Automated scanning for hearing aid parameters

• US 10,321,242 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GN Hearing A/S (GN Store Nord A/S)
• Original Assignee: GN Hearing A/S (GN Store Nord A/S)
• Inventors: De Vries, Aalbert, Kraak, Joris
• Primary Examiner(s): Ojo, Oyesola C
• Application Number:
  US15/219,146
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/00 Deaf-aid sets , i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception electrical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N1/36038; optical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N5/0622
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/30 Monitoring or testing of hearing aids, e.g. functioning, settings, battery power
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/50 Customised settings for obtaining desired overall acoustical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/55 using an external connection, either wireless or wired
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/552 Binaural
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/556 External connectors, e.g. plugs or modules H04R25/607 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A hearing aid system is provided that facilitates adjustment of signal processing parameters θ of the hearing aid system with minimum user intervention, wherein the hearing aid system is capable of calculating signal processing parameters θ for evaluation of the user when the user has entered an input, e.g. using a smartwatch, to this effect. The evaluation takes place for a certain time period and in the event that the user has entered a consent input indicating that he or she is pleased with the set θ of signal processing parameters under evaluation, the hearing aid system continues processing with those signal processing parameters; and if the user is not pleased with the signal processing parameters θ under evaluation, the hearing aid system calculates another set {circumflex over (θ)} of signal processing parameters for evaluation of the user.

Claims

1. A hearing aid system comprising:

a first hearing aid with

a first microphone for provision of a first audio signal in response to sound signals received at the first microphone from a sound environment,

a first hearing loss signal processor that is configured to process the first audio signal in accordance with a signal processing algorithm to generate a first hearing loss compensated audio signal for compensation of a hearing loss of a user of the hearing aid system, wherein the signal processing algorithm is configured to apply a first set of signal processing parameters,

a first output transducer for providing a first output signal to the user of the hearing aid system based on the first hearing loss compensated audio signal, and

a first interface configured for data communication;

a user interface configured to receive a user input indicating a dissatisfaction of an output of the first hearing aid; and

an adjustment processor that is configured for, in response to the user input indicating the dissatisfaction of the output of the first hearing aid;

determining a second set of signal processing parameter(s) comprising alternate value(s) for one or more of the signal processing parameters in the first set, and

providing the second set of signal processing parameter(s) so that the first hearing loss signal processor can process the first audio signal with the signal processing algorithm applying the second set of signal processing parameter(s);

wherein the user interface and the adjustment processor are parts of the first hearing aid, or parts of one or more devices that are different from the first hearing aid.

2. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to repeat the functions of

determining the second set of the signal processing parameter(s), and providing the second set of the signal processing parameter(s).

3. The hearing aid system according to claim 2, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to repeat the functions of determining the second set of the signal processing parameter(s), and providing the second set of signal processing parameter(s), when a predetermined time period has elapsed until a predetermined number of repetitions have been performed.

4. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to update a utility model U defined as:

U=ω

^Tb

wherein b is a K-dimensional set of basis functions, and wherein ω

is a K-dimensional vector comprising utility parameters for the utility model.

5. The hearing aid system according to claim 4, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to determine the second set of the signal processing parameter(s) by Thompson sampling of the second set of signal processing parameter(s) from a preference probability distribution p given by:

6. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to use Bayes rule to include the most recent response d in a preference probability distribution.

7. The hearing aid system according to claim 6, wherein the preference probability distribution is p(θ

|D), and wherein the adjustment processor is configured to use Bayes rule to include the most recent response din the preference probability distribution p(θ

|D) by calculation of a posterior distribution ({tilde over (μ

)}, {tilde over (Σ

)}) of utility parameters ω

with mean {tilde over (μ

)} and covariance matrix {tilde over (Σ

)} based on the following;

p(ω

|D,d)∝

p(d|ω

)·

p(ω

|D),

wherein

D relates to observed data,

d indicates user consent or user dissent,

$p<br><br>\left(d|\mathrm{\omega <br><br>}\right)=\frac{1}{1|e^{-\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}<br><br>\left(2<br><br>d-1\right)<br><br>\left(U_a-U_r\right)}}=g<br><br>\left(\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}<br><br>\left(2<br><br>d-1\right)<br><br>\left(U_a-U_r\right)\right),$
g(x)=1/(1+e<sup>−

x</sup>),

U_a=U(θ

_a,ω

),

U_r=U(θ

_r,ω

),

θ

_a represents alternative hearing aid parameter values, and

θ

_r represents reference hearing aid parameter values.

