HEARING SYSTEM COMPRISING A HEARING DEVICE AND A MICROPHONE UNIT FOR PICKING UP A USER'S OWN VOICE
First Claim
1. A body worn hearing system comprising a hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid, adapted for being located at or in an ear of a user, or adapted for being fully or partially implanted in the head of the user, and a separate microphone unit adapted for being located at said user and picking up a sound, e.g. a voice of the user, from the user'"'"'s mouth, whereinthe hearing device comprisesa forward path comprising an input unit for receiving an electric audio signal and/or for generating an electric input signal representative of sound in an environment of the hearing device, a signal processing unit for processing said electric audio signal or said electric input signal or a mixture thereof and providing a processed signal, and an output unit for generating stimuli perceivable as sound when presented to the user based on said processed signal, andan antenna and transceiver unit forestablishing a communication link to a communication device and configured to receive an audio signal from the communication device, at least in a specific communication mode of operation of the hearing system, and forestablishing a communication link to the microphone unit for transmitting information to and/or receiving information from the microphone unit, and whereinthe microphone unit comprisesan input unit comprising a multitude M of microphones Mi, i=1, . . . , M, each being configured for picking up or receiving a signal representative of a sound xi(n) from the environment of the microphone unit and providing respective electric input signals x′
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i(n), n representing time, and M being larger than or equal to two; and
a multi-input noise reduction system for providing an estimate Ŝ
of a target signal s comprising the user'"'"'s voice, the multi-input noise reduction system comprises a multi-input beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said multitude of microphones Mi, i=1, . . . , M, and configured to provide a spatially filtered signal; and
an antenna and transceiver unit forestablishing a communication link to the communication device and configured to transmit said estimate Ŝ
of the user'"'"'s voice to the communication device, at least in a specific communication mode of operation of the hearing system, and forestablishing a communication link to the hearing device for transmitting information to and/or receiving information from the hearing device,whereinthe hearing system comprises a control unit configured to estimatea current distance between the user'"'"'s mouth and the microphone unit, ora current time delay for propagation of sound from a user'"'"'s mouth to the microphone unit, and/orrelative transfer functions from the user'"'"'s mouth to each of the M microphones relative to a reference microphone among the M microphones, andthe hearing system is configured to control the multi-input noise reduction system in dependence of said current distance, or said current time delay, or said relative transfer functions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A body worn hearing system comprises a hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid, and a separate microphone unit for picking up a voice of the user. The hearing device comprises a forward path comprising an input unit for providing an electric input signal representative of sound in the environment, a signal processing unit for providing a processed signal, and an output unit for generating stimuli perceivable as sound when presented to the user based on said processed signal. The microphone unit comprises a multitude M of microphones, and a multi-input noise reduction system for providing an estimate Ŝ of a target signal s comprising the user'"'"'s voice, and comprising a multi-input beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said multitude of microphones. The hearing device and the microphone unit are configured to receive and transmit an audio signal from/to a communication device, respectively, and for establishing a communication link between them for exchanging information. The hearing system comprises a control unit configured to estimate a current distance between the user'"'"'s mouth and the microphone unit, and to control the multi-input noise reduction system in dependence of said distance.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A body worn hearing system comprising a hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid, adapted for being located at or in an ear of a user, or adapted for being fully or partially implanted in the head of the user, and a separate microphone unit adapted for being located at said user and picking up a sound, e.g. a voice of the user, from the user'"'"'s mouth, wherein
the hearing device comprises a forward path comprising an input unit for receiving an electric audio signal and/or for generating an electric input signal representative of sound in an environment of the hearing device, a signal processing unit for processing said electric audio signal or said electric input signal or a mixture thereof and providing a processed signal, and an output unit for generating stimuli perceivable as sound when presented to the user based on said processed signal, and an antenna and transceiver unit for establishing a communication link to a communication device and configured to receive an audio signal from the communication device, at least in a specific communication mode of operation of the hearing system, and for establishing a communication link to the microphone unit for transmitting information to and/or receiving information from the microphone unit, and wherein the microphone unit comprises an input unit comprising a multitude M of microphones Mi, i=1, . . . , M, each being configured for picking up or receiving a signal representative of a sound xi(n) from the environment of the microphone unit and providing respective electric input signals x′ -
i(n), n representing time, and M being larger than or equal to two; and
a multi-input noise reduction system for providing an estimate Ŝ
of a target signal s comprising the user'"'"'s voice, the multi-input noise reduction system comprises a multi-input beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said multitude of microphones Mi, i=1, . . . , M, and configured to provide a spatially filtered signal; andan antenna and transceiver unit for establishing a communication link to the communication device and configured to transmit said estimate Ŝ
of the user'"'"'s voice to the communication device, at least in a specific communication mode of operation of the hearing system, and forestablishing a communication link to the hearing device for transmitting information to and/or receiving information from the hearing device, wherein the hearing system comprises a control unit configured to estimate a current distance between the user'"'"'s mouth and the microphone unit, or a current time delay for propagation of sound from a user'"'"'s mouth to the microphone unit, and/or relative transfer functions from the user'"'"'s mouth to each of the M microphones relative to a reference microphone among the M microphones, and the hearing system is configured to control the multi-input noise reduction system in dependence of said current distance, or said current time delay, or said relative transfer functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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i(n), n representing time, and M being larger than or equal to two; and
Specification