Hearing aid apparatus

• US 8,654,998 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2010
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nomura, Kazuya, Konuma, Tomohiro, Yamada, Maki, Endo, Mitsuru
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROBINSON, RYAN C
• Application Number:
  US13/320,613
• Publication Number:
  US 20120063620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: 381312-331
• US Class Current: 381/313
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/803 using amplitude comparison of signals derived from receiving transducers or transducer systems having differently-oriented directivity characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/552 Binaural
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/01 Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]

Abstract

A call other than a conversion partner call and various sounds are detected by input audio signals from plural microphones without deteriorating a voice recognition precision. A hearing aid apparatus according to the present invention corrects a frequency characteristic of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice based on an arrival direction of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice, which is estimated based on the audio signal converted by the plural microphones, checks a call word standard pattern representing features of a phoneme and a syllabic sound based on other voice data picked up by using the microphones having one characteristic against a call voice other than the conversation partner voice in which the frequency characteristic is corrected by the frequency characteristic correction processing unit to determine whether the call voice is a call word, and forms a directivity in the direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner. Then, the hearing aid apparatus according to the present invention corrects the frequency characteristic of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice so as to provide the same characteristic as that of the microphones at the time of creating the audio standard pattern.

Claims

1. A hearing aid apparatus comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to convert a voice of a conversation partner, and a sound including a call voice other than the conversation partner voice, into audio signals;

a sound arrival direction estimation unit configured to estimate an arrival direction of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice based on the plurality of audio signals converted by the plurality of microphones;

a frequency characteristic correction processing unit configured to correct a frequency characteristic of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice, based on the plurality of audio signals and the estimated arrival direction of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice;

an audio standard pattern storage unit configured to store a call word standard pattern representing features of a phoneme and a syllabic sound based on voice data picked up by a microphone having a predetermined characteristic;

a call word determination unit configured to check the call voice other than the conversation partner voice with the corrected frequency characteristic against the call word standard pattern, and further configured to determine whether the call voice is a call word;

a direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit configured to form a directivity in a direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, based on the determination result of the call word determination unit; and

a voice output unit configured to output the call voice other than the conversation partner voice based on the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit,

wherein the frequency characteristic correction processing unit corrects the frequency characteristic of the call voice other than the conversation partner voice so as to provide the same characteristic as the predetermined characteristic of the microphone used at the time of creating the call word standard pattern which is used for a check by the call word determination unit.

2. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit configured to form the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, based on the determination result of the call word determination unit,

wherein the call word determination unit checks the voice data of the conversation partner of which the frequency characteristic is corrected by the frequency characteristic correction processing unit against the call word standard pattern, and if the call word determination unit determines that the voice data is the call word,

the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and

the voice output unit outputs the voice of the conversation partner and the call voice other than the conversation partner voice, based on the directivity formed by the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit in addition to the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit.

3. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the call word determination unit checks the voice data of the conversation partner of which the frequency characteristic is corrected by the frequency characteristic correction processing unit against the call word standard pattern, and if the call word determination unit determines that the voice data is not the call word,

the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit does not form the directivity in the direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and

the voice output unit outputs the voice of the conversation partner and the call voice other than the conversation partner voice, based on the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit.

4. A hearing aid apparatus comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to convert a voice of a conversation partner, and a sound generated by a sound source other than the conversation partner, into audio signals;

a sound arrival direction estimation unit configured to estimate an arrival direction of the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner based on the plurality of audio signals converted by the plurality of microphones;

a frequency characteristic correction processing unit configured to correct a frequency characteristic of the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner, based on the plurality of audio signals and the estimated arrival direction of the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner;

an audio standard pattern storage unit configured to store a standard pattern of the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner based on voice data picked up by a microphone having a predetermined characteristic;

a sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit configured to check the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner with the corrected frequency characteristic against the standard pattern, and further configured to determine whether the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner is an except-conversation-partner sound;

a direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit configured to form a directivity in a direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, based on the determination result of the sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit; and

a voice output unit configured to output the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner based on the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit,

wherein the frequency characteristic correction processing unit corrects the frequency characteristic of the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner so as to provide the same characteristic as the predetermined characteristic of the microphone used at the time of creating the standard pattern which is used for a check by the sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit.

5. The hearing aid apparatus to claim 4, further comprising:

a conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit configured to form the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, based on the determination result of the sound-expect-conversation-partner-voice determination unit,

wherein the sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit checks the voice data of the conversation partner of which the frequency characteristic is corrected by the frequency characteristic correction processing unit against the standard pattern, and if the sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit determines that the voice data is the except-conversation-partner sound,

the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and

the voice output unit outputs the voice of the conversation partner and the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner, based on the directivity formed by the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit in addition to the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit.

6. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the sound-expect-conversation-partner-voice determination unit checks the voice data of the conversation partner of which the frequency characteristic is corrected by the frequency characteristic correction processing unit against the standard pattern, and if the sound-except-conversation-partner-voice determination unit determines that the voice data is not the except-conversation-partner sound,

the conversation partner direction directivity synthesis unit forms the directivity in the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit does not form the directivity in the direction other than the arrival direction of the voice of the conversation partner, and

the voice output unit outputs the voice of the conversation partner and the sound generated by the sound source other than the conversation partner, based on the directivity formed by the direction-except-conversation-partner-direction directivity synthesis unit.