Hearing aid

• US 8,731,221 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ura, Takefumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Goins, Davetta W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Isanians, Raffi
• Application Number:
  US13/003,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20110135128A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 381/57, 381/56, 381/59, 381/19, 381/17, 381/1, 381/312, 381/314, 381/322, 381/328, 381/330, 381/60, 381/55
• US Class Current: 381/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/453 electronically
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/50 Customised settings for obtaining desired overall acoustical characteristics

Abstract

There is provided a hearing aid that reduces a possibility of loss. The hearing aid of the present invention includes a microphone 101 configured to collect sound; a hearing aid processing unit 102 configured to perform hearing aid processing to an input signal from the microphone 101; a speaker 103 configured to output a signal processed by the hearing aid processing unit 102 to the outside; and a drop detection unit 104 configured to detect drop by reference to the input signal from the microphone 101.

Claims

1. A hearing aid comprising:

a microphone;

a hearing aid processing unit configured to perform hearing aid processing to a signal corresponding to sound collected by the microphone, and produce an output signal;

a speaker configured to output sound generated from the output signal to an outside; and

a drop detection unit comprising;

an impulsive sound detection unit configured to detect impulsive sound due to the drop of the hearing aid via the microphone; and

an audio feedback detection unit configured to detect audio feedback sound caused by the microphone and the speaker;

wherein the drop detection unit detects the drop of the hearing aid based on an analysis of a signal corresponding to the impulsive sound and a signal corresponding to the audio feedback sound, and

wherein the drop detection unit comprises a drop determination unit configured to determine whether the hearing aid is dropped, based on a relationship between a detection time of the impulsive sound detected by the impulsive sound detection unit and a detection time of the audio feedback detected by the audio feedback detection unit.

2. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein the drop determination unit is configured to determine the hearing aid is dropped when a time between the detection time of the impulsive sound and the detection time of the audio feedback is within a predetermined time.

3. A hearing aid comprising:

a microphone;

a hearing aid processing unit configured to perform hearing aid processing to a signal corresponding to sound collected by the microphone, and output an output signal;

a speaker configured to output sound generated from the output signal to an outside;

an impulsive sound detection unit configured to detect impulsive sound corresponding to the drop of the hearing aid via the microphone and output a first signal related to the impulsive sound;

an audio feedback detection unit configured to detect audio feedback sound caused by the microphone and the speaker and output a second signal related to the feedback sound; and

a drop determination unit configured to detect the drop of the hearing aid based on the first signal and the second signal.

4. The hearing aid according to claim 3, wherein the drop determination unit is configured to determine the hearing aid is dropped when a time between the detection time of the impulsive sound and the detection time of the audio feedback is within a predetermined time.

5. The hearing aid according to claim 3, wherein the hearing aid processing unit produces a warning sound from a signal of audio feedback in a case in which the drop determination unit detects the drop of the hearing aid.

6. The hearing aid according to claim 3, further comprising:

a notification unit configured to notify a user of the drop of the hearing aid according to a detection result of the drop determination unit.