Hearing aids, signal supplying apparatus, systems for compensating hearing deficiencies, and methods

A hearing aid having a body adapted to be placed in communication with an ear canal, the hearing aid body having an external mircrophone sensitive to external sound, and a receiver for supplying sound to the ear canal, the hearing aid comprising:

• a probe microphone in the hearing aid body for sensing the sound present in the ear canal;
• and
• means connected to the external microphone and said probe microphone for driving the receiver in response to both the external microphone and said probe microphone, and for generating a digital signal for external use in adjusting the performance of the hearing aid, the digital signal representing at least one parameter of the sound sensed by the probe microphone.

A hearing aid having a body adapted to be placed in communication with an ear canal, the hearing aid body having an external microphone sensitive to external sound, and a receiver for supplying sound to the ear canal, the hearing aid comprising:

• a probe microphone in the hearing aid body for sensing the sound present in the ear canal;
• and
• means connected to the external microphone for filtering, then limiting, and then filtering the output of the external microphone according to a set of internal parameters and for self-adjusting at least one of the internal parameters as a function of the output of the probe microphone, thereby to drive the receiver.

A hearing aid for connection to an external source of programming signals and having a body adapted to be placed in communication with an ear canal, the hearing aid body having an external microphone sensitive to external sound, and a receiver for supplying sound to the ear canal, the hearing aid comprising:

• a probe microphone in the hearing aid body for sensing the sound present in the ear canal;
• and
• digital computing means in the hearing aid and coupled to the external microphone, to said probe microphone and to the receiver, and adapted for connection to the external source of programming signals, said digital computing means comprising means for loading and executing entire programs represented by the signals and thereby utilizing said probe microphone, the external microphone and the receiver for hearing testing and digital filtering.

For use in a system for compensating hearing deficiencies of a patient, including a hearing aid having an external microphone, a digital computer in the hearing aid fed by the external microphone, a receiver fed by the digital computer for emitting sounds into the ear of the patient, and a probe microphone for sensing the actual sound in the ear of the patient, signal supplying apparatus comprising:

• interface means for performing two-way digital serial communication with the digital computer in the hearing aid;
• and
• means for initiating transmission of a first set of signals from said interface means to the hearing aid to cause the digital computer in the hearing aid to operate so that the receiver emits sounds having an adjustable parameter, for obtaining, through the interface means, data representing values of the adjustable parameter of the sounds as sensed by the probe microphone, and for then initiating transmission from said interface means of a second set of signals determined at least in part from the values of the parameter of the sensed sounds to cause the digital computer in the hearing aid to filter the output of the external microphone and drive the receiver with the filtered output, thereby ameliorating the hearing deficiencies of the patient.