noise signal is different from a change in volume of the target speech signal by a first volume change difference amount;
• a change in volume of the interfering speech signal is different from the change in volume of the target speech signal by a second volume change difference amount;
• and
• the first volume change difference amount and the second volume change difference amount are independently controllable,
• wherein the neural network circuitry is further configured to use:
• a first subset of the one or more neural network layers to generate a first of the two or more neural network outputs;
• and
• a second subset of the one or more neural network layers to generate a second of the two or more neural network outputs, and
• wherein the noise reduction circuitry is further configured to obtain the speech signal and/or the background noise signal from the first of the two or more neural network outputs, and to obtain the target speech signal and/or the interfering speech signal from the second of the two or more neural network outputs.