Hearing compensation system incorporating signal processing techniques

• US 8,085,959 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2004
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brigham Young University (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
• Original Assignee: Brigham Young University (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
• Inventors: Chabries, Douglas Melvin, Christiansen, Richard Wesley
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Huyen D
• Application Number:
  US10/937,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20050111683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,666 Days
• Field of Search: 381/23.1, 381/94.1, 381/94.3, 381/98, 381/99, 381/102, 381/106, 381/312, 381/320, 381/321, 381/317, 455/232.1, 455/234.1, 455/247.1, 455/251.1, 455/303, 455/306
• US Class Current: 381/312
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 9/005 of digital or coded signals
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 9/025 frequency-dependent volume compression or expansion, e.g. multiple-band systems H03G9/10, H03G9/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/03 Synergistic effects of band splitting and sub-band processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/356 Amplitude, e.g. amplitude shift or compression

Abstract

A hearing compensation system comprises a plurality of bandpass filters having an input connected to an input transducer and each bandpass filter having an output connected to the input of one of a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits whose outputs are summed together and connected to the input of an output transducer. The MAGC circuits attenuate acoustic signals having a constant background level without the loss of speech intelligibility. The identification of the background noise portion of the acoustic signal is made by the constancy of the envelope of the input signal in each of the several frequency bands. The background noise that will be suppressed includes multi-talker speech babble, fan noise, feedback whistle, florescent light hum, and white noise. For use in the consumer electronics field background acoustic noise may be sensed and used to adjust gain in the various MAGC circuits so as to improve a user'"'"'s listening experience, whether the user is hearing impaired or not.

Claims

1. An audio output device, comprising:

an acoustic input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output; and

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits coupled to a respective output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an acoustic output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said noise suppression circuit comprises a bandpass filter.

4. The audio output device of claim 3, wherein said bandpass filter is configured to have a single pole at a minimum frequency and a single zero at a cutoff frequency.

5. The audio output device of claim 1, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having amplifier constant K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

6. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

7. The audio output device of claim 6, wherein an acoustic signal having an approximately constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

8. An audio output device, comprising,

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

9. A hearing aid device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said output electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (AGC) circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

10. The hearing aid device of claim 9, wherein said noise suppression circuit comprises a bandpass filter.

11. The hearing aid device of claim 10, wherein said bandpass filter is configured to have a single pole at a minimum frequency and a single zero at a cutoff frequency.

12. The hearing aid device of claim 9, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having amplifier constant K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

13. A hearing aid device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

14. The hearing aid device of claim 13, wherein an acoustic signal having an approximately constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

15. A hearing aid output device, comprising,

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of hearing aid bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said hearing aid bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

16. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuit coupled to said input transducer, said MAGC circuit including a high pass filter having an output, a low pass filter having an output, the output of said low pass filter being amplified by a factor of K, and a noise suppression circuit having an output; and

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein the amplified output of said low pass filter and the output of the noise suppression circuit are linearly combined to produce a first signal, the output of said high pass filter is linearly combined with the first signal; and

an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said high pass filter, said low pass filter and said noise suppression circuit.

17. The audio output device of claim 16, wherein said noise suppression circuit comprises a bandpass filter.

18. The audio output device of claim 17, wherein said bandpass filter is configured to have a single pole at a minimum frequency and a single zero at a cutoff frequency.

19. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits comprising a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said outputs of said plurality of MAGC circuits;

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

20. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having amplifier constant K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

21. The audio output device of claim 19 wherein the electrical signals are attenuated and added to said outputs of the MAGC circuits.

22. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the MAGC circuits have the ability to provide one gain function for noise and another gain function for desired signals.

23. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize a selected one of the gain functions of:

expansion, compression, and saturation.

24. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize selected ones of the gain functions of expansion, compression, and saturation.

25. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to the gain.

26. The audio output device of claim 25, wherein the maximum amount of attenuation is set to an amount that results in a minimum gain and the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to gain.

27. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the bandpass filter is implemented with bandpass filters having increasing bandwidth as the center frequency of the bandpass filter increases.

28. The audio output device of claim 19, wherein the bandpass filters are implemented so that all the bandpass filters have the same bandwidth.

29. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

30. The audio output device of claim 29, wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

31. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of multiplicative MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

32. A hearing aid device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said outputs of said plurality of (MAGC) circuits;

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

33. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having an amplifier gain of K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

34. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein the electrical signals are attenuated and added to said outputs of the MAGC circuits.

35. The hearing aid device for claim 32, wherein the MAGC circuits have the ability to provide one gain function for noise and another gain function for desired signals.

36. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize a selected one of the gain functions of:

expansion, compression, and saturation.

37. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize selected ones of the gain functions of expansion, compression, and saturation.

38. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein the bandpass filter is implemented with bandpass filters having increasing bandwidth as the center frequency of the bandpass filter increases.

39. The hearing aid device of claim 32, wherein the bandpass filters are implemented so that all the bandpass filters have the same bandwidth.

40. A hearing aid device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to output of said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

41. The hearing aid device of claim 40, wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

42. The hearing aid device of claim 40, wherein the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to the gain.

43. A hearing aid device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

44. An audio output device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

45. The audio output device of claim 44, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having an amplifier gain of K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

46. An audio output device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

47. The audio output device of claim 46, wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

48. The audio output device of claim 46, wherein the maximum amount of attenuation is set to an amount that results in a minimum gain and the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to gain.

49. An audio output device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

50. The audio output device of claim 49 wherein the electrical signals are attenuated and added to said outputs of the MAGC circuits.

51. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the MAGC circuits have the ability to provide one gain function for noise and another gain function for desired signals.

52. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize a selected one of the gain functions of:

expansion, compression, and saturation.

53. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize selected ones of the gain functions of:

expansion, compression, and saturation.

54. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to the gain.

55. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the bandpass filter is implemented with bandpass filters having increasing bandwidth as the center frequency of the bandpass filter increases.

56. The audio output device of claim 49, wherein the bandpass filters are implemented so that all the bandpass filters have the same bandwidth.

57. A hearing aid device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to receive said electrical signals, each of said audio bandpass filters having an output;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said plurality of audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise suppression circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise suppression circuit.

58. The hearing aid device of claim 57, wherein:

said hearing compensation circuit comprises a high pass filter and a low pass filter;

an output of said low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier having an amplifier gain of K and having an amplifier output; and

said amplifier output and an output of said hearing compensation circuit are summed together.

59. An hearing aid device comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical energy corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of MAGC circuits,

wherein noise present in the acoustical energy is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

60. The hearing aid device of claim 59, wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

61. A hearing aid device, comprising:

an input transducer for converting input acoustical energy into output electrical signals corresponding to the input acoustical energy;

a plurality of audio bandpass filters coupled to the output of said input transducer;

a plurality of multiplicative automatic gain control (MAGC) circuits, each having at least one input and at least one output, an input of each of said MAGC circuits coupled to an output of one of said audio bandpass filters, at least one of said MAGC circuits including a hearing compensation circuit and a noise estimation circuit, and wherein at least one of said MAGC circuits include;

a first circuit to obtain an input envelope amplitude from the coupled audio bandpass filter output;

a second circuit responsive to the input envelope amplitude to provide a logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

a noise estimation circuit for obtaining an estimate of noise; and

a subtraction circuit to subtract the estimate of noise from the logarithm of the input envelope amplitude;

an output transducer responsive to said plurality of multiplicative AGC circuits,

wherein an acoustic signal having approximately a constant amplitude for a period of a predetermined amount of time is attenuated through interaction of said hearing compensation circuit and said noise estimation circuit.

62. The hearing aid device of claim 61 wherein the electrical signals are attenuated and added to said outputs of the MAGC circuits.

63. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the MAGC circuits have the ability to provide one gain function for noise and another gain function for desired signals.

64. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize a selected one of the gain functions of:

expansion, compression, and saturation.

65. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the MAGC circuits may utilize selected ones of the gain functions of expansion, compression, and saturation.

66. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the MAGC circuits provide a maximum limit to the gain.

67. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the bandpass filter is implemented with bandpass filters having increasing bandwidth as the center frequency of the bandpass filter increases.

68. The hearing aid device of claim 61, wherein the bandpass filters are implemented so that all the bandpass filters have the same bandwidth.