Diotic presentation of second-order gradient directional hearing aid signals
First Claim
1. A hearing aid system, comprising:
- a first microphone system positioned in a first device for receiving sound and having a first output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the first output signal includes a first-order gradient directional hearing aid signal;
a second microphone system positioned in a second device for receiving sound and having a first output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the second output signal includes a first-order pressure gradient directional hearing aid signal;
a first receiver circuit positioned in the first device for aiding hearing in a first ear of a wearer, the first receiver circuit being connected to the first microphone system to receive the first output signal and connected to the second microphone system to receive the second output signal; and
a second receiver circuit positioned in the second device for aiding hearing in a second ear of a wearer, the second receiver circuit being connected to the first microphone system to receive the first output signal and connected to the second microphone system to receive the second output signal, wherein the first output signal and the second output signal provide a diotic presentation of a second-order gradient signal to the first receiver circuit and the second receiver circuit.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, devices and methods are provided for diotically presenting second-order gradient directional hearing aid signals. The present subject matter provides an improved signal-to-noise ratio, and presents a desired directional signal to each ear. One aspect is a hearing aid system. In one embodiment, the system includes a first microphone system in a first device and a second microphone system in a second device. The first microphone system has a first output signal, and the second microphone system has a second output signal. Each output signal includes a first-order directional signal. The system further includes a first receiver circuit and a second receiver circuit. The combination of the first output signal and the second output signal provides a diotic presentation of a second-order gradient signal to both the first receiver circuit and the second receiver circuit. Other aspects are provided herein.
118 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A hearing aid system, comprising:
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a first microphone system positioned in a first device for receiving sound and having a first output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the first output signal includes a first-order gradient directional hearing aid signal;
a second microphone system positioned in a second device for receiving sound and having a first output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the second output signal includes a first-order pressure gradient directional hearing aid signal;
a first receiver circuit positioned in the first device for aiding hearing in a first ear of a wearer, the first receiver circuit being connected to the first microphone system to receive the first output signal and connected to the second microphone system to receive the second output signal; and
a second receiver circuit positioned in the second device for aiding hearing in a second ear of a wearer, the second receiver circuit being connected to the first microphone system to receive the first output signal and connected to the second microphone system to receive the second output signal, wherein the first output signal and the second output signal provide a diotic presentation of a second-order gradient signal to the first receiver circuit and the second receiver circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A hearing aid system, comprising:
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a first instrument for aiding hearing in a first ear of a wearer, including;
a first microphone system for receiving sound and having a first output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the first output signal includes a first-order directional signal; and
a first receiver circuit connected to the first microphone system to receive the first output signal; and
a second instrument for aiding hearing in a second ear of a wearer, including;
a second microphone system for receiving sound and having a second output signal representative of the sound received, wherein the second output signal includes a first-order directional signal; and
a second receiver circuit connected to the second microphone system to receive the second output signal, wherein the first-order directional signals from the first microphone system and the second microphone system are combined to provide a second-order directional signal that is diotically presented to the first receiver circuit and the second receiver circuit. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A hearing aid system, comprising a first hearing aid device and a second hearing device, each hearing device including:
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a microphone system for receiving a sound and providing a signal representative of the sound, the microphone system including;
a directional microphone system for providing a first-order pressure gradient directional signal representative of the sound; and
an omnidirectional microphone system for providing an omnidirectional signal representative of the sound;
a switch for selecting a mode of operation to provide a selected signal, wherein;
when an omnidirectional mode of operation is selected, the selected signal includes the omnidirectional signal representative of the sound;
when a first-order gradient directional mode of operation is selected, the selected signal includes the first-order pressure gradient directional signal; and
when a second-order gradient directional mode of operation is selected, the selected signal includes a sum of the first-order pressure gradient directional signals from the microphone system for both the first and the second hearing aid devices;
signal processing circuitry for receiving and processing the selected signal into a processed signal representative of the sound; and
a receiver for receiving the processed signal to produce a processed sound that aids hearing. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for diotically presenting second-order gradient directional signals to a wearer of hearing aids, comprising:
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receiving a sound both at a first microphone system in a first hearing aid device to provide a first-order gradient directional signal representative of the sound received and at a second microphone system in a second hearing aid device to provide a first-order gradient directional signal representative of the sound received;
summing the first-order gradient signals provided by the first microphone system and the second microphone system to provide a second-order gradient directional signal; and
presenting the second-order gradient directional signal to a first receiver in the first hearing aid device and to a second receiver in the second hearing aid device. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for aiding hearing for a user wearing a first hearing aid unit and a second hearing aid unit, comprising:
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receiving a sound at a first microphone system in the first hearing aid unit and at a second microphone system in the second hearing aid unit;
for a first mode of operation, providing a first omnidirectional signal representative of the sound from the first microphone system to a first receiver in the first hearing aid unit and a second omnidirectional signal representative of the sound from the second microphone system to a second receiver in the second hearing aid unit;
for a second mode of operation, providing a first directional signal representative of the sound from the first microphone system to the first receiver in the first hearing aid unit and a second directional signal representative of the sound from the second microphone system to the second receiver in the second hearing aid unit; and
for a third mode of operation, summing the first directional signal from the first microphone system to the second directional signal from the second microphone system to form a second-order gradient directional signal representative of the sound, and diotically presenting the second-order gradient directional signal to the first receiver in the first hearing aid unit and to the second receiver in the second hearing aid unit. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification