Systems and methods for interference-suppression with directional sensing patterns
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a hearing aid input arrangement including a number of sensors each responsive to detected sound to provide a corresponding number of sensor signals, the sensors each having a directional response pattern with a maximum response direction and a minimum response direction that differ in sound response level by at least 3 decibels at a selected frequency, a first axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a first one of the sensors being positioned to intersect a second axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a second one of the sensors at an angle in a range of about 10 degrees through about 180 degrees; and
a hearing aid processor operable to execute an adaptive beamformer routine with the sensor signals and generate an output signal representative of sound emanating from a selected source, wherein the routine is executable to adjust a correlation factor to control beamwidth as a function of frequency to reduce variance of the output signal and provide the output signal with a predefined gain.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
System (10) is disclosed including an acoustic sensor array (20) coupled to processor (42). System (10) processes inputs from array (20) to extract a desired acoustic signal through the suppression of interfering signals. The extraction/suppression is performed by modifying the array (20) inputs in the frequency domain with weights selected to minimize variance of the resulting output signal while maintaining unity gain of signals received in the direction of the desired acoustic signal. System (10) may be utilized in hearing, cochlear implants, speech recognition, voice input devices, surveillance devices, hands-free telephony devices, remote telepresence or teleconferencing, wireless acoustic sensor arrays, and other applications.
135 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. An apparatus, comprising:
-
a hearing aid input arrangement including a number of sensors each responsive to detected sound to provide a corresponding number of sensor signals, the sensors each having a directional response pattern with a maximum response direction and a minimum response direction that differ in sound response level by at least 3 decibels at a selected frequency, a first axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a first one of the sensors being positioned to intersect a second axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a second one of the sensors at an angle in a range of about 10 degrees through about 180 degrees; and a hearing aid processor operable to execute an adaptive beamformer routine with the sensor signals and generate an output signal representative of sound emanating from a selected source, wherein the routine is executable to adjust a correlation factor to control beamwidth as a function of frequency to reduce variance of the output signal and provide the output signal with a predefined gain. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method, comprising:
-
providing a number of sensors each responsive to detected sound to provide a corresponding number of sensor signals, the sensors each having a directional response pattern with a maximum response direction and a minimum response direction that differ in sound response level by at least 3 dB at a selected frequency, a first axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a first one of the sensors being positioned to intersect a second axis coincident with the maximum response direction of a second one of the sensors at an angle in a range of about 10 degrees through about 180 degrees; processing signals from each of the sensors with a hearing aid as a function of a number of signal weights adaptively recalculated from time- to-time; determining a level of interference and adjusting beamwidth in accordance with the level of interference; and providing an output of the hearing aid based on said processing, the output being representative of sound emanating from a selected source. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. An apparatus, comprising:
-
a sound input arrangement including a number of microphones oriented in relation to a reference axis and operable to provide a number of microphone signals representative of sound, the microphones each having a directional sound response pattern with a maximum response direction, the microphones being positioned in a predefined positional relationship relative to one another with a separation distance of less than 0.2 centimeter to reduce a difference in time of response between the microphones for sound emanating from a source closer to one of the microphones than another of the microphones; and a processor responsive to the microphones to generate an output signal as a function of a number of signal weights for each of a number of different frequencies, the signal weights being adaptively recalculated with the processor from time-to-time. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An apparatus, comprising:
-
a sound input arrangement including a number of microphones operable to provide a number of microphone signals representative of sound, at least a first one of the microphones having a directional sound response pattern with a maximum response direction and a minimum response direction that differ in sound response level by at least 3 dB at a selected frequency and at least a second one of the microphones having an omnidirectional response pattern, the first one of the microphones and the second one of the microphones being positioned relative to one another with a separation distance of less than two centimeters to reduce a difference in time of response between the microphones for sound emanating from a source closer to one of the microphones than another of the microphones; and a processor responsive to the microphones to generate an output signal as a function of a number of signal weights for each of a number of different frequencies, the signal weights being adaptively recalculated with the processor from time-to-time, the processor including means for adjusting a factor to control beamwidth as a function of frequency to reduce variance of the output signal and to provide the output signal with a predefined gain. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. A method, comprising:
-
providing a number of sensors each responsive to detected sound in a broadband frequency range of at least ⅓
of an octave to provide a corresponding number of sensor signals, one or more of the sensors having a directional response pattern with a maximum response direction and a minimum response direction that differ in sound response level by at least 3 dB at a selected frequency, and at least one other of the sensors having an omnidirectional response pattern;processing signals from each of the sensors with a beamformer routine, said processing including adaptively recalculating several signal weights from time-to-time for each of a number of different frequencies which includes adaptively changing a correlation length to control beamwidth as a function of a number of different frequencies; and providing an output based on said processing, the output being representative of sound emanating from a selected source. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. An apparatus, comprising:
-
a sound input arrangement including a number of microphones oriented in relation to a reference axis and operable to provide a number of microphone signals representative of sound, the microphones each having a directional sound response pattern with a maximum response direction, the microphones being positioned in a predefined positional relationship relative to one another with a separation distance of less than two centimeters to reduce a difference in time of response between the microphones for sound emanating from a source closer to one of the microphones than another of the microphones; and a processor responsive to the microphones to generate an output signal as a function of a number of signal weights for each of a number of different frequencies, the signal weights being adaptively recalculated with the processor from time-to-time, wherein the processor includes means for adjusting a factor to control beamwidth as a function of frequency to reduce variance of the output signal and to provide the output signal with a predefined gain. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
-
Specification