Method and hearing assistive device for handling streamed audio

• US 10,524,064 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2016
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Inventors: Andersen, Svend Vitting
• Primary Examiner(s): Kaufman, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US16/083,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20190069100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• 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 25/554 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 assistive device has an input transducer (12) converting sound into an audio signal applied to a processor (14; 65). The processor (14; 65) is configured to compensate a hearing loss of a user of the hearing assistive device and to output a compensated audio signal. An output transducer (16; 65) converts the compensated audio signal into sound. The hearing assistive device (10) further comprises a wireless transceiver (21) enabling audio streaming from an external device (30) to the hearing assistive device, an attenuator (23) associated with said processor (14; 65) applying attenuation to the compensated audio signal, and an audio stream analyzer (22a) classifying the audio stream received via said wireless transceiver. The attenuator (23) is controlled in accordance to the audio stream classification from the audio stream analyzer (22a). The invention further provides a method of operating a hearing assistive device.

Claims

1. A hearing assistive device having an input transducer adapted for converting sound into an audio signal, a processor receiving said audio signal and configured to compensate a hearing loss of a user of the hearing assistive device and to output a compensated audio signal, and an output transducer adapted for converting the compensated audio signal into sound, and further comprising:

a wireless transceiver enabling audio streaming from an external device to the hearing assistive device;

a sound dosimeter measuring during audio streaming a parameter representative of a sound exposure of the compensated audio signal output by the output transducer; and

a controllable attenuator associated with said processor adapted for applying attenuation to the compensated audio signal;

wherein the attenuator is controlled according to the parameter measured by the sound dosimeter only during said audio streaming from said external device.

2. The hearing assistive device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is adapted to alleviate a hearing loss of a hearing assistive device user by amplifying sound at frequencies in those parts of the audible frequency range where the user suffers a hearing deficit.

3. The hearing assistive device according to claim 1 wherein the sound dosimeter is enabled only during said audio streaming from said external device.

4. The hearing assistive device according to claim 3 and further comprising an audio stream analyzer classifying the audio stream received via said wireless transceiver as utility audio or entertainment audio, wherein the sound dosimeter is enabled when said audio stream is classified as entertainment audio.

5. The hearing assistive device according to claim 4, wherein audio stream is received by said wireless transceiver as packet data, and based upon the header of the data packets, the audio stream analyzer classifies the data stream as utility audio or entertainment audio.

6. The hearing assistive device according to claim 4, wherein the attenuator applies attenuation to the received audio stream when classified as entertainment audio.

7. The hearing assistive device according to claim 1, wherein the output from the sound dosimeter is compared with one or more predefined thresholds, and the attenuation applied to the compensated audio signal depends on the comparison.

8. A method of operating a hearing assistive device having an input transducer converting sound into an audio signal applied to a processor, said processor being configured to compensate a hearing loss of a user of the hearing assistive device and to output a compensated audio signal, and an output transducer converting the compensated audio signal into sound, said method comprising:

receiving an audio stream from an external device;

measuring during audio streaming a parameter representing a dosage of sound output by the output transducer;

applying attenuation to the compensated audio signal; and

controlling said attenuation according to the measured parameter measured only during audio streaming from said external device.

9. The method according to claim 8, comprising enabling of the measuring of the parameter representative for the sound dosage output by the output transducer only during said audio stream reception.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising classifying the received audio stream as utility audio or entertainment audio, and enabling the measuring of the sound level accumulated over time when said audio stream is classified as entertainment audio.

11. The method according to claim 10, comprising receiving the audio stream as packet data, and classifying the audio stream as utility audio or entertainment audio based upon the header of the data packets.

12. The method according to claim 10, comprising applying attenuation to the received audio stream when classified as entertainment audio.

13. The method according to claim 10, comprising comparing the sound dosage to one or more predefined thresholds, and applying attenuation to the compensated audio signal in dependence of the comparison.