Hearing assist device employing dynamic processing of voice signals

A computerized method of enhancing hearing assist, the method comprising:

• capturing acoustic signals from at least one microphone;
• amplifying captured acoustic signals from the at least one microphone;
• outputting the amplified audio signals to a transducer on a wearable hearing assist device;
• detecting voice signals of a user from the captured acoustic signals using a voice activity detector (VAD);
• suppressing the voice signals of the user from the amplified audio signals being output to the transducer;
• and
• performing active noise reduction (ANR) on the captured acoustic signals with a first set of ANR filters optimized to reduce an occlusion implemented in response to voice signals being detected, and a second set of ANR filters optimized to reduce environmental noise implemented in response to no voice signals being detected.

A system, comprising:

• at least one microphone configured to capture acoustic signals;
• a wearable hearing assist device configured to amplify the captured acoustic signals from the at least one microphone and output amplified audio signals to a transducer;
• a voice activity detector (VAD) configured to detect voice signals of a user from the captured acoustic signals, wherein the VAD measures an acoustic transfer function between an inside microphone and an outside microphone;
• and
• a voice suppression system configured to suppress the voice signals of the user in the amplified audio signals being output to the transducer.