HEARING AID SYSTEM ADAPTED TO SELECTIVELY AMPLIFY AUDIO SIGNALS

• US 20110237295A1
• Filed: 03/22/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Original Assignee: Audiotoniq, Inc
• Inventors: Bartkowiak, John Gray, Landry, David Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,369,549 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/41 Detection or adaptation of hearing aid parameters or programs to listening situation, e.g. pub, forest
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• 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

Abstract

A hearing aid includes a microphone to convert sounds into electrical signals and a memory to store a plurality of voice prints and a plurality of sound-shaping instructions. Each of the plurality of sound-shaping instructions is associated with one of the plurality of voice prints. The hearing aid further includes a processor coupled to the microphone and the memory. The processor is configured to compare at least one sample from the electrical signals to the plurality of voice prints to identify a voice print. The processor selects sound-shaping instructions associated with the voice print and applies the sound-shaping instructions to selectively shape a portion of the electrical signals corresponding to the voice print to produce a shaped signal. The hearing aid further includes a speaker coupled to the processor and configured to reproduce the shaped signal as an audible output.

Claims

1. A hearing aid comprising:

a microphone to convert sounds into electrical signals;

a memory to store a plurality of voice prints and a plurality of sound-shaping instructions, each of the plurality of sound-shaping instructions associated with one of the plurality of voice prints;

a processor coupled to the microphone and the memory, the processor configured to compare at least one sample from the electrical signals to the plurality of voice prints to identify a voice print, the processor to select sound-shaping instructions associated with the voice print and to apply the sound-shaping instructions to selectively shape a portion of the electrical signals corresponding to the voice print to produce a shaped signal; and

a speaker coupled to the processor and configured to reproduce the shaped signal as an audible output.

2. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of voice prints comprises a biometric identifier representative of an individual'"'"'s voice.

3. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein:

the memory further comprises at least one hearing aid profile for shaping the electrical signals to compensate for a hearing impairment of a user; and

the processor is configured to apply the at least one hearing aid profile to one of the electrical signals and the shaped signal before providing the shaped signal to the speaker.

4. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to identify a second voice print within the electrical signals and to select and apply second sound-shaping instructions associated with the second voice print to a second portion of the electrical signals related to the second voice print.

5. The hearing aid of claim 4, wherein:

the portion of the electrical signal related to the voice print comprises a first frequency range;

the second portion of the electrical signal related to the second voice print comprises a second frequency range; and

wherein the second frequency range at least partially overlaps the first frequency range.

6. The hearing aid of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver adapted to communicate with a computing device through a communication channel.

7. The hearing aid of claim 6, wherein the hearing aid receives the sound shaping instructions from the computing device.

8. The hearing aid of claim 6, wherein the computing device comprises a smart phone.

9. A computing device comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of voice prints and a plurality of sets of sound-shaping instructions, each set of the plurality of sets of sound-shaping instructions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of voice prints;

a transceiver for communicating with a hearing aid through a communication channel; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the processor configured to receive a sound sample, to identify a voice print associated with the sound sample, and to selectively provide an associated set of sound-shaping instructions from the plurality of sets sound-shaping instructions to the hearing aid in response to receiving a sound sample.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the sound sample is received from the hearing aid through the communication channel.

11. The computing device of claim 9, further comprising:

a microphone coupled to the processor to convert sounds into electrical signals; and

wherein the processor is configured to receive the sound sample corresponding to the electrical signals from the microphone and to process the sound sample to identify the voice print from the plurality of voice prints.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the processor controls the microphone to convert the sounds into the electrical signals.

13. The computing device of claim 12, further comprising a user interface coupled to the processor for receiving user input;

wherein the processor controls the microphone in response to receiving the user input.

14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to identify a second voice print within the sound sample, and to selectively provide a second set of sound-shaping instructions to the hearing aid in response to identifying the second voice print.

15. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to generate the voice print from one or more sound samples and to generate an associated set of sound-shaping instructions based on a hearing profile configured to compensate for a hearing deficiency of the user, the associated set of sound-shaping instructions is executable by the processor to shape at least a portion of the electrical signals corresponding to the voice print.

16. A method comprising:

identifying one or more voice prints within an electrical signal related to a sound;

selectively applying one or more sets of sound shaping instructions to the electrical signal to shape one or more portions of the electrical signal associated with the one or more voice prints to produce a shaped output signal; and

producing an audible output signal at a speaker of a hearing aid based on the shaped output signal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising applying a hearing aid profile to the shaped output signal to compensate for a hearing impairment of a user before producing the audible output signal.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the one or more voice patterns within the electrical signal and selectively applying the one or more sets of sound shaping instructions to the electrical signal are performed by a computing device, the method further comprising:

transmitting the shaped output signal from the computing device to the hearing aid through a communication channel.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

providing one or more selection options to a user via a user interface, wherein each of the one or more selection options is associated with at least one set of the one or more sets of sound shaping instructions associated with the one or more voice prints;

receiving a selection corresponding to a selected one of the one or more selection options; and

applying the one or more sets of sound shaping instructions associated with the selection to shape one or more portions of the electrical signal to produce the shaped output signal.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the one or more voice patterns within the electrical signal and selectively applying the one or more sets of sound shaping instructions to the electrical signal are performed by a hearing aid.