Hearing assistance system with own voice detection

• US 9,219,964 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2014
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Merks, Ivo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US14/464,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20150043765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 489 Days
• Field of Search: 381312-313, 381/315, 381317-318
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/01 Noise reduction using microphones having different directional characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/05 Electronic compensation of the occlusion effect
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/405 by combining a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A hearing assistance system includes a pair of left and right hearing assistance devices to be worn by a wearer and uses both of the left and right hearing assistance devices to detect the voice of the wearer. The left and right hearing assistance devices each include first and second microphones at different locations. Various embodiments detect the voice of the wearer using signals produced by the first and second microphones of the left hearing assistance device and the first and second microphones of the right hearing assistance device. Various embodiments use outcome of detection of the voice of the wearer performed by the left hearing assistance device and the outcome of detection of the voice of the wearer performed the right hearing assistance device to determine whether to declare a detection of the voice of the wearer.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to be worn by a wearer having a left ear with a left ear canal and a right ear with a right ear canal, comprising:

a left hearing assistance device and a right hearing assistance device communicatively coupled to each other, the left and right hearing assistance devices each including;

a first microphone configured to produce a first microphone signal;

a second microphone configured to produce a second microphone signal; and

a voice detector,

wherein at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect a voice of the wearer using the first and second microphone signals produced by the left hearing assistance device and the first and second microphone signals produced by the right hearing assistance device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voice detector of each of the left and right hearing assistance device is configured to receive the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the voice detector of each of the left and right hearing assistance device comprises an adaptive filter configured to output information and the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using the output information from each of the left and right hearing assistance devices.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using coefficients of the adaptive filter of each of the left and right hearing assistance devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using an error signal produced by the adaptive filter of each of the left and right hearing assistance devices.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using a detection strength parameter of the output information from each of the left and right hearing assistance, the detection strength parameter being a measure of likeliness of actual existence of the voice of wearer.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using a weighted combination of the output information from the left hearing assistance device and the output information from the right hearing assistance device.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the voice detector of each of the left and right hearing assistance device is configured to produce a detection signal indicative of detection of the voice of the wearer.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to declare a detection of the voice of the wearer in response to the detection signal being produced by at least one of the left and right hearing assistance devices.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the voice detectors of the left and right hearing assistance devices is configured to declare a detection of the voice of the wearer in response to the detection signal being produced by each of the left and right hearing assistance devices.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the left and right hearing assistance devices each comprise a hearing aid configured such that when being worn by the wearer, the first microphone is positioned about one of the left and right ears and the second microphone is positioned about one of the left and right ear canals, at a different location than the first microphone, on an air side of the one of the left and left ear canals to detect signals outside the one of the left and right ear canals.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the hearing aid comprises:

a sound processor configured to produce a processed sound signal based on at least the first microphone signal and whether the voice of the wearer is detected; and

a receiver configured to produce an audible signal based on the processed sound signal and transmit the audible signal to the one of the left and right ear canals.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the sound processor is configured to control an anti-occlusion process based on whether the voice of the wearer is detected.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the sound processor is configured to control an environment classification process based on whether the voice of the wearer is detected.

15. A method for detecting a voice of a wearer of a pair of left and right hearing assistance devices each including a first microphone and a second microphone, the wearer having a left ear with a left ear canal and a right ear with a right ear canal, the method comprising:

positioning the first microphone and the second microphone of the left hearing assistance device about the left ear to each detect sound outside the left ear canal;

positioning the first microphone and the second microphone of the right hearing assistance device about the right ear to each detect sound outside the right ear canal; and

detecting a voice of the wearer using electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the left hearing assistance device and the electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the right hearing assistance device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises:

using electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the left hearing assistance device as inputs to a voice detector of the left hearing assistance device including a left adaptive filter;

using electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the right hearing assistance device as inputs to a voice detector of the right hearing assistance device including a right adaptive filter; and

detecting the voice of the wearer using information output from the left adaptive filter and information output from the right adaptive filter.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises detecting the voice of the wearer using left coefficients of the left adaptive filter and right coefficients of the right adaptive filter.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises detecting the voice of the wearer using a left error signal produced by the left adaptive filter and a right error signal produced by the right adaptive filter.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises detecting the voice of the wearer using a left detection strength parameter of the information output from the left adaptive filter and a right detection strength parameter of the information output from the right adaptive filter, the left and right detection strength parameters each being a measure of likeliness of actual existence of the voice of wearer.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises detecting the voice of the wearer using a weighted combination of the information output from the left adaptive filter and the information output from the right adaptive filter.

21. The method of claim 15, detecting the voice of the wearer comprises:

detecting the voice of the wearer using the left hearing assistance device based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the left hearing assistance device;

producing a left detection signal indicative of whether the voice of the wearer is detected by the left hearing assistance device;

detecting the voice of the wearer using the right hearing assistance device based on the electrical signals produced by the first and second microphones of the right hearing assistance device;

producing a right detection signal indicative of whether the voice of the wearer is detected by the right hearing assistance device; and

determining whether to declare a detection of the voice of the wearer using the left detection signal and the right detection signal.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising determining whether to declare the detection of the voice of the wearer using the left detection signal, the right detection signal, and weighting factors applied to the left and right detection signals.