Hearing aid with wireless remote control

• US 5,012,520 A
• Filed: 04/25/1989
• Issued: 04/30/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Steeger, Gerhard
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Jin F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chan, Jason
• Application Number:
  US07/342,870
• Time in Patent Office: 735 Days
• Field of Search: 381/68, 381/68.1, 381/68.2, 381/68.3, 381/68.4, 381/68.5, 381/68.6, 381/68.7, 381/69, 381/69.1, 381/69.2, 381/79, 381/105, 600/25
• US Class Current: 381/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/61 Aspects relating to mechanical or electronic switches or control elements, e.g. functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/67 Implantable hearing aids or parts thereof not covered by H04R25/606
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window

Abstract

A control device for a hearing aid is inconspicuously held by a hearing aid user, such as in the palm of the hand, and includes a vibrator which emits a remote control signal at a frequency outside of the audible range of human hearing, and the hearing aid worn in the ear of the user has circuitry responsive to these remote control signals. The remote control signals are transmitted via the skeleton of the hearing aid user by transcutaneous coupling of a contact surface of the control device. The hearing aid includes a transducer for converting the received remote control signals transmitted via the body of the wearer into electrical signals for controlling at least some of the components of the hearing aid. The remote control signal may be coded, in which case the hearing aid will also include a recognition circuit for decoding the received signal.

Claims

1. A hearing aid system comprising:

hearing aid means adapted to be disposed in the region of the ear of user for assisting the user in recognition of sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range, said hearing aid means including at least one adjustable component;

wireless control means adapted to be held in the hand of said user for generating an information-containing signal corresponding to information entered by said user for adjusting said adjustable component of said hearing aid means;

a vibrator in said wireless control means for generating an acoustic control signal including said information containing signal, said vibrator vibrating at a frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range having a contact surface adapted for contact with the skin of the user to acoustically transmit said acoustic control signal via the body of said user; and

receiver means included in said hearing aid means for receiving said acoustic control signal after transmission through the body of said user and for converting said acoustic control signal into an electrical control signal for adjusting said adjustable component.

2. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hearing aid means comprises:

a housing shell adapted for insertion in the auditory canal of said user;

a microphone disposed in said shell sensitive to said sound having frequencies in the normal human sound range and to said frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range so that said microphone functions both to pick-up sound in the normal human audible sound range and as said receiver means, said microphone having an output;

mounting means for seating said microphone in said shell consisting of plastic which attenuates acoustic coupling in said normal human audible sound range and is acoustically transmissive at said frequency outside of said normal human acoustic sound range; and

frequency-selective means connected to said output of said microphone for separating signals corresponding to sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range from said acoustic control signal at said frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range.

3. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said shell has an inner wall and wherein said mounting means is disposed in contact with a portion of said inner wall.

4. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hearing aid means comprises:

means for converting said sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range into electrical signals;

coil means supplied with said electrical signals for generating an alternating magnetic field corresponding to said electrical signals; and

a permanent magnetic adapted to be secured to the stapes in the ear of said user and disposed in said alternating magnetic field so that said permanent magnetic and said stapes are placed in motion corresponding to said sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range.

5. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a housing shell for said hearing aid means adapted to be introduced in the auditory canal of said user;

first sound transducer means disposed in said housing shell for converting said sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range into electrical signals;

means for acoustically decoupling said first sound transducer means from said housing shell;

second sound transducer means disposed in said housing shell and tuned to said frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range functioning as said receiver means; and

means for acoustically coupling said second sound transducer means to said housing shell.

6. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hearing aid means comprises:

a liquid-tight and gas-tight housing adapted for implantation in the head of said user in the region of an ear and adapted to be secured to a skull bone of said user;

an amplifier in said housing;

a first microphone adapted for implantation in the auditory canal of said user and being sensitive to said sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range, said microphone having an implanted electrical connection to said amplifier in said housing;

a piezoelectric vibrator adapted to be secured to and implanted in the middle ear of said user in place of the malleus and having an implanted electrical connection to said amplifier in said housing, said piezoelectric vibrator having a free end adapted to vibrate the stapes of said user corresponding to electrical signals supplied by said amplifier;

a second microphone sensitive to said frequency outside of the normal human audible sound range functioning as said receiver means for converting said acoustic control signal into said electrical control signal; and

frequency selective means in said housing connected to said first microphone and to said second microphone, and to said amplifier and to said adjustable component for separating said signals from said first and second microphones.

7. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said housing is secured to said skull bone by a fastening element, and wherein said second microphone is disposed in said housing and is mechanically connected to said fastening element.

8. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said second microphone is disposed remote from said housing in the region of said piezoelectric vibrator, and further comprising an implanted electrical line connecting second microphone to said frequency selective means.

9. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 8, further comprising mechanical connection means for coupling said second microphone to the fastening location of said piezoelectric vibrator.

10. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wireless control means is contained in a flat housing adapted to fit in the palm of the hand of said user.

11. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said flat housing has an anti-slip coating on a surface thereof in contact with the palm of the hand.

12. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wireless control means includes means for deenergizing said wireless control means when there is no acoustic transmission via the body of said user.

13. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wireless control means includes means for generating a serial sequence of data and check bits for encoding said information-containing signal and means for modulating a carrier signal at said frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range with said information-containing signal to form said acoustic control signal, and wherein said receiver means includes means for decoding said acoustic control signal to regain said information-containing signal.

14. A hearing aid system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said wireless control means further comprises:

a clock generator;

means for repeating said serial sequence of data and check bits a frequency defined by said clock generator; and

means controlled by said clock generator for transmitting said acoustic control signal for a selected time and thereafter switching said wireless control means to a standby state for receiving further information from said user.

15. A method for assisting a hearing-impaired person in recognizing sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range comprising the steps of:

disposing means sensitive to said sound having frequencies in the normal human audible sound range in the region of an ear of said person for assisting in the transmission of said sound to the middle ear of said person, said means for assisting including at least one adjustable component;

generating in a unit held in the hand of said person an acoustic control signal for adjusting said adjustable component by operating a vibrator at a frequency outside of said normal human audible sound range;

placing the hand of said user including said unit against the skin of said person covering a bone being located near the body surface to acoustically transmit said acoustic control signal through the body of said person;

disposing a means for receiving said control signal in the region of said ear; and

supplying said control signal from said means for receiving to said adjustable component.