Hearing aid for persons with an impaired hearing faculty

• US 5,214,709 A
• Filed: 07/01/1991
• Issued: 05/25/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Viennatone GmbH
• Original Assignee: Viennatone GmbH
• Inventors: Ribic, Zlatan
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Jin F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Huyen D.
• Application Number:
  US07/723,929
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 381/68.1, 381/168, 381/92, 381/113, 381/170, 367/126, 367/125, 367/123
• US Class Current: 381/313
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/38 in which sound waves act upon both sides of a diaphragm and incorporating acoustic phase-shifting means, e.g. pressure-gradient microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 19/016 for microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers

Abstract

Hearing aid for persons with an impaired hearing faculty, including a directional microphone whose pick-up characteristic can be altered, the pick-up characteristic being automatically controlled as a function of the input or output signal in such a way that all possible microphone characteristics may be set, and this is realized in that the directional microphone (10) is an electret microphone and that the changes in the pick-up characteristic take place electrically and continuously.

Claims

1. A hearing aid for persons with an impaired having faculty comprising:

a directional microphone system with pick-up characteristics that are continuously and electrically variable, said microphone includes;

i. an inverter having an input and an output;

ii. a current-controlled attenuator controlled by said input of said inverter and connected to said inverter output;

iii. two omni-directional electret microphones each having an input opening for receiving the sound to be heard and for producing an output signal in response to the sound, the input openings being spaced apart from each other, and wherein one microphone output is connected to said inverter so that its output voltage is inverted and attenuated; and

iv. means for adding the other microphone output voltage with the inverted and attenuated voltage to produce an output signal of the hearing aid having automatically changeable characteristics.

2. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, additionally including a housing in which said two omni-directional electret microphones are located.

3. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, additionally including means for attenuating the sound to be heard located within one of the input openings, for varying the pickup characteristics of said microphone.

4. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, additionally including means for delaying the sound to be heard located in one of the input openings, for varying the pick-up characteristics of said microphone.

5. A hearing aid for persons with an impaired hearing faculty comprising:

a directional microphone system with pick-up characteristics that are continuously and electrically variable, said microphone includes;

i. an inverter having an input and output;

ii. a current-controlled attenuator controlled by an output signal of the hearing aid and connected to said inverter output;

iii. two omni-directional electret microphones each having an input opening for receiving the sound to be heard and for producing an output signal in response to the sound, the input openings being spaced apart from each other, and wherein one microphone output is connected to said inverter so that its output voltage is inverted and attenuated; and

iv. means for adding the other microphone output voltage with the inverted and attenuated voltage to produce an output signal of the hearing aid having automatically changeable characteristics.

6. A hearing aid for persons with an impaired hearing faculty comprising:

a directional microphone system with pick-up characteristics that are continuously and electrically variable, said microphone includes;

i. an inverter having an input and an output;

ii. a voltage-controlled attenuator controlled by said input of said inverter and connected to said inverter output;

iii. two omni-directional electret microphones each having an input opening for receiving the sound to be heard and for producing an output signal in response to the sound, the input openings being spaced apart from each other, and wherein one microphone output is connected to said inverter so that its output voltage is inverted and attenuated; and

iv. means for adding the other microphone output voltage with the inverted and attenuated voltage to produce an output signal of the hearing aid having automatically changeable characteristics.

7. A hearing aid for persons with an impaired hearing faculty comprising:

a directional microphone system with pick-up characteristics that are continuously and electrically variable, said microphone includes;

i. an inverter having an input and an output;

ii. a voltage-controlled attenuator controlled by an output signal of the hearing aid and connected to said inverter output;

iii. two omni-directional electret microphones each having an input opening for receiving the sound to be heard and for producing an output signal in response to the sound, the input openings being spaced apart from each other, and wherein one microphone output is connected to said inverter so that its output voltage is inverted and attenuated; and

iv. means for adding the other microphone output voltage with the inverted and attenuated voltage to produce an output signal of the hearing aid having automatically changeable characteristics.