Transparent hearing aid and method for fitting same
AssigneeMeyer Sound Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorsJohn D. Meyer, Toban A. Szuts
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The hearing aid includes a signal processor having a level-dependent filter section and a level-independent filter section. The level-dependent filter section provides level-dependent gain wherein sound is attenuated or amplified depending on the level of the incoming sound. The level-independent filter section provides substantially constant gain wherein sound that passes through the filter section is not changed in level, and provides transparency in that it corrects for insertion loss caused by the earpiece of the hearing aid when worn by the user. The level dependent and level independent filter sections, when fitted to the user, greatly improve the user's perception of sound.
Claims32
A hearing aid for improving the hearing experience of a user who is subjected to incoming sounds and where an earpiece associated with the hearing aid is positionable relative to an ear of the user, said hearing aid comprising
- an input microphone for picking up incoming sounds and converting the incoming sounds to an electrical audio signal, and
- a signal processor for processing the electrical audio signal from said input, said microphone processor providing a level-dependent signal path and a level-independent signal path for said electrical audio signal,
- wherein, in the level-independent signal path, the signal processor is configured to compensate for the presence of the earpiece relative to the user's ear to produce transparency sound at all incoming sound levels, and
- wherein, in the level-dependent signal path, the signal processor is configured to introduce level-dependent gain in the hearing aid that produces amplified sound that depends on the level of the incoming sound, and the amplified sound sums with the transparency sound produced by the level-independent filter path.
A hearing aid for improving the hearing experience of a user who is subjected to incoming sounds, comprising:
- an input microphone for picking up incoming sound and converting it to an electrical audio signal,
- an earpiece having loudspeaker, said earpiece being positionable within a user's ear, and
- a signal processor for processing the electrical audio signal from said microphone prior to the electrical audio signal reaching the loudspeaker of the earpiece, said signal processor having a level-dependent filter section and a level-independent filter section,
- wherein the level-independent filter section is configured to compensate for the presence of the earpiece in the user's ear to produce transparency sound at all incoming sound levels, and
- wherein the linear level-independent filter section is configured to introduce level-dependent gain in the hearing aid that produces amplified sound that depends on the level of the incoming sound, and the amplified sound sums with the transparency sound produced by the level-independent filter section.
A hearing aid for compensating for the loss of hearing in a user's ear, wherein the hearing loss is characterized by an elevated tone detection threshold within one or more bands of frequencies, said hearing aid comprising:
- an input microphone for picking up sound incident on the user's ear and converting it to an electrical audio signal,
- an earpiece having loudspeaker, said earpiece being positionable within the user's ear, and
- a signal processor for processing the electrical audio signal from said microphone prior to the electrical audio signal reaching the output transducer of the earpiece, said signal processor having a level-dependent signal path and a linear level-independent signal path,
- wherein, in the linear level-independent signal path, the signal processor is configured to compensate for insertion loss caused by the presence of the earpiece in the user's ear and to produce transparency sound at all incoming sound levels, and
- wherein the level-dependent signal path is configured to introduce level-dependent gain in the signal path that produces amplified sound only when the incoming sound has a sound level substantially at or below the user's tone detection threshold.
A hearing aid for processing sound received by the ear of a user having hearing loss characterized by an elevated tone detection threshold within one or more bands of frequencies, wherein the hearing air is comprised of an in-ear earpiece that, when positioned in the ear, produces an insertion loss in the ear dependent on the ear's physical characteristics and wherein the earpiece has a loudspeaker for producing sound outputs, said hearing aid comprising:
- level-independent means for compensating for the insertion loss produced by the insertion of the earpiece in the ear, and
- level-dependent threshold compensation means for compensating for a user's elevated tone detection thresholds within one or more bands of frequencies,
- said level-independent means and level-dependent threshold compensation means providing for combined sound outputs from the loudspeaker of the hearing aid's earpiece.
A method of improving the hearing experience of a user of a hear aid who is subjected to incoming sounds wherein an earpiece associated with the hearing aid is positionable in the ear of the user, comprising, in either order or simultaneously, the steps of
- compensating for the presence of the earpiece in the user's ear to produce transparency in the ear to incoming sounds, and
- amplifying incoming sounds when the level the incoming sounds are below a pre-established compensation threshold tailored to the user, wherein above the pre-established compensation threshold the sounds being heard by the user are unamplified sounds and below the compensation threshold the sounds are the sum of the amplified and unamplified sounds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.