CUSTOMIZATION OF BONE CONDUCTION HEARING DEVICES

• US 20120215056A1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Original Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Inventors: Hillbratt, Martin Evert Gustaf, Asnes, Gunnar Kristian
• Granted Patent: US 10,531,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/25
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1101 Detecting tremor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/121 evaluating hearing capacity
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2310/00 Prostheses classified in A61F2/28 or A61F2/30 - A61F2/44 being constructed from or coated with a particular material
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/13 Hearing devices using bone conduction transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

The present invention relates to recipient customization of a bone conducting hearing device. Customization of the bone conducting hearing device may include attaching the bone conducting hearing device to a recipient, establishing communication between the hearing device and an external device, generating at least one control setting with the external device, and storing the at least one control setting in a memory device in the hearing device.

Claims

1. A method for recipient customization of a bone conducting device, comprising:

establishing a control setting with an external device;

transmitting the control setting to the bone conducting device; and

storing the control setting in the bone conducting device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of establishing the control setting includes establishing a plurality of control settings each having a different amplification at a respective frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an audiogram that measures bone conduction threshold values.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the action of transmitting the control setting to the bone conduction device includes transmitting the control setting to a bone conduction device configured to generate vibrations useable for measurement of bone conduction threshold values.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring vibrations transmitted to the recipient'"'"'s skull bone by the bone conduction device for a plurality of frequencies; and

the establishing action comprises;

establishing a plurality of control settings each having a different amplification for each said plurality of different frequencies.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the measuring action includes measuring resonance frequencies, wherein the plurality of control settings are adapted to dampen said resonance frequencies.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

altering the control setting based on a subjective percept of a recipient of the bone conduction device; and

storing said altered control settings in the bone conducting device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing action includes establishing a plurality of control settings, each said plurality of control settings configured to be altered by the external device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the control setting controls at least one of frequency amplification, maximum power output at a plurality of frequencies, frequency compression, noise reduction, directivity and speech enhancement at a plurality of frequencies.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the control setting controls the volume of an alarm signal.

11. The method claim 1, wherein the storing action includes storing the at least one control setting in non-volatile memory.

12. A bone conduction device, comprising:

a transducer configured to generate mechanical vibrations in response to a signal indicative of a sound; and

an interface configured to enable the bone conduction device to communicate with a remote unit remote from the bone conduction device,

wherein the bone conduction device is configured to receive a control signal from the remote unit and to adjust an operating parameter of the bone conduction device that influences the generated mechanical vibrations, based on the control signal.

13. The bone conduction device of claim 12, further including at least one memory unit, wherein the at least one memory unit is configured to store a plurality of control settings, each control setting having a different amplification for each of a plurality of different frequencies.

14. The bone conduction device of claim 12, further including at least one memory unit, wherein the at least one memory unit is configured to store a control setting that controls the volume of an alarm signal.

15. The bone conduction device of claim 12, further including at least one memory unit, wherein the at least one memory unit includes a first memory unit for short-term storage of control data, and a second memory unit for long-term storage of control data, said second memory unit being a non-volatile memory.

16. The bone conduction device of claim 12, wherein the interface is configured to allow bidirectional communication between the bone conduction device and an external device remote from the bone conduction device.