Method for operating a hearing device and hearing device

• US 9,906,875 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2016
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (WS Audiology A/S)
• Inventors: Mauler, Dirk
• Primary Examiner(s): Jerez Lora, William A
• Application Number:
  US15/286,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20170105075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: 381 23
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 1/023 for acceleration measuring devices
• 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 2225/61 Aspects relating to mechanical or electronic switches or control elements, e.g. functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/03 Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices
• 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 25/552 Binaural
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/603 of mechanical or electronic switches or control elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/304 For headphones

Abstract

A method operates a hearing device. The hearing device contains two acceleration sensors, which each provide a sensor signal and by which an orientation of the head of the user is established. The sensor signals of both acceleration sensors are used in combination for establishing the orientation, and an operating parameter of the hearing device is set depending on the orientation.

Claims

1. A method for operating a hearing device having two acceleration sensors each providing a sensor signal being used to determine an orientation of a head of a user, which comprises the steps of:

carrying out a calibration measurement for compensating for a skew position, with a long-term mean of a respective sensor signal being established in the calibration measurement;

using sensor signals of both of the acceleration sensors in combination for establishing the orientation;

combining the two sensor signals to form an overall signal, by means of the overall signal the orientation of the head is established, the two sensor signals each having a gravitational acceleration component and are combined to form the overall signal in such a way that gravitational acceleration components are eliminated and the overall signal is independent of gravitational acceleration; and

setting an operating parameter of the hearing device in dependence on the orientation.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises measuring a translational acceleration by means of the two acceleration sensors.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hearing device is a binaural hearing device containing two hearing aids including a left hearing aid and a right hearing aid to be worn on different sides of the head, wherein one of the two acceleration sensors is in each case attached in or to one of the two hearing aids in each case such that the two sensor signals are provided as a left sensor signal and a right sensor signal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a skew position of the acceleration sensors in respect of one another is compensated for.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the skew position is compensated for by virtue of at least one of the sensor signals being additionally transformed.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hearing device has a directional lobe for a directed recording of sound by means of a number of microphones, and in that the operating parameter is a dimension or alignment of the directional lobe.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameter is a dimension of a directional lobe and the dimension is reduced if the user does not change the orientation of his head during a predetermined time interval.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameter is a dimension of a directional lobe and the dimension is increased if the user changes the orientation of the head of the user.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hearing device is embodied as a hearing aid system having at least one loudspeaker and a signal processing unit, by means of the signal processing unit a recorded sound is modified, prior to an output by means of the loudspeaker.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the dimension of the directional lobe is a width.

11. A hearing device, comprising:

two acceleration sensors each providing a sensor signal and serving to determine an orientation of a head of a user; and

a control unit for setting at least one operating parameter of the hearing device, said control unit configured to;

carry out a calibration measurement for compensating for a skew position, with a long-term mean of a respective sensor signal being established in the calibration measurement;

combine two sensor signals of said acceleration sensors by a mathematical operation to form an overall signal, and by means of the overall signal the orientation of the head is established, the two sensor signals each have a gravitational acceleration component and are combined to form the overall signal in such a way that the gravitational acceleration components are eliminated and the overall signal is independent of gravitational acceleration; and

set the operating parameter in dependence on the orientation.

12. The hearing device according to claim 11, wherein said two acceleration sensors are translational acceleration sensors.

13. The hearing device according to claim 11, wherein the hearing aid is a binaural hearing device, further comprising:

two hearing aids, including a left hearing aid and a right hearing aid, to be worn on different sides of the head, wherein one of said two acceleration sensors is attached in or to each of said two hearing aids.