HEARING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM WITH OWN VOICE DETECTION

• US 20100260364A1
• Filed: 03/30/2010
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Merks, Ivo
• Granted Patent: US 8,477,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/313
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/406 microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/0216 BTE hearing aids having a receiver in the ear mould
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/00 Deaf-aid sets , i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception electrical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N1/36038; optical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N5/0622
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/607 of earhooks
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

An example of an apparatus configured to be worn by a person who has an ear and an ear canal includes a first microphone adapted to be worn about the ear of the person, and a second microphone adapted to be worn at a different location than the first microphone. The apparatus includes a sound processor adapted to process signals from the first microphone to produce a processed sound signal, a receiver adapted to convert the processed sound signal into an audible signal to the wearer of the hearing assistance device, and a voice detector to detect the voice of the wearer. The voice detector includes an adaptive filter to receive signals from the first microphone and the second microphone.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to be worn by a wearer who has an ear and an ear canal, comprising:

a first microphone adapted to be worn about the ear of the person;

a second microphone adapted to be worn about the ear canal of the person and at a different location than the first microphone;

a sound processor adapted to process signals from the first microphone to produce a processed sound signal; and

a voice detector to detect a voice of the wearer, the voice detector including an adaptive filter to receive signals from the first microphone and the second microphone.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the apparatus includes an ear piece configured to accommodate the second microphone and to be positioned near the ear canal and wherein

the second microphone is configured to receive acoustic signals outside of the ear canal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first microphone and the sound processor are disposed in a housing.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sound processor is further adapted to process sound signals from the second microphone to produce the processed sound signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sound processor is further adapted to process sound signals from both the first and second microphones to provide directionality for the processed sound signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voice detector is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using a peak value for coefficients of the adaptive filter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voice detector is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using an error signal from the adaptive filter.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voice detector is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using a peak value for coefficients of the adaptive filter and using an error signal from the adaptive filter.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the voice detector is configured to determine that sound received is the voice of the wearer when a power of a signal for the first microphone is greater than a power of the error signal by a predetermined threshold and a largest normalized coefficient is greater than a predetermined value.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sound processor is adapted to control amplification based on whether the voice detector detects the voice.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sound processor is adapted to control an anti-occlusion process based on whether the voice detector detects the voice.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sound processor is adapted to control an environment classification process based on whether the voice detector detects the voice.

13. An apparatus configured to be worn by a wearer who has an ear and an ear canal, comprising:

a housing configured to be worn behind the ear or over the ear;

a first microphone in the housing;

an ear mold configured to be positioned in the ear canal, wherein the ear mold includes an air side when positioned in the ear canal;

a second microphone configured to receive acoustic signals on the air side of the ear mold;

a sound processor in the housing, the sound processor adapted to process signals from the first microphone to produce a processed sound signal;

a receiver adapted to convert the processed sound signal into an audible signal to the wearer; and

an adaptive filter to receive signals from the first microphone and the second microphone and to detect the voice of the person using a peak value for coefficients of the adaptive filter and an error signal from the adaptive filter.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the sound processor is further adapted to process sound signals from both the first and second microphones to provide directionality for the processed sound signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the voice detector is configured to deem that sound received is the voice of the wearer when a power of a signal for the first microphone is greater than a power of the error signal by a predetermined threshold and a largest normalized coefficient is greater than a predetermined value.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the sound processor is adapted to adjust the processed sound signal based on outputs of the voice detector.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the receiver is positioned in the housing.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the receiver is configured to be positioned near or in the ear canal.

19. A method for detecting a voice of a wearer of a hearing assistance device where the hearing assistance device includes a first microphone and a second microphone, the method comprising:

using a first electrical signal representative of sound detected by the first microphone and a second electrical signal representative of sound detected by the second microphone as inputs to a system including an adaptive filter; and

using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer of the hearing assistance device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer of the hearing assistance device includes comparing a power of the first electrical signal to a power of an error signal from the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer includes deeming a received signal to be voice when the power of the first electrical signal is greater than the power of the error signal by a predetermined threshold.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer includes analyzing coefficients of the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer of the hearing assistance device includes detecting the voice when a largest coefficient is greater than a predetermined value.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer of the hearing assistance device includes detecting the voice when a largest normalized coefficient is greater than 0.5.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer includes comparing a power of the first electrical signal to a power of an error signal from the adaptive filter, and analyzing coefficients of the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein using the adaptive filter to detect the voice of the wearer includes detecting the voice when the power of the first electrical signal is greater than the power of the error signal by a predetermined threshold and a largest coefficient is greater than a predetermined value.