METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIRECTIONAL ACOUSTIC FITTING OF HEARING AIDS
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of acoustically fitting a hearing aid comprises providing a plurality of audible tones, each having a predetermined frequency through stereo headphones. The tones are provided at specific sound pressure in each ear. The patient changes the relative sound pressure in each ear until a perceived direction of source of the tone is in front of the patient. The amplification or attenuation requirements of a hearing aid are modified based on the difference in the sound pressures required for the left and right ears of the patient for perceived directional sameness for each frequency band-pass channel.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1-29. -29. (canceled)
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30. A system for programming at least one hearing device, comprising:
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stereo headphones having a first speaker configured for positioning relative to a first ear of a user and a second speaker configured for positioning relative to a second ear of a user; a processing device electronically coupled to the stereo headphones, wherein the processing device is configured to provide a first audible tone through the first speaker of the stereo headphones and a second audible tone through the second speaker of the stereo headphones, wherein the first audible tone has a first sound pressure level and wherein the second audible tone has a second sound pressure level; a user controllable interface electronically coupled to the processing device, the user controllable interface configured to allow a user to adjust the first sound pressure level of the first audible tone to a first adjusted sound pressure level so that the user perceives the first adjusted sound pressure level of the first audible tone to be substantially balanced with the second sound pressure level of the second audible tone, the processing device further configured to record at least one first datum representing a difference between the first adjusted sound pressure level and the second sound pressure level; and a programming interface configured to receive the at least one first datum and for programming at least one hearing device based on the first datum according to the difference between the first adjusted sound pressure level and the second sound pressure level. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A system for programming at least one hearing device, comprising:
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stereo headphones having a first speaker configured for positioning relative to a first ear of a user and a second speaker configured for positioning relative to a second ear of a user; a processing device electronically coupled to the stereo headphones, the processing device configured to provide a first audible tone through the first speaker of the stereo headphones and a second audible tone through the second speaker of the stereo headphones, the first audible tone having a first sound pressure level and the second audible tone having a second sound pressure level; a user controllable interface electronically coupled to the processing device, the user controllable interface configured to allow a user to adjust the first sound pressure level of the first audible tone to a first adjusted sound pressure level and to adjust the second sound pressure level of the second audible tone to a second adjusted sound pressure so that the user perceives the first adjusted sound pressure level of the first audible audible tone to be substantially balanced with the second adjusted sound pressure level of the second audible tone, the processing device further configured to record at least one first datum representing a difference between the first adjusted sound pressure level and the second adjusted sound pressure level; and a programming interface configured to receive the at least one first datum and for programming at least one hearing device based on the at least one first datum representing the difference in sound pressure level between the first adjusted sound pressure level and the second adjusted sound pressure level. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A system for acoustically fitting a hearing aid, comprising:
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stereo headphones electronically coupled to a processing device, the processing device configured to simultaneously provide through the stereo headphones a first tone through a first channel of the stereo headphones and a second tone through a second channel of the stereo headphones, the first tone having a first frequency and a first sound pressure level and the second tone having a second frequency and a second sound pressure level; a controllable interface electronically coupled to the processing device, the controllable interface configured to allow a test administrator to vary the first sound pressure level of the first tone to a first adjusted sound pressure level of the first tone, the first adjusted sound pressure level of the first tone corresponding to a sound pressure level where a patient signals to the test administrator that the patient perceives through the stereo headphones that the first adjusted sound pressure level of the first tone is substantially audibly balanced with the second sound pressure level of second tone; a recording device for recording at least one differential sound pressure based on at least the first adjusted sound pressure level; and a hearing aid programming interface wherein the hearing aid programming interface is configured to program at least one gain compensation curve into at least one hearing aid, the gain compensation curves being a function of the recorded at least one differential sound pressure. - View Dependent Claims (49)
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Specification