CUSTOMIZATION OF ADAPTIVE DIRECTIONALITY FOR HEARING AIDS USING A PORTABLE DEVICE

• US 20140198934A1
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Recker, Karrie LaRae
• Granted Patent: US 9,332,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/313
• 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 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/40 Arrangements for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/402 using contructional means
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/405 by combining a plurality of transducers
• 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 25/552 Binaural

Abstract

A hearing assistance system provides a hearing-aid wearer with one or more hearing aids and a portable device allowing for a wearer-driven directionality customization of the one or more hearing aids. The wearer indicates the locations of sound(s) of interest and/or noise source(s) using the portable device. The one or more hearing aids adjust the directionality of sound reception based on these wearer-indicated locations.

Claims

1. A portable device for use by a wearer of a hearing aid set of one or more hearing aids that controls directionality of sound reception using one or more wearer-indicated locations each including a signal location or a noise location, the signal location being a location of a source of a sound of interest, the noise location being a location of a source of noise, the portable device comprising:

a communication circuit configured to communicate with the hearing aid set;

a user interface configured to receive user commands including a location command indicating the one or more wearer-indicated locations;

a processing circuit coupled to the user interface and the communication circuit, the processing circuit configured to produce a directionality customization signal using the location command and transmit the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid set using the communication circuit, the directionality customization signal allowing the hearing aid set to control the directionality of sound reception.

2. The portable device of claim 1, wherein the portable device is configured to be a hand-held device, and the communication circuit is configured to communicate with the hearing aid set using a wireless communication link.

3. The portable device of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a touch screen to receive the user commands.

4. The portable device of claim 3, wherein the processing circuit is configured to display on the touch screen a graphical representation of an environment in which the hearing aid set operates and allow the wearer to identify the one or more wearer-indicated locations on the graphical representation.

5. The portable device of claim 4, wherein the processing circuit is configured to display on the touch screen one or more indications of the directionality of sound reception.

6. The portable device of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit is configured to display on the touch screen one or more signal-to-noise ratios associated with the directionality of sound reception.

7. The portable device of claim 4, comprising a memory configured to store one or more location presets each being a previously recorded set of the one or more wearer-indicated locations, the user interface is configured to receive a location-saving command of the user commands for saving the one or more wearer-indicated locations as indicated by the location command as a location preset of the stored one or more location presets.

8. The portable device of claim 4, wherein the user interface is configured to receive a performance-comparison command of the user commands, and the processing circuit is configured to perform a comparison between the directionality of sound reception approximately optimized using the directionality customization signal and a different setting of the directionality of sound reception and present the result of the comparison using the user interface in response to the performance-comparison command.

9. The portable device of claim 4, comprising a memory, and wherein the user interface is configured to receive a data-logging command of the user commands, and the processing circuit is configured to record data associated with changes in the directionality of sound reception and store the data in the memory in response to the data-logging command.

10. A hearing aid set including one or more hearing aids configured to be worn by a wearer and communicatively coupled to a portable device for use by the wearer, the hearing aid set comprising:

microphones configured to receive acoustic signals;

one or more receivers configured to transmit one or more output audio signals to the wearer;

a processing circuit coupled between the microphones and the one or more receivers, the processing circuit configured to produce the one or more output audio signals by processing the acoustic signals in real time and including a directionality controller configured to receive a directionality customization signal from the portable device and control a directionality of the microphones using the directionality customization signal, the directionality customization signal indicative of one or more wearer-indicated locations each including a signal location or a noise location, the signal location being a location of a source of a sound of interest in the acoustic signals, the noise location being a location of a source of noise in the acoustic signals.

11. The hearing aid set of claim 10, comprising a memory storing one or more location presets each being a previously recorded set of the one or more wearer-indicated locations, and wherein the directionality customization signal indicates the one or more wearer-indicated locations by specifying a location preset of the stored one or more location presets, and the processing circuit is configured to control the directionality of the microphones using the specified location preset.

12. The hearing aid set of claim 10, wherein the directionality controller is configured to perform an initial optimization of the directionality using the directionality customization signal in response to reception of the directionality customization signal and control the directionality according a specified optimization mode after the initial optimization.

13. The hearing aid set of claim 12, wherein the directionality controller is configured to fix the directionality for an angle set by the initial optimization after the initial optimization.

14. The hearing aid set of claim 12, wherein the directionality controller is configured to dynamically adjust the directionality by tracking head movement of the wearer after the initial optimization.

15. The hearing aid set of claim 12, wherein the directionality controller is configured to dynamically adjust the directionality by tracking movements of one or more locations of the one or more wearer-indicated locations after the initial optimization.

16. The hearing aid set of claim 12, wherein the directionality controller is configured to dynamically adjust the directionality by concurrently tracking head movement of the wearer and movements of one or more locations of the one or more wearer-indicated locations after the initial optimization.

17. A method for controlling directionality of sound reception of a hearing aid set including one or more hearing aids configured to be worn by a wearer, the method comprising:

receiving user commands using a portable device, the user commands including a location command indicating one or more wearer-indicated locations including a signal location or a noise location in acoustic signals to be received by the hearing aid set, the signal location being a location of a source of a sound of interest, the noise location being a location of a source of noise;

producing a directionality customization signal using the location command; and

transmitting the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid set for the hearing aid set to control the directionality of sound reception using the directionality customization signal in processing the acoustic signals.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid comprises transmitting the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid using a wireless communication link.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid comprises transmitting the directionality customization signal to the hearing aid using a cable.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving user commands using the portable device comprises receiving the user commands using a touch screen of the portable device.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising displaying a graphical representation of an environment in which the hearing aid operates to allow the wearer to identify the one or more wearer-indicated locations on the graphical representation.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising presenting one or more indications of the directionality of sound reception on the touch screen.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising performing an initial optimization of the directionality using the directionality customization signal using the hearing aid set.

24. The method of claim 23, comprising fixing the directionality for an angle set by the initial optimization after the initial optimization.

25. The method of claim 23, comprising dynamically adjusting the directionality by tracking one or more of head movement of the wearer or movements of one or more locations of the one or more wearer-indicated locations after the initial optimization.