Hearing aid and a method of operating a hearing aid system

• US 10,228,402 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2017
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Inventors: Krogsgaard, Klaus, Cederberg, Jorgen
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US15/625,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20170350925A1
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• Field of Search: 327108, 327175, 363132, 381120, 381312, 381313, 381315, 381316, 381318, 381331, 607 2, 123608, 324218, 330 10, 36518522, 455 411, 600554
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/16 Measuring impedance of element or network through which a current is passing from another source, e.g. cable, power line
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/15 Determination of the acoustic seal of ear moulds or ear tips of hearing devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/305 Self-monitoring or self-testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A hearing aid (200), adapted for detection of congestion of a sound output. The invention also relates to a method of detection of congestion of a sound output.

Claims

1. A hearing aid comprising:

an H-bridge output stage having four branches wherein each branch has two switches coupled in series, and a branching point that is positioned between the two switches and that is connected to a terminal of a hearing aid receiver either directly or through a resistor,

wherein

the branching point of a first and a second branch are connected directly to respectively a first and a second terminal of the hearing aid receiver,

the branching point of a third branch is connected to the branching point of the first branch through a first measurement resistor, and

the branching point of a fourth branch is connected to the branching point of the second branch through a second measurement resistor.

2. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the H-bridge is configured to:

connect a first voltage source to the hearing aid receiver through the first and second branch, and

connect a second voltage source to the hearing aid receiver through the third and fourth branch,

and wherein the voltage supplied by the second voltage source is at least 30 dB lower than the voltage supplied by the first voltage source.

3. The hearing aid according to claim 2, wherein the output stage is adapted to operate either in a normal operation mode or a measurement mode and adapted such that the first voltage source provides the current to the hearing aid receiver when the output stage operates in normal operation mode and such that the second voltage source provides the current to the hearing aid receiver while the output stage operates in measurement mode.

4. The hearing aid according to claim 3, wherein the hearing aid in measurement mode is adapted to measure the voltage at the first or second terminal of the hearing aid receiver.

5. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the resistance values of the first and second measurement resistors are selected from a range between 10 Ohm and 1500 Ohm.

6. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the resistance value of the first measurement resistor is selected from the range between 50 and 500 Ohm and the resistance value of the second measurement resistor is selected from the range between 500 and 1500 Ohm.

7. A method of operating a hearing aid system comprising the steps of:

identifying a hearing aid receiver type,

selecting a first measurement resistor from a group comprising at least two measurement resistors,

measuring the impedance of a hearing aid receiver for at least one frequency and using the selected first measurement resistor; and

determining if a sound output of the hearing aid system is at least partially congested based on the measured hearing aid receiver impedance.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the selection of the first measurement resistor to be used for the measurement is based on the identified hearing aid receiver type.

9. The method according to claim 7, comprising the further steps of:

measuring the impedance of the hearing aid receiver using a second measurement resistor instead of the first measurement resistor, and

determining if a sound output of the hearing aid system is at least partially congested based on the measured hearing aid receiver impedance using the second measurement resistor.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the measurement resistor is coupled in series with the hearing aid receiver in order to allow the impedance of the hearing aid receiver to be determined using voltage division.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of measuring the impedance of the receiver is carried out using an output stage that during measurement mode is adapted to supply the current to the receiver from a voltage source that is adapted to provide a voltage that is at least 30 dB lower than the voltage provided during normal operation mode.