A METHOD FOR OPERATING A HEARING SYSTEM AS WELL AS A HEARING DEVICE

• US 20150382113A1
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonova AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Phonak AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Riepenhoff, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 9,602,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency

Abstract

A method for operating a hearing system includes a hearing device being worn by a hearing device user, at least one communication device being used by a person or by a group of people, and a network. The method includes the steps of establishing a connection between the hearing device and the at least one communication device via the network, identifying the person or the group of people using the at least one communication device, and adjusting settings in the hearing device for adapting its acoustical behavior taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person, the group of people, the user, the hearing device and the communication device. Furthermore, a hearing device (2) is described.

Claims

1. A method for operating a hearing system comprising a hearing device (2) being worn by a hearing device user (1), at least one communication device (21, 31, 44) being used by a person (20, 30) or by a group (40) of people (41, 42, 43), and a network (7), wherein the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a connection between the hearing device (2) and the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44) via the network (7),

identifying the person (20, 30) or the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43) using the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44), and

adjusting settings in the hearing device (2) for adapting its acoustical behavior taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person (20, 30), the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43), the user (1), the hearing device (2) and the communication device (21, 31, 44).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the connection is triggered by the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44) or by the hearing device (2).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the person using the communication device (21, 31, 44) is identified by at least one of the following:

identification number of the communication device (21, 31, 44);

analysis of a signal generated by the communication device (21, 31, 44);

analysis of a voice signal of the person (20, 30;

41, 42, 43) using the communication device (21, 31, 44).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the settings is carried out by selecting a predefined setting out of a multitude of available predefined settings, each of which is assigned to a person (20, 30;

41, 42, 43) of a communication device (21, 31, 44).

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

modifying one or several predefined settings for obtaining modified settings and

storing the modified settings as new predefined settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection between the hearing device (2) and the communication device (21, 31, 44) is established via an intermediate device (3) communicating with the hearing device (2) using a near field communication technique.

7. A hearing device (2) being worn by a hearing device user (1), the hearing device (2) comprising:

in input transducer (51),

an output transducer (52),

a signal processing unit (50) interconnecting the input transducer (51) and the output transducer (52), the signal processing unit (50) being at least temporally operatively connected to a network (7),

characterized by

means for detecting a connection request by at least one communication device (21, 31, 44),

means for identifying the person (20, 30) or the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43) using the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44), and

means for adjusting settings in the signal processing unit (50) for adapting acoustical behavior taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person (20, 30), the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43), the user (1) and the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44).

9. The hearing device (2) of claim 7, wherein the person using the communication device (21, 31, 44) is identified by at least one of the following:

identification number of the communication device (21, 31, 44);

analysis of a signal generated by the communication device (21, 31, 44);

analysis of a voice signal of the person (20, 30;

41, 42, 43) using the communication device (21, 31, 44).

10. The hearing device (2) of claim 7, wherein the means for adjusting the settings is carried out by selecting a predefined setting out of a multitude of available predefined settings, each of which is assigned to a person (20, 30;

41, 42, 43) of a communication device (21, 31, 44).

11. The hearing device (2) of claim 10, further comprising:

means for modifying one or several predefined settings for obtaining modified settings and

a memory unit for storing the modified settings as new predefined settings.

12. The hearing device (2) of claim 7, further comprising means for communicating with an intermediate device (3) using a near field communication technique.

8. A hearing device (2) being worn by a hearing device user (1), the hearing device (2) comprising:

in input transducer (51),

an output transducer (52),

a signal processing unit (50) interconnecting the input transducer (51) and the output transducer (52), the signal processing unit (50) being at least temporally operatively connected to a network (7),

characterized by

means for establishing a connection to at least one communication device (21, 31, 44),

means for identifying the person (20, 30) or the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43) using the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44), and

means for adjusting settings in the signal processing unit (50) for adapting acoustical behavior taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person (20, 30), the group (40) of people (41, 42, 43), the user (1) and the at least one communication device (21, 31, 44).