Method for manufacturing acoustical devices and for reducing especially wind disturbances

An acoustical device, especially a hearing device, comprising an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement;

• a processor unit for establishing signal processing of the device according to individual needs and/or purpose of the device and having an input and an output;
• at least one output electrical/mechanical converter with an input;
• a filter arrangement with adjustable high-pass characteristic and with an input operationally connected to an output of said input converter arrangement and further having a control input for adjusting said characteristic, wherein said control input is operationally connected to said output of said filter arrangement, said output of said filter arrangement to said input of said processing unit, the output of which being operationally connected to said input of said at least one output converter.

A method for reducing disturbances, especially wind disturbances, in an acoustical device, especially a hearing device with an input acoustical/electrical converter arrangement generating a first electric output signal and comprising the steps of

• filtering a signal dependent from said first electric signal with a variable high-pass characteristic, thereby generating a second electric signal;
• adjusting said variable characteristic by a third signal dependent on said second signal.

An acoustical device, especially a hearing device, comprising

• an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement with an output;
• a pitch filter with adjustable pitch position and a control input for said pitch position, further with an input and an output;
• a pitch detector unit with an input and with an output, the output of said input converter arrangement being operationally connected to the input of said pitch filter, the output of said input converter arrangement being operationally connected to the input of said pitch detector unit, said output of said pitch detector unit being operationally connected to said control input.

A method for improving signal-to-noise ratio in an acoustical device, especially a hearing device comprising pitch filtering a signal dependent from an output signal of an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement, monitoring the actual pitch of predominant frequency components within said dependent signal, adjusting pitch position of said pitch filtering dependent on said actual pitch position monitored.

An acoustical device, especially a hearing device comprising an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement with an output, a first band-pass filter unit with an input and with an output, and with a band selected to pass selected harmonics of speech, a non-linear modulation unit with an input and with an output, a second band-pass filter or low-pass filter unit selected to pass different selected harmonics of speech, with an input and with an output, an adding unit with two inputs and with an output, wherein said output of said input converter arrangement is operationally connected to a first input of said adding unit substantially without frequency filtering, said output of said input converter arrangement is operationally connected to the input of said first band-pass filter unit, the output of which being operationally connected to the input of said non-linear modulation unit, the output of which being operationally connected to said input of said second band-pass filter or of said low-pass filter unit, the output thereof being operationally connected to the second input of said adding unit.

A method for increasing signal-to-noise ratio at an acoustical device, especially a hearing device and with respect to speech signal with an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement generating a first electric signal, comprising the steps of

• band-pass filtering a signal dependent on said first signal to generate a band-pass filtered signal with harmonic components of speech;
• modulating said filtered signal at a non-linear characteristic to generate an output signal with a re-increased number of harmonic components of speech;
• band- or low-pass filtering said output signal with said increased number of harmonic components, to generate a further signal with selected harmonic components and superposing said further signal to a signal dependent on said first electric signal.

A method for at least substantially canceling wind disturbances in a acoustical device especially in a hearing device with an input acoustical/electrical converter arrangement, said arrangement generating at an output an electric signal in frequency or frequency band domain with a beamformer amplification characteristic with respect to the impinging angle with which acoustical signals impinge upon said arrangement and with a predetermined frequency roll-off characteristic comprising the steps of normalizing a signal dependent on said electric signal in frequency domain, comparing frequency- or frequency band-specifically said normalized signals with said respective values of said frequency roll-off characteristic and attenuating frequency signal components of said electric signal in dependency of results of said comparing.

A beamforming device comprising

• a beamformer unit operating in frequency or frequency band domain and having a control input for frequency or frequency band selectively controlling beamforming
• a control unit having an output for frequency or frequency band selective control signals being operationally connected to said control input.

The method for controlling beamforming comprising the steps of performing beamforming in frequency or frequency band domain, controlling beamforming frequency or frequency band selectively.

A method of manufacturing an acoustical device comprising

• providing a acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement into a casing of the device said arrangement having an output
• providing a calculation unit with an input and an output
• establishing an operational connection between said output of said converter arrangement and said input of said calculation unit programming said calculation unit to calculate from a signal input the frequency-coordinate value of the balance point of a surface of the spectrum in a predetermined frequency range and generating an output signal in dependency of said coordinate value indicative of wind noise.

An acoustical device comprising an acoustical/electrical input converter arrangement with an output, a calculation unit with an input operationally connected to said output and being programmed to calculate from a input signal at said input the frequency-coordinate value of the balance point of a surface of the spectrum in a predetermined frequency range and to generate an output signal in dependency of said coordinate value indicative of wind noise.

A method of detecting wind noise at an acoustical device with acoustical/electrical conversion to generate an electric signal comprising the steps of electronically calculating the frequency coordinate value of the balance point of the spectrum of said signal within a predetermined frequency range and generating a wind noise indicative signal in dependency of said value.