Hearing device comprising an own voice detector

• US 10,356,536 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2018
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oticon A/S (William Demant Fonden)
• Original Assignee: Oticon A/S (William Demant Fonden)
• Inventors: Petersen, Svend Oscar, Thule, Anders
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US16/174,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20190075406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 259 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/03 Synergistic effects of band splitting and sub-band processing
• 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 25/552 Binaural
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid, adapted for being arranged at least partly on a user'"'"'s head or at least partly implanted in a user'"'"'s head is provided. The hearing device comprises an own voice detector comprising first and second signal strength detectors for providing signal strength estimates of first and second electric input signals. The own voice detector comprises a comparison unit operationally coupled to the first and second signal strength detectors and configured to compare the signal strength estimates of the first and second electric input signals and to provide an indication of the difference between said signal strength estimates; and a control unit for providing an own voice detection signal indicative of a user'"'"'s own voice being present or not present in the current sound in the environment of the user, the own voice detection signal being dependent on said signal strength comparison measure.

Claims

1. A hearing device configured to be arranged at least partly on a user'"'"'s head or at least partly implanted in a user'"'"'s head, the hearing device comprising

at least one input transducer for picking up a sound signal from the environment and providing respective at least one electric input signal;

a signal processing unit providing a processed signal based on one or more of said at least one electric input signals;

an output unit including an output transducer for converting said processed signal or a signal originating therefrom to a stimulus perceivable by said user as sound;

a own voice detector; and

a voice interface configured to detect a specific voice activation word or phrase or sound,

wherein the own voice detector is adapted to be able to differentiate between said user'"'"'s own voice and another person'"'"'s voice and NON-voice sounds.

2. A hearing device according to claim 1 further comprising

an analysis filter bank to provide a signal in a time-frequency representation comprising a number of frequency sub-bands.

3. A hearing device according to claim 1 configured to pick up the user'"'"'s own voice.

4. A hearing device according to claim 1 comprising a multitude of input transducers for picking up a sound signal from the environment and providing respective electric input signals.

5. A hearing device according to claim 4 comprising a beamformer filtering unit configured to receive said electric input signals to provide a spatially filtered signal in dependence thereof.

6. A hearing device according to claim 1 constituting or comprising a hearing aid, a headset, an ear protection device or a combination thereof.

7. A hearing device according to claim 1 comprising:

an ITE part, comprising a loudspeaker and a second input transducer, wherein the ITE part is adapted for being located at or in an ear canal of the user; and

a BTE-part comprising a housing adapted for being located behind or at an ear of the user, where a first input transducer is located.

8. A hearing device according to claim 1 further comprising:

a controllable vent exhibiting a controllable vent size,

wherein the hearing device is configured to use the own voice detector to control a vent size of the hearing device, so that a vent size is increased when a user'"'"'s own voice is detected and decreased again when the user'"'"'s own voice is not detected.

9. A hearing device according to claim 4 further comprising:

a pre-defined and/or adaptively updated own voice beamformer focused on the user'"'"'s mouth and configured to pick up the user'"'"'s own voice.

10. A hearing device according to claim 1 further comprising:

an analysis unit for analyzing a user'"'"'s own voice and for identifying characteristics thereof.

11. A hearing device according to claim 9 configured so that said own voice beamformer, at least in a specific mode of operation of the hearing device, is activated and ready to provide an estimate of the user'"'"'s own voice for transmission to another device during a telephone mode, or in other modes, where a user'"'"'s own voice is requested.

12. A hearing device according to claim 1 configured to allow a user to activate and/or deactivate one or more specific modes of operation including a telephone mode or a voice command mode, of the hearing device via the voice interface.

13. A hearing device, wherein according to claim 12 configured to implement a selectable voice command mode of operation activated via the voice interface, where the user'"'"'s voice is transmitted to a voice interface of another device and activating a voice interface of the other device to ask a question to a voice activated personal assistant provided by the other device.

14. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the own voice detector is adapted to be based on level differences between microphone signals, or based on modulation, detection of jaw movement, or bone vibration, or on a signal from a residual volume microphone.

15. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the own voice detector is configured to detect a limited number of keywords or commands including a specific voice activation word or phrase or sound.

16. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the own voice detector is configured to be trained to the user'"'"'s voice, while speaking at least some of a limited number of words.

17. A hearing device according to claim 1 configured to allow a user to activate and/or deactivate a personal assistant of another device via the voice interface of the hearing device.

18. A binaural hearing system comprising first and second hearing devices according to claim 1, wherein each of the first and second hearing devices comprises antenna and transceiver circuitry allowing a communication link between them to be established.

19. A non-transitory application comprising a non-transitory storage medium storing a processor-executable program that, when executed by a processor of an auxiliary device, implements a user interface process for a hearing device as claimed in claim 1, the process comprising:

exchanging information with the hearing device or with a binaural hearing system comprising the hearing device;

providing a graphical interface configured to allow a user to calibrate an own voice detector of the hearing device or of the binaural hearing system; and

executing, based on input from a user via the user interface, at least one of;

configuring the own voice detector; and

initiating a calibration of the own voice detector.

20. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the own voice detector comprises a neural network.