System and method for enhancing the inductive coupling between a hearing aid operating in telecoil mode and a communication device

• US 9,326,076 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Frerking, Melvin Duane, Hirvela, George O'Quinn
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US14/472,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20140369539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 381312-315, 381/323, 381/326, 381330-331
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72478 for hearing-impaired users
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/61 Aspects relating to mechanical or electronic switches or control elements, e.g. functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/43 Electronic input selection or mixing based on input signal analysis, e.g. mixing or selection between microphone and telecoil or between microphones with different directivity characteristics H04R25/407 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/603 of mechanical or electronic switches or control elements

Abstract

A method and system to optimize the relative position of an inductive field of a hearing aid compatible device and a telecoil of a hearing assistive device, are provided. A Steerable Hearing Aid Compatible Device (SHAD) has a steerable inductive field for locating an inductive field in accordance with the location of a telecoil in the hearing assistive device. A Telecoil Hearing Assistive Device (THAD) has a telecoil and telecoil orientation tag. The location of the telecoil of the THAD is determined with respect to a reference system and this telecoil location information is stored on the telecoil orientation tag as Telecoil Location Information (TLI) and provided to the SHAD. In an exemplary embodiment the telecoil orientation tag may be an RFID tag that is read by a tag reader of the SHAD. The SHAD receives the TLI and generates an inductive field in accordance with the TLI, such as a position that is parallel to the telecoil of the THAD.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a steerable inductor configured to provide an inductive field to transmit a signal;

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

controlling, based on telecoil location information, the steerable inductor to provide a steered inductive field to transmit an input signal, wherein the telecoil location information includes a location of a telecoil in a hearing device.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the steerable inductor includes a plurality of phase-control sub-devices and each of the plurality of phase-control sub-devices is configured to adjust a phase of the input signal to render a phase-adjusted signal.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises:

adjusting, by each of the plurality of phase-control sub-devices, a phase of the input signal to render a respective one of a plurality of phase-adjusted signals, wherein an amount by which to adjust the phase is determined based on the telecoil location information; and

providing the steered inductive field using the plurality of phase-adjusted signals.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, the steerable inductor further comprising a plurality of orthogonal telecoils in communication with the respective ones of the plurality of phase-control devices and wherein transmitting the plurality of phase-adjusted signals by respective ones of the plurality of orthogonal telecoils to provides the steered inductive field.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the steered inductive field is steered based on the phases of the plurality of phase-adjusted signals.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the steerable inductor includes a plurality of amplifiers each of the plurality of amplifiers is configured to adjust an amplitude of the input signal to render an amplitude-adjusted signal.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises:

adjusting, by each of the plurality of amplifiers, the amplitude of the input signal to render a respective one of a plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals, wherein an amount by which to adjust the amplitude is determined based on the telecoil location information; and

providing the steered inductive field using the plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, the steerable inductor further comprising a plurality of orthogonal telecoils in communication with respective ones of the plurality of amplifiers and wherein transmitting the plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals by respective ones of the plurality of orthogonal telecoils provides the steered inductive field.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the steered inductive field is steered based on amplitudes of the plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a reader device configured to request and receive the telecoil location information.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the telecoil location information includes an orientation of the telecoil.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a signal source that is configured to output the input signal, wherein the input signal is an audio signal.

13. A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

controlling, based on telecoil location information, a steerable inductor to provide a steered inductive field to transmit an input signal, wherein the telecoil location information includes a location of a telecoil in a hearing device.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises determining, based on the telecoil location information, a plurality of amounts by which to adjust a phase of the input signal.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises:

adjusting the phase of the input signal using a respective one of the plurality of amounts to render a respective one of a plurality of phase-adjusted signals; and

providing the steered inductive field using the plurality of phase-adjusted signals.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises determining, based on the telecoil location information, a plurality of amounts by which to adjust an amplification of the input signal.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein controlling the steerable inductor comprises:

adjusting an amplitude of the input signal using a respective one of the plurality of amounts to render a respective one of a plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals; and

providing the steered inductive field using the plurality of amplitude-adjusted signals.

18. A method, comprising:

generating, by an electronic transmission device, a steered inductive field to transmit an input signal, wherein the steered inductive field is generated based on telecoil location information, wherein the telecoil location information includes a location of a telecoil in a hearing device, wherein generating the steered inductive field comprises;

determining, based on the telecoil location information, a plurality of adjustments comprising at least one of;

a phase adjustment; and

an amplitude adjustment;

generating a plurality of adjusted signals based on the input signal and the plurality of adjustments; and

generating the steered inductive field based on the plurality of adjusted signals.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising sending an interrogation signal and receiving the telecoil location information in response to sending the interrogation signal.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the telecoil location information includes an orientation of the telecoil.