Hearing aid with a directional microphone system as well as method for the operation thereof
First Claim
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1. A hearing aid comprising:
- a housing adapted to be worn at an ear;
a plurality of microphones in said housing selected from the group consisting of directional microphones and non-directional microphones, each of said microphones having a principal reception direction and each of said microphones producing an electrical output signal;
a signal processing unit in said housing which produces a processed electrical signal;
an earphone in said housing supplied with said processed electrical signal which converts said processed electrical signal into an acoustic output signal;
a plurality of delay elements in said housing connected between said plurality of microphones and said signal processing unit in different selectable combinations, for combining the respective electrical output signals of said microphones with different delays and weightings to form, in combination with said signal processing unit, a directional microphone system with a system reception characteristic having a system principal reception direction;
said plurality of microphones being respectively disposed in said housing with their respective principal reception directions crossing substantially at a right angle; and
said signal processing unit comprising means for setting said system principal reception direction at any direction between the respective principal reception directions of said plurality of microphones.
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Abstract
In a hearing aid with a directional microphone system having a signal processing unit, an earphone and a number of microphones, the output signals of the respective microphones can be interconnected with one another with different weightings for generating an individual directional microphones characteristic by using one or more delay elements and the signal processing unit. The invention is also directed to a method for the operation of such a hearing aid.
90 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A hearing aid comprising:
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a housing adapted to be worn at an ear;
a plurality of microphones in said housing selected from the group consisting of directional microphones and non-directional microphones, each of said microphones having a principal reception direction and each of said microphones producing an electrical output signal;
a signal processing unit in said housing which produces a processed electrical signal;
an earphone in said housing supplied with said processed electrical signal which converts said processed electrical signal into an acoustic output signal;
a plurality of delay elements in said housing connected between said plurality of microphones and said signal processing unit in different selectable combinations, for combining the respective electrical output signals of said microphones with different delays and weightings to form, in combination with said signal processing unit, a directional microphone system with a system reception characteristic having a system principal reception direction;
said plurality of microphones being respectively disposed in said housing with their respective principal reception directions crossing substantially at a right angle; and
said signal processing unit comprising means for setting said system principal reception direction at any direction between the respective principal reception directions of said plurality of microphones. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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5. A hearing aid as claimed in claim I wherein said plurality of said microphones includes at least three directional microphones with respective principal reception directions disposed toward a front of said housing, a bottom of said housing, and a side of said housing.
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10. A method for operating a hearing aid comprising:
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providing a housing adapted to be worn at an ear;
providing a plurality of microphones in said housing selected from the group consisting of directional microphones and non-directional microphones, each of said microphones having a principal reception direction and each of said microphones producing an electrical output signal;
providing a signal processing unit in said housing and producing a processed output signal with said signal processing unit;
providing an earphone in said housing and converting said processed electrical signal in said earphone into an output audio signal;
providing a plurality of delay elements in said housing and connecting said plurality of microphone in respective combinations with different delays and different weightings to said signal processing unit via said delay elements and thereby creating a directional microphone system with a system reception characteristic having a system principal reception direction;
disposing said plurality of microphones in said housing with their respective principal reception directions crossing substantially at a right angle; and
creating said directional microphone system with said system principal direction disposed at a selected direction between the respective principal reception directions of said plurality of microphones. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification