Hearing assistive device with increased dynamic input range
AssigneeWidex A/S
InventorNiels Ole KNUDSEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hearing assistive device including an audio processing circuit with an analog-to-digital converter having an integrator integrating a voltage present in the summation point; a comparator comparing an output from the integrator with a reference voltage (Vref) and outputting a logical level in accordance with the comparison; a feedback loop coupling a feedback signal back to the summation point; and a reference voltage generation circuit being adapted to provide the reference voltage (Vref) being lower than a power supply voltage (Vbattery) and following the decay of the power supply voltage (Vbattery) with a predefined margin.
Claims20
A hearing assistive device including an audio processing circuit comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter having
- an integrator integrating a voltage present in a summation point;
- a comparator comparing a voltage output from the integrator with a reference voltage (Vref) and outputting a logical level in accordance with the comparison;
- a feedback loop coupling a feedback signal back to the summation point;
- and
- a reference voltage generation circuit being adapted to provide the reference voltage (Vref) at a level lower than that of a power supply voltage (Vbattery) and following the decay of the power supply voltage (Vbattery) with a predefined margin.
A reference voltage generation circuit for providing a reference voltage (Vref) from a power supply (Vbattery), and comprising an electronic voltage amplifier (op-amp) coupled to the power supply (Vbattery) via a passive circuit, and being adapted to control the reference voltage (Vref) to be lower than the power supply voltage (Vbattery) and follows the decay of the power supply voltage (Vbattery) with a predefined margin.
A method for processing audio in a hearing assistive device, and comprising steps of:
- converting an analog signal from a microphone in an analog-to-digital converter;
- generating a reference voltage (Vref) from a power supply voltage (Vbattery), the reference voltage (Vref) being lower than the power supply voltage (Vbattery), and following the decay of the power supply voltage (Vbattery) with a predefined margin;
- and
- supplying the reference voltage (Vref) to the analog-to-digital converter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.