System for automatic fitting using real ear measurement

• US 9,107,015 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2010
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Zhang, Tao, Rosenthal, Joyce
• Primary Examiner(s): EASON, MATTHEW A
• Application Number:
  US12/730,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20100246869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,966 Days
• Field of Search: 381312-331
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/305 Self-monitoring or self-testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

According to a method embodiment for performing a real ear measurement (REM), a stimulus signal is transformed into a frequency domain stimulus signal with a plurality of frequency ranges. The frequency domain stimulus signal is amplified with a desired gain for each of the plurality of frequency ranges to provide an amplified stimulus signal. The amplified stimulus signal is transformed into the acoustic signal in the ear canal, which is detected to provide a detected acoustic signal, and the detected acoustic signal is transformed into a frequency domain detected signal with the plurality of frequency ranges. A sound level for the plurality of frequency ranges is measured. The desired gain for the frequency ranges is automatically adjusted based on the measured sound levels and the desired sound pressure levels for the plurality of frequency ranges. The method can be performed within a hearing assistance apparatus.

Claims

1. A hearing assistance device for a wearer having an ear and an ear canal, the wearer having a plurality of target gains determined for the ear, comprising:

a housing;

a hearing assistance device microphone within the housing adapted to sample sound from the wearer'"'"'s ear canal using a probe tube, the hearing assistance device microphone situated in an opening of the ear canal and configured to be used as both a device microphone and a real-ear measurement microphone;

a receiver adapted to play a sound stimulus to the wearer'"'"'s ear canal; and

hearing assistance electronics within the housing in communication with the hearing assistance device microphone and the receiver, the hearing assistance electronics programmed to process signals received by the hearing assistance device microphone to automatically self-correct frequency dependent gain of signals played by the receiver in the wearer'"'"'s ear canal using real-ear measurements by the hearing assistance device microphone to approximate the plurality of target gains for each of a plurality of frequency ranges by iterating until an overall target matching error for the plurality of frequency ranges is less than a programmable threshold by adjusting gain in each frequency range by an amount proportional to the target matching error for the frequency range, wherein the hearing assistance electronics use an attenuation factor of the probe tube to process the signals.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance electronics include an analyzer adapted to transform the sound stimulus into frequency domain.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance electronics include an amplifier adapted to apply a gain as a function of frequency.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the amplifier is adapted to apply a gain as a function of a subband.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the amplifier includes a transfer function adapted to control the gain for each subband.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance electronics include a memory adapted to store an audiogram target.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance device includes a completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing assistance device.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance device includes a receiver-in-the-canal (RIC) hearing assistance device.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the hearing assistance device includes a behind-the-ear hearing (BTE) assistance device.

10. A method for automatically adjusting gain of a hearing assistance device for a wearer having an ear and an ear canal, the method comprising:

generating an acoustic stimulus signal;

playing the acoustic stimulus signal in the ear canal using a receiver;

detecting signals in the ear canal using a hearing assistance device microphone within a housing of the hearing assistance device, the hearing assistance device microphone situated in an opening of the ear canal and configured to be used as both a device microphone and a real-ear measurement microphone using a probe tube; and

processing signals received by the hearing assistance device microphone to automatically self-correct frequency dependent gain using real-ear measurements by the hearing assistance device microphone to approximate a plurality of target gains for each of a plurality of frequency ranges for the wearer by iterating until an overall target matching error for the plurality of frequency ranges is less than a programmable threshold by adjusting gain in each frequency range by an amount proportional to the target matching error for the frequency range, including using an attenuation factor of the probe tube to process the signals.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating an acoustic signal includes transforming a stimulus signal into a frequency domain stimulus signal with a plurality of frequency ranges.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising amplifying the frequency domain stimulus signal with a desired gain for each of the plurality of frequency ranges to provide an amplified stimulus signal.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transforming the amplified signal into the acoustic stimulus signal in the ear canal.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising transforming the detected signals into a frequency domain detected signal with the plurality of frequency ranges.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising measuring a sound level for the plurality of frequency ranges.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically adjusting gain for each frequency range based on the measured sound levels and desired sound pressure levels for the plurality of frequency ranges.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying a measured response.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying a target response.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein generating an acoustic stimulus signal includes generating the stimulus signal in the hearing assistance device.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein generating an acoustic stimulus signal includes generating the stimulus signal externally to the hearing assistance device.