Hearing system and method for deriving information on an acoustic scene

• US 8,249,284 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2006
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonova AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Phonak AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Launer, Stefan, Meier, Hilmar, Roeck, Hans-Ueli, Bächler, Herbert, Allegro-Baumann, Silvia
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Hai
• Application Number:
  US11/459,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20070269064A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,223 Days
• Field of Search: 381/309, 381/312, 381/314, 381/313, 381/317, 381/74, 381/23.1, 381/26
• US Class Current: 381/309
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/008 in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for operating a hearing system comprising an input unit, an output unit and a transmission unit operationally interconnecting said input output units. Said transmission unit implements a transfer function describing, how audio signals generated by said input unit are processed in order to derive audio signals fed to said output unit, and can be adjusted by one or more transfer function parameters. Said method comprises obtaining, by means of said input unit and with a first directional characteristic, first audio signals from incoming acoustic sound; deriving from said first audio signals a first set of sound-characterizing data; and deriving, in dependence of

• • first directional information, which is data comprising information on said first directional characteristic, and of
  • said first set of sound-characterizing data,
    a value for each of said one or more transfer function parameters. This allows to gain insight into the acoustic environment and allows for better automatic adjustments of said transfer function.

Claims

1. Method for operating a hearing system comprising an input unit, an output unit, a characterizing unit operationally connected to said input unit and a transmission unit operationally interconnecting said input unit and said output unit, said transmission unit implementing a transfer function which describes, how audio signals generated by said input unit are processed in order to derive audio signals fed to said output unit, and which can be adjusted by one or more transfer function parameters, said method comprising the steps of

a1) obtaining, by means of a first beam former in said input unit and with a first directional characteristic of said input unit due to the first beam former having the first directional characteristic, first audio signals from incoming acoustic sound;

a2) obtaining, by means of a second beam former in said input unit and with a second directional characteristic of said input unit due to the second beam former having the second directional characteristic, which is different from said first directional characteristic, second audio signals from incoming acoustic sound;

b1) deriving from said first audio signals, by means of said characterizing unit, a first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, which are obtained by means of the first beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

b2) deriving from said second audio signals a second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals, which are obtained by means of the second beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

c) deriving a value for each of at least one of said transfer function parameters in dependence of

first directional information, which is data comprising information on said first directional characteristic,

said first set of sound-characterizing data,

second directional information, which is data comprising information on said second directional characteristic, and of

said second set of sound-characterizing data,

by evaluating each of the first directional information, the first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, the second directional information, and the second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals,

wherein steps b1) and b2) together comprise simultaneously classifying incoming acoustic sound incoming from a first direction with respect to an ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music, while differently classifying other incoming acoustic sound incoming from a second direction with respect to said ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said input unit comprises a first input transducer, a second input transducer and the first beam former, the method furthermore comprising the steps of

d1) feeding first raw audio signals derived from said first input transducer to said first beam former;

d2) feeding second raw audio signals derived from said second input transducer to said first beam former;

e1) processing said first and second raw audio signals in said first beam former, such as to set said first directional characteristic and to derive said first audio signals.

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein said input unit furthermore comprises at least a first localizer unit, the method furthermore comprising the steps of

f1) feeding said first raw audio signals to said at least one first localizer unit;

f2) feeding said second raw audio signals to said at least one first localizer unit;

g1) processing said first and second raw audio signals in said at least one localizer unit, such as to derive data, referred to as localizing data, which are comprised in said first directional information;

h1) controlling said first beam former in dependence of said localizing data.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein step b1) comprises the steps of

i1) extracting a first set of features from said first audio signals;

and

j1) classifying said first set of features according to a set of classes, the result of said classification being comprised in said first set of sound-characterizing data.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein said first audio signals are derived from a current acoustic scene, and wherein said result of said classification comprises, for at least one of said classes, data indicative of the similarity of said current acoustic scene and an acoustic scene of which the respective class is representative.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein steps a1) and a2) take place simultaneously or successively.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein said hearing system comprises a first and a second hearing device, which are operationally connected to each other and which are to be worn in or near the left and the right ear, respectively, of a user of the hearing system, both hearing devices comprising at least one input transducer each, and wherein at least one of said first and said second directional information comprises information derived from a head-related transfer function.

