Hearing assistance system with own voice detection

• US 10,225,668 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2017
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Merks, Ivo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US15/651,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20170318398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: 381312-313, 381317-318, 381380-381
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/01 Noise reduction using microphones having different directional characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/05 Electronic compensation of the occlusion effect
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/405 by combining a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A hearing assistance system includes a pair of left and right hearing assistance devices to be worn by a wearer and uses both of the left and right hearing assistance devices to detect the voice of the wearer. The left and right hearing assistance devices each include first and second microphones at different locations. Various embodiments detect the voice of the wearer using signals produced by the first and second microphones of the left hearing assistance device and the first and second microphones of the right hearing assistance device. Various embodiments use outcome of detection of the voice of the wearer performed by the left hearing assistance device and the outcome of detection of the voice of the wearer performed the right hearing assistance device to determine whether to declare a detection of the voice of the wearer.

Claims

1. A system for detecting a voice of a person having a left ear with a left ear canal and a right ear with a right ear canal, the system comprising:

first and second left microphones configured to be positioned about the left ear to each detect a left sound and to produce left microphone signals each representing the detected left sound;

first and second right microphones configured to be positioned about the right ear to each detect a right sound and to produce right microphone signals representing the detected right sound; and

one or more voice detectors configured to determine whether the voice of the person is present in the left sound using the left microphone signals, to determine whether the voice of the person is present in the right sound using the right microphone signals, and to detect the voice of the person based on whether the voice of the person is present in one or more of the left sound or the right sound.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voice detectors comprise:

a left voice detector configured to detect the voice of the person using the left microphone signals and to produce left output information indicative of whether the voice of the person is detected using the left microphone signals; and

a right voice detector configured to detect the voice of the person using the right microphone signals and to produce right output information indicative of whether the voice of the person is detected using the right microphone signals,

and wherein at least one voice detector of the first and second voice detectors is configured to detect the voice of the person using the left output information and the right output information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the left voice detector comprises a left adaptive filter configured to receive the left microphone signals and to produce the left output information; and

the right voice detector comprises a right adaptive filter configured to receive the right microphone signals and to produce the right output information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one voice detector is configured to detect the voice of the person using a left detection strength parameter of the left output information and a right detection strength parameter of the right output information, the left and right detection strength parameters each being a measure of likeliness of actual existence of the voice of the person.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the left voice detector is configured to produce the left output information using coefficients of the left adaptive filter; and

the right voice detector is configured to produce the right output information using coefficients of the right adaptive filter.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the left voice detector is configured to produce the left output information using an error signal produced by the left adaptive filter; and

the right voice detector is configured to produce the right output information using an error signal produced by the right adaptive filter.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one voice detector is configured to determine the voice of the person using a weighted combination of the left output information and the right output information.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one voice detector is configured to declare a detection of the voice of the person when at least one of the left output information and the right output information indicates the voice of the person is detected.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one voice detector is configured to declare a detection of the voice of the person when both the left output information and the right output information indicate the voice of the person is detected.

10. The system of claim 2, comprising:

a left hearing device configured to be worn about the left ear, the left hearing device including the first and second left microphones and the left voice detector; and

a right hearing device configured to be worn about the right ear, the right hearing device including the first and second right microphones and the right voice detector.

11. A method for detecting a voice of a person having a left ear with a left ear canal and a right ear with a right ear canal, the method comprising:

positioning first and second left microphones about the left ear to detect a left sound;

positioning first and second right microphones about the right ear to detect a right sound;

determining whether the voice of the person is present in the left sound using electrical signals produced by the first and second left microphones;

determining whether the voice of the person is present in the right sound using electrical signals produced by the first and second right microphones; and

detecting the voice of the person based on one or more of whether the voice of the person is present in the left sound or whether the voice of the person is present in the right sound.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the voice of the person comprises:

detecting the voice of the person using the electrical signals produced by the first and second left microphones using a left voice detector;

producing left output information indicating whether the voice of the person is detected using the left voice detector based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second left microphones;

detecting the voice of the person using the electrical signals produced by the first and second right microphones using a right voice detector;

producing right output information indicative of the voice of the person being detected based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second right microphones using the right voice detector; and

detecting the voice of the person using the left output information and the right output information using at least one of the left voice detector or the right voice detector.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting the voice of the person comprises declaring that the voice of the person is detected when at least one of the left output information and the right output information indicates the voice of the person is detected.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the voice of the person comprises declaring that the voice of the person is detected when both the left output information and the right output information indicate the voice of the person is detected.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting the voice of the person comprises declaring that the voice of the person is detected when a weighted combination of the left output information and the right output information indicates the voice of the person is detected.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein:

detecting the voice of the person based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second left microphones comprises detecting the voice of the person using a left adaptive filter; and

detecting the voice of the person based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second right microphones comprises detecting the voice of the person using a right adaptive filter.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

producing the left output information comprises producing the left output information using coefficients of the left adaptive filter; and

producing the right output information comprises producing the right output information using coefficients of the right adaptive filter.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

producing the left output information comprises producing the left output information using an error signal produced by the left adaptive filter; and

producing the right output information comprises producing the right output information using an error signal produced by the right adaptive filter.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting the voice of the person comprises detecting the voice of the person using a left detection strength parameter of the left output information and a right detection strength parameter of the right output information, the left and right detection strength parameters each being a measure of likeliness of actual existence of the voice of person.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein:

positioning the first and second left microphones about the left ear comprises wearing a left hearing device about the left ear, the left hearing device including the first and second left microphones;

positioning the first and second right microphones about the right ear comprises wearing a right hearing device about the right ear, the right hearing device including the first and second right microphones; and

detecting the voice of the person comprises detecting the voice of the person using one or more voice detectors in one or more of the left hearing device and the right hearing device.