8. The hearing aid system according to claim 7, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to perform a Laplace approximation to obtain a distribution of the utility parameters ω

by updating (μ

, Σ

) to ({tilde over (μ

)}, {tilde over (Σ

)});

$\widetilde{\mathrm{\Sigma <br><br>}}=\mathrm{\Sigma <br><br>}-\frac{\hat{d}<br><br>\left(1-\hat{d}\right)}{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{-2}+\hat{d}<br><br>\left(1-\hat{d}\right)<br><br>\left({\tilde{b}}^T<br><br>\mathrm{\Sigma <br><br>}<br><br><br><br>\tilde{b}\right)}<br><br>\left(\mathrm{\Sigma <br><br>}<br><br><br><br>\tilde{b}\right)<br><br>{\left(\mathrm{\Sigma <br><br>}<br><br><br><br>\tilde{b}\right)}^T$
{tilde over (μ

)}=μ

+λ

(d−

{circumflex over (d)}){tilde over (Σ

)}{tilde over (b)}

wherein

{tilde over (b)}=b(θ

_a)−

b(θ

_r),

{tilde over (d)}=g(λ

ω

^T{tilde over (b)}), and

p(ω

|D)=(μ

, Σ

) with mean μ and

covariance matrix Σ

.

9. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more devices comprise a wearable device with a data interface that is configured for data communication with the first hearing aid;

wherein the user interface that is configured for entry of a dissent input or a consent input by the user.

10. The hearing aid system according to claim 9, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to transmit control signals to the first hearing aid using the data interface for controlling the first hearing loss signal processor to process the first audio signal with the signal processing algorithm applying the second set of the signal processing parameter(s).

11. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, further comprising a sound environment detector configured for:

determining a category of the sound environment surrounding the hearing aid system;

wherein the adjustment processor is configured for determining the second set of the signal processing parameter(s) of the first hearing aid of the hearing aid system based on the category of the sound environment determined by the sound environment detector.

12. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, further comprising a location detector configured for determining a geographical position of the hearing aid system;

wherein the adjustment processor is configured for determining the second set of the signal processing parameter(s) of the first hearing aid of the hearing aid system based the geographical position of the hearing aid system.

13. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured for allowing the user of the hearing aid system to adjust at least one of the signal processing parameters in the first set;

wherein the adjustment processor is configured for recording of the adjustment of the at least one of the signal processing parameters made by the user of the hearing aid system, and incorporating the adjustment made by the user in a preference probability distribution.

14. The hearing aid system according to claim 1, wherein the first hearing loss signal processor comprises the adjustment processor.

21. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to receive another user input indicating whether the user is satisfied or not.

22. The hearing aid system of claim 21, wherein the adjustment processor is configured to determine a third set of signal processing parameter(s) based on the other user input.

25. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the user interface and the adjustment processor are parts of a phone.

26. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the user interface and the adjustment processor are parts of a wearable device.

30. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on a learning algorithm.

31. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on a probability distribution of a plurality of users of other hearing aids.

32. The hearing aid system of claim 31, wherein the probability distribution is associated with a sound environment category.

33. The hearing aid system of claim 31, wherein the probability distribution comprises at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of user audiogram, age, sex, race, height, and native language.

34. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on information regarding a current environment surrounding the user.

35. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on sound information obtained from a current environment surrounding the user.

36. The hearing aid system of claim 1, wherein the one or more devices comprise a cloud computing network.

15. A method of in-situ fitting of a hearing aid, the hearing aid having a microphone for provision of an audio signal in response to sound signals received at the microphone from a sound environment, a hearing loss signal processor that is configured to process the audio signal in accordance with a signal processing algorithm to generate a first hearing loss compensated audio signal for compensation of a hearing loss of a user of the hearing aid system, the signal processing algorithm configured to apply a first set of signal processing parameters, and a first output transducer for providing a first output signal based on the first hearing loss compensated audio signal, the method comprising:

determining a second set of signal processing parameter(s) having alternate value(s) for one or more of the signal processing parameters in the first set; and

providing the second set of signal processing parameter(s) so that the hearing loss signal processor can process the audio signal with the signal processing algorithm applying the second set of the signal processing parameter(s);

wherein the act of determining the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is performed in response to a user input indicating a dissatisfaction of an output of the hearing aid.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on a learning algorithm.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least a part of the learning algorithm is implemented in a cloud computing network.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on a probability distribution of a plurality of users of other hearing aids.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the probability distribution is associated with a sound environment category.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the probability distribution comprises at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of user audiogram, age, sex, race, height, and native language.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on information regarding a current environment surrounding the user.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the second set of signal processing parameter(s) is based on sound information obtained from a current environment surrounding the user.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of determining is performed by a cloud computing network.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of determining comprises calculating the second set of signal processing parameter(s).

29. The method of claim 15, wherein the user input is provisioned by a touchscreen.

37. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of determining is performed by a phone.

38. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of determining is performed by a wearable device.

39. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of determining is performed by the hearing aid.