8. Method according to claim 6, wherein said hearing system comprises a first and a second hearing device, which are operationally connected to each other and which are to be worn in or near the left and the right ear, respectively, of a user of the hearing system, both hearing devices comprising at least one input transducer each, and wherein at least one of said first and said second directional information comprises information derived from a head-related transfer function.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein said derived value constitute a set of values indicative of an acoustic scene.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein the hearing system performs mixed-mode classification of the incoming acoustic sound by calculating similarity values as the first set of sound-characterizing data, wherein each one of the similarity values indicates a likeness of the incoming acoustic sound to a respective one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

11. Method according to claim 1, wherein the first directional characteristic of the first beam former matches both of a spatial direction and an angular width of the incoming acoustic sound incoming from the first direction with respect to said ear.

12. Hearing system comprising

an input unit comprising a first beam former having a first directional characteristic for obtaining, with the first directional characteristic of said first beam former, first audio signals from incoming acoustic sound, wherein the input unit further comprises a second beam former having a second directional characteristic, which is different from said first directional characteristic, for obtaining, with the second directional characteristic of said second beam former, second audio signals from incoming acoustic sound;

an output unit for receiving output audio signals and transducing these into signals to be perceived by a user of the hearing system;

a transmission unit, which is operationally interconnecting said input unit and said output unit, and which implements a transfer function, which can be adjusted by one or more transfer function parameters and which describes, how audio signals generated by said input unit are processed in order to derive said output audio signals;

a characterizing unit for deriving from said first audio signals a first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, which are obtained via the first beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music, and deriving from said second audio signals a second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals, which are obtained via the second beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

an evaluating unit for deriving a value for each of at least one of said transfer function parameters, in dependence of said first set of sound-characterizing data, first directional information, which is data comprising information on said first directional characteristic, said second set of sound-characterizing data, and of second directional information, which is data comprising information on said second directional characteristic, by evaluating each of the first directional information, the first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, the second directional information, and the second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals,

wherein the hearing system simultaneously classifies incoming acoustic sound incoming from a first direction with respect to an ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music, while differently classifying other incoming acoustic sound incoming from a second direction with respect to said ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

13. Hearing system according to claim 12, furthermore comprising a storage unit containing data derived from at least one of a head-related transfer function and data related to a directional characteristic of at least one first input transducer of said input unit, and wherein said first directional information is at least in part derived from said storage unit.

14. Hearing system according to claim 12, wherein said input unit comprises a first input transducer, a second input transducer and the first beam former, which is operationally connected to said first and second input transducers, and a beam former controller for controlling said first beam former, wherein said first directional information is at least in part derived from said beam former controller.

15. Hearing system according to claim 14, wherein said input unit comprises a localizer operationally connected to said first and second input transducers, for determining the location of sources of sound and for providing said beam former controller with data related to said location of sources of sound.

16. Hearing system according to claim 12, wherein said characterizing unit comprises at least one feature extractor for extracting a first set of features from said first audio signals and at least one classifier for classifying said first set of features according to a set of classes, the result of said classification being comprised in said first set of sound-characterizing data.

17. Hearing system according to claim 12, which is a hearing-aid system comprising at least one hearing-aid device.

18. Method according to claim 12, wherein the hearing system performs mixed-mode classification of the incoming acoustic sound by calculating similarity values as the first set of sound-characterizing data, wherein each one of the similarity values indicates a likeness of the incoming acoustic sound to a respective one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

19. Hearing system according to claim 12, wherein the first directional characteristic of the first beam former matches both of a spatial direction and an angular width of the incoming acoustic sound incoming from the first direction with respect to said ear.

