HEARING INSTRUMENT WITH OFF-LINE SPEECH MESSAGES

• US 20140369536A1
• Filed: 06/18/2013
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GN Hearing A/S (GN Store Nord A/S)
• Original Assignee: GN Resound A/S (GN Store Nord A/S)
• Inventors: PEDERSEN, Brian Dam, KIRKWOOD, Brent C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,788,128 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/55 using an external connection, either wireless or wired

Abstract

A hearing instrument configured for use with a device, the hearing instrument includes: an interface for reception of a message and/or a speech message from the device, wherein the speech message is a converted form of the message and is generated using a text-to-speech processor; a memory for storage of the message and/or the speech message, and a message processor configured for, at a selected time, outputting audio samples of the speech message for transmission to a user of the hearing instrument.

Claims

1. A hearing instrument configured for use with a device, the hearing instrument comprising:

an interface for reception of a message and/or a speech message from the device, wherein the speech message is a converted form of the message and is generated using a text-to-speech processor;

a memory for storage of the message and/or the speech message, and

a message processor configured for, at a selected time, outputting audio samples of the speech message for transmission to a user of the hearing instrument.

2. The hearing instrument of claim 1, further comprising the text-to-speech processor;

wherein the interface is configured for reception of the message, not the speech message; and

wherein the text-to-speech processor of the hearing instrument is configured to convert the message to the speech message.

3. The hearing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the hearing instrument comprises a hearing aid.

4. The hearing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the hearing instrument comprises a timer that is synchronized with a timer of the device, and wherein the message processor is configured for automatically outputting the audio samples at the selected time as determined with the timer.

5. The hearing instrument according to claim 1, wherein the interface is also for reception of information regarding the selected time from the device.

6. A hearing instrument system comprising the hearing instrument of claim 1, and the device.

7. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, wherein the text-to-speech processor is a part of the device, and wherein the interface of the hearing instrument is configured for reception of the speech message, not the message, from the device after the text-to-speech processor of the device has converted the message to the speech message.

8. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, wherein the device is configured to transmit the message and/or the speech message to the hearing instrument upon detection of a connection with the hearing instrument.

9. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, wherein the device comprises:

a first interface that is configured for connection with a Wide-Area-Network,

a second interface configured for connection with the hearing instrument, and

a central processor configured for controlling reception of information relating to the user through the Wide-Area-Network, and transmission of the message and/or the speech message to the hearing instrument based on the information.

10. The hearing instrument system according to claim 9, wherein the selected time is included in the information.

11. The hearing instrument system according to claim 9, wherein a duration of the transmission of the message to the hearing instrument is longer than a duration of the transmission of the audio samples of the speech message to the user.

12. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, further comprising a user interface configured to receive a user command to sequentially output two or more messages stored in the memory of the hearing instrument for transmission to a user of the hearing instrument system.

13. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, further comprising a user interface configured to receive a user command to delete a selected message in the memory of the hearing instrument.

14. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, further comprising a user interface configured to receive a user command to repeat transmission of a selected message.

15. The hearing instrument system according to claim 6, further comprising a user interface configured to receive a user command to mute a selected message.

16. A device for use with a hearing instrument, comprising:

a first interface that is configured for reception of information relating to a user through a Wide-Area-Network, the information comprising timing information;

a second interface configured for connection with the hearing instrument; and

a processor configured to control the second interface to output a message and/or a speech message to the hearing instrument based on the timing information, wherein the speech message is a converted form of the message and is generated using a text-to-speech processor.

17. A method of communicating a message, comprising:

retrieving the message from a device with access to a Wide-Area-Network;

converting the message into a corresponding speech message;

storing the message and/or the corresponding speech message in a memory of a hearing instrument together with timing information, and

outputting the corresponding speech message for a human at a date and time as defined by the timing information.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the speech message, not the message, is stored in the memory of the hearing instrument.