Listening assistance function in phone terminals

A system, comprising:

• a mobile phone terminal, for placing near a local acoustic source in an ambient noise situation presenting a hearing challenge to a user of the mobile phone terminal in hearing said local acoustic source, for switching to a listening assistance mode, transmitting a signal in response to a microphone signal from a microphone of said phone terminal indicative of a local acoustic signal from said local acoustic source;
• and a headset, hearing aid, or earpiece, responsive to said transmitted signal, for providing to said user an output acoustic signal generated by said headset, hearing aid, or earpiece in response to said transmitted signal, thus providing listening assistance to the user in said listening assistance mode of said mobile phone terminal, wherein said switching to the listening assistance mode comprises:
• providing a listening command signal to a mode switch block of said mobile phone terminal;
• and providing, in response to said listening command signal, a switching mode signal to an audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal or to a listening audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal and providing said listening command signal optionally:
• to a receiving and decoding module of the mobile phone terminal, to said microphone or to an analog-to-digital converter of the mobile phone terminal.

A mobile phone terminal, comprising a mode switch block, responsive to a listening command signal for switching to a listening assistance mode, for providing in an ambient noise situation presenting a hearing challenge to a user of the mobile phone terminal in hearing a local acoustic source, in response to said listening command signal, a switching mode signal for switching to said listening assistance mode;

• and at least one microphone, responsive to a local acoustic signal from said local acoustic source, for generating at least one microphone signal indicative of a local acoustic signal which is used by said phone terminal for providing a transmitted signal to a headset, hearing aid, or earpiece for providing listening assistance to said user, wherein said transmitted signal is generated by said mobile phone terminal using said switching mode signal, wherein said switching of the mode of the mobile phone terminal to the listening assistance mode comprises:
• providing a listening command signal to a mode switch block of said mobile phone terminal;
• and providing, in response to said listening command signal, a switching mode signal to an audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal or to a listening audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal and providing said listening command signal optionally:
• to a receiving and decoding module of the mobile phone terminal, to said microphone or to an analog-to-digital converter of the mobile phone terminal.