Method for operating a hearing system as well as a hearing device

• US 9,602,935 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonova AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Sonova AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Riepenhoff, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US14/409,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20150382113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 381/312, 381315-318, 381320-321
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/41 Detection or adaptation of hearing aid parameters or programs to listening situation, e.g. pub, forest
• 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 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency

Abstract

A method for operating a hearing system includes a hearing device being worn by a hearing device user, at least one communication device being used by a person or by a group of people, and a network. The method includes the steps of establishing a connection between the hearing device and the at least one communication device via the network, identifying the person or the group of people using the at least one communication device, and adjusting settings in the hearing device for adapting its acoustical behavior taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person, the group of people, the user, the hearing device and the communication device. Furthermore, a hearing device (2) is described.

Claims

1. A method for operating a hearing system comprising a hearing device, at least one communication device, and a network, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a connection between the hearing device being worn by a hearing device user and the at least one communication device being used by a person or by a group of people via the network;

identifying the person or the group of people using the at least one communication device; and

adjusting setting of the hearing device, thereby adapting the hearing device'"'"'s acoustical behavior based on the identified person or group of people by taking into account acoustic properties of at least one of the person or the group of people, the user, the hearing device, and the communication device,

wherein the person and the group of people are different from the hearing device user, and

wherein the step of adjusting the settings is carried out by selecting a predefined setting or settings assigned to the person or the group of people of the at least one communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the connection is triggered by the at least one communication device or by the hearing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the person using the communication device is identified by at least one of the following:

identification number of the communication device;

analysis of a signal generated by the communication device;

analysis of a voice signal of the person using the communication device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

modifying one or several predefined settings for obtaining modified settings and

storing the modified settings as new predefined settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection between the hearing device and the communication device is established via an intermediate device communicating with the hearing device using a near field communication technique.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a wide-area network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting settings in the hearing device takes into account acoustic properties of the hearing device and the communication device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic properties of the user include the user'"'"'s language, pronunciation, and dialect preferences.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic properties of the hearing device include the hearing device'"'"'s type and acoustical coupling condition.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device picks up an acoustic signal of the person or the group of people.