HEARING AID AND A METHOD OF OPERATING A HEARING AID

• US 20100246865A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Widex A/S (WS Audiology A/S)
• Inventors: SUURBALLE, Morten
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,188 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/314
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/03 Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency

Abstract

A hearing aid (1) has means for entering or leaving a stand-by mode initiated by a remote control (14). During use, a dedicated stand-by command issued by the remote control is received and decoded in the hearing aid. When a stand-by command is recognized, a clock signal to the signal-processing parts (3) of the hearing aid (1) is disabled, effectively halting the signal processing. In the stand-by mode, the hearing aid circuitry draws very little power from the battery. Reception of a similar command in the hearing aid during the stand-by mode enables the clock signal to the signal-processing parts of the hearing aid, enabling signal processing. A method to manage the stand-by mode involves the step of calling a soft-boot routine when the hearing aid leaves stand-by mode and resumes normal operation.

Claims

1. A hearing aid comprising a power source, at least one input transducer, an analog/digital converter, a digital signal processor, a clock generator, an acoustic output transducer, and a remote control receiver, wherein the remote control receiver comprises means for controlling a connection between the clock generator and the digital signal processor to provide changing between a power-on mode and a stand-by mode according to a signal received by the remote control receiver, said means for controlling a connection comprising a controller and a switch, the switch being embodied as a semiconductor switching element, and said controller being adapted to perform a soft-boot sequence on changing from the stand-by mode to the power-on mode.

2. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the remote control receiver and the controller are active in the power-on mode and in the stand-by mode.

3. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the switch is arranged between the clock generator and the digital signal processor for controlling the clock signal to the signal processor.

4. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the clock generator comprises a plurality of clock signal branches, the signal processor having a plurality of sections, each branch connected to a respective section of the signal processor and comprising a controllable switch for controlling the clock signal to the respective section.

5. A method of operating a hearing aid, said method involving the steps of powering on the hearing aid, loading a hearing program into a signal processor, processing a signal according to the hearing program, receiving, decoding and processing a remote control command, responding to a stand-by command from the remote control by entering a stand-by mode, the step of entering the stand-by mode comprising disabling the flow of a clock signal to dedicated parts of the hearing aid, and responding to a power-on command from the remote control by enabling the flow of the clock signal to said dedicated parts of the hearing aid and calling a soft-boot algorithm.

6. A hearing aid system comprising at least one hearing aid and a remote control, which hearing aid has a power source, at least one input transducer, an analog/digital converter, a digital signal processor, a clock generator, an acoustic output transducer, and a remote control receiver having means for controlling a connection between the clock generator and the digital signal processor to provide changing between a power-on mode and a stand-by mode according to a signal received by the remote control receiver, said means for controlling the connection between the clock generator and the digital signal processor including a controller and a switch, the switch being embodied as a semiconductor switching element, said controller being adapted to perform a soft-boot sequence on changing from the stand-by mode to the power-on mode.

7. The hearing aid system according to claim 6, wherein the remote control is adapted for issuing a code with every command for uniquely identifying the hearing aid for which the command is intended.

8. The hearing system according to claim 7, wherein the hearing aid is adapted for decoding commands from the remote control if the code corresponds to the code of the hearing aid