Bluetooth transmission facility for hearing devices, and corresponding transmission method

• US 20080013763A1
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sivantos Gmbh (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Lotter, Thomas, Reithinger, Jurgen
• Granted Patent: US 8,666,314 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils

Abstract

A wireless audio transmission, for example from a television to a hearing device, is to be achieved using simple means and with a low signal delay. For this purpose are proposed a transmission facility with a transmission device for transmitting audio data in a Bluetooth signal, a hearing-aid-specific coder which is integrated into the transmission device for the purpose of compressing the audio data before its transmission, and a relay station for converting the Bluetooth signal from the transmission device into a signal for inductive transmission to the hearing device. In the relay station, no recoding is performed during the conversion. The transmission device transmits in accordance with the Bluetooth A2DP protocol. The hearing-aid-specific coder has a lower sampling rate than the standard Bluetooth coder SBC. Encoding delays and processing delays in the relay station can be minimized by this system.

Claims

1. A transmission device for transmitting audio data to a hearing device according to a Bluetooth A2DP protocol, comprising:

a coder integrated into the transmission device that encodes the audio data to a Bluetooth signal at a lower sampling rate than a standard Bluetooth A2DP coder; and

a relay station that converts the Bluetooth signal for inductively transmitting to the hearing device without recoding during the conversion.

2. The transmission device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the audio data is bidirectionally transmitted.

3. The transmission device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the relay station is integrated into a remote control.

4. The transmission device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an audio bandwidth of the audio data after the encoding is less than 15 kHz.

5. The transmission device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the audio bandwidth is between 8 kHz and 12 kHz.

6. The transmission device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a data transmission rate in the Bluetooth signal is less than 150 kbit/s.

7. A method for transmitting audio data to a hearing device according to a Bluetooth A2DP protocol, comprising:

encoding the audio data to a Bluetooth signal by a coder at a lower sampling rate than a standard A2DP coder;

transmitting the Bluetooth signal to a relay station;

converting the Bluetooth signal in the relay station without recording; and

inductively transmitting the converted Bluetooth signal from the relay station to the hearing device.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the audio data is bidirectionally transmitted.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the relay station is integrated into a remote control

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein an audio bandwidth of the audio data after the encoding is less than 15 kHz.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the audio bandwidth is between 8 kHz and 12 kHz.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein a data transmission rate in the Bluetooth signal is less than 150 kbit/s.