20. Method for deriving information on an acoustic scene, comprising the steps of

p1) obtaining, with a first directional characteristic, first audio signals from incoming acoustic sound from said acoustic scene, wherein the first audio signals are obtained using a beam former having the first directional characteristic;

p2) obtaining, with a second directional characteristic, which is different from said first directional characteristic, second audio signals from incoming acoustic sound from said acoustic scene, wherein the second audio signals are obtained using said or another beam former having the second directional characteristic;

q1) deriving from said first audio signals a first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, which are obtained using the beam former having the first directional characteristic, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

q2) deriving from said second audio signals a second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals, which are obtained using said or the another beam former having the second directional characteristic, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

r) deriving said information on said acoustic scene in dependence of

first directional information, which is data comprising information on said first directional characteristic,

said first set of sound-characterizing data,

second directional information, which is data comprising information on said second directional characteristic, and of

said second set of sound-characterizing data

by evaluating each of the first directional information, the first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, the second directional information, and the second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals,

wherein steps q1) and q2) are performed simultaneously such that incoming acoustic sound incoming from a first direction with respect to an ear is classified as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music, while other incoming acoustic sound incoming from a second direction with respect to said ear is simultaneously differently classified as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

21. Use of the method according to claim 20 in a hearing system.

22. Method according to claim 20, wherein steps q1) and q2) include performing mixed-mode classification of the incoming acoustic sound by calculating similarity values as the first set of sound-characterizing data and further similarity values as the second set of sound-characterizing data, wherein each one of the similarity values and each one of the further similarity values indicates a likeness of the incoming acoustic sound to a respective one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

23. Method according to claim 20, wherein the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic match both of a spatial direction and an angular width of respective incoming acoustic sound incoming from the first direction with respect to said ear and the second direction with respect to said ear.

24. Method for manufacturing signals to be perceived by a user of a hearing system comprising an input unit, an output unit, a characterizing unit operationally connected to said input unit and a transmission unit operationally interconnecting said input unit and said output unit, said transmission unit implementing a transfer function which describes, how audio signals generated by said input unit are processed in order to derive audio signals fed to said output unit, and which can be adjusted by one or more transfer function parameters, said method comprising the steps of

s1) obtaining, by means of a first beam former in said input unit and with a first directional characteristic of said input unit due to the first beam former having the first directional characteristic, first audio signals from incoming acoustic sound;

s2) obtaining, by means of a second beam former in said input unit and with a second directional characteristic of said input unit due to the second beam former having the second directional characteristic, which is different from said first directional characteristic, second audio signals from incoming acoustic sound;

t1) deriving from said first audio signals, by means of said characterizing unit, a first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, which are obtained by means of the first beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

t2) deriving from said second audio signals a second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals, which are obtained by means of the second beam former, as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music;

u) deriving a value for each of at least one of said transfer function parameters in dependence of

first directional information, which is data comprising information on said first directional characteristic,

said first set of sound-characterizing data,

second directional information, which is data comprising information on said second directional characteristic, and of

said second set of sound-characterizing data,

by evaluating each of the first directional information, the first set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the first audio signals, the second directional information, and the second set of sound-characterizing data characterizing the second audio signals;

v) obtaining output audio signals by processing audio signals generated by said input unit according to said transfer function using said derived value or values;

w) transducing said output audio signals into said signals to be perceived by a user of the hearing system,

wherein steps t1) and t2) together comprise simultaneously classifying incoming acoustic sound incoming from a first direction with respect to an ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music, while differently classifying other incoming acoustic sound incoming from a second direction with respect to said ear as at least one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

25. Method according to claim 24, wherein the hearing system performs mixed-mode classification of the incoming acoustic sound by calculating similarity values as the first set of sound-characterizing data, wherein each one of the similarity values indicates a likeness of the incoming acoustic sound to a respective one of speech, noise, speech in noise, and music.

26. Method according to claim 24, wherein the first directional characteristic of the first beam former matches both of a spatial direction and an angular width of the incoming acoustic sound incoming from the first direction with respect to said ear.