Hearing assistance system with own voice detection

• US 10,171,922 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2017
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• 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): Joshi, Sunita
• Application Number:
  US15/614,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20170339497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 575 Days
• Field of Search: 381313, 381317, 381328, 381330, 381331, 381 231, 381380, 381381
• 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 1/406 microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/0216 BTE hearing aids having a receiver in the ear mould
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/00 Deaf-aid sets , i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception electrical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N1/36038; optical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N5/0622
• 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 25/607 of earhooks
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

An example of an apparatus configured to be worn by a person who has an ear and an ear canal includes a first microphone adapted to be worn about the ear of the person, and a second microphone adapted to be worn at a different location than the first microphone. The apparatus includes a sound processor adapted to process signals from the first microphone to produce a processed sound signal, a receiver adapted to convert the processed sound signal into an audible signal to the wearer of the hearing assistance device, and a voice detector to detect the voice of the wearer. The voice detector includes an adaptive filter to receive signals from the first microphone and the second microphone.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to be worn by a wearer, comprising:

a first microphone configured to produce a first microphone signal;

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

a voice detector including an adaptive filter configured to produce a filter output signal using the second microphone signal and an error signal produced by subtracting the filter output signal from the first microphone signal, the voice detector configured to;

detect a voice of the wearer by comparing a power of the error signal to a power of the first microphone signal; and

produce an indication of detection in response to the voice of the wearer being detected.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voice detector is configured to;

compare a difference between the power of the error signal and the power of the first microphone signal to a threshold; and

produce the indication of detection in response to the difference exceeding the threshold.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to model a relative transfer function between the first microphone and the second microphone, and the voice detector is further configured to:

analyze an impulse response of the adaptive filter;

detect the voice of the wearer using an outcome of the analysis; and

produce the indication of detection in response to the voice of the wearer being detected.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the voice detector is configured to detect the voice of the wearer using an amplitude of the impulse response.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the voice detector is configured to:

compare a peak value of coefficients of the adaptive filter to a threshold; and

produce the indication of detection in response to the peak value exceeding the threshold.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to implement a recursive least square error process.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to implement a least mean square error process.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to implement a normalized least mean square error process.

2. An apparatus configured to be worn by a wearer, comprising:

a first microphone configured to produce a first microphone signal;

a second microphone configured to produce a second microphone signal;

a voice detector including an adaptive filter configured to produce a filter output signal using the second microphone signal and an error signal produced by subtracting the filter output signal from the first microphone signal, the voice detector configured to;

detect a voice of the wearer by comparing a power of the error signal to a power of the first microphone signal; and

produce an indication of detection in response to the voice of the wearer being detected;

a sound processor configured to produce an audio output signal using the second microphone signal and the indication of detection; and

a speaker configured to produce an audible signal using the audio output signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the sound processor is configured to produce the audio output signal using the first microphone signal, the second microphone signal, and the indication of detection to provide directionality to the audible signal.

11. A method for detecting a voice of a wearer of a wearable device having a first microphone and a second microphone, the method comprising:

taking a desired signal for an adaptive filter from the first microphone;

taking an input signal to the adaptive filter from the second microphone;

producing an error signal of the adaptive filter by subtracting a filter output signal produced by the adaptive filter from the desired signal;

feeding the error signal back to the adaptive filter;

comparing a power of the error signal to a power of the desired signal; and

detecting a voice of the wearer using an outcome of the comparison.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising positioning the first microphone and the second microphone at different locations to provide a time difference for sound from the voice of the wearer to reach the first and second microphones.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises:

comparing a difference between the power of the error signal and the power of the first microphone signal to a threshold; and

indicating a detection of the voice of the wearer in response to the difference exceeding the threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising configuring the adaptive filter to model a relative transfer function between the first microphone and the second microphone, and wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises:

analyzing an impulse response of the adaptive filter; and

detecting the voice of the wearer using an outcome of the analysis.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting the voice of the wearer comprises:

comparing a peak value of coefficients of the adaptive filter to a threshold; and

indicating a detection of the voice of the wearer in response to the peak value exceeding the threshold.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

producing an audio output signal by processing a microphone signal received from the second microphone;

adjusting the processing in response to the voice of the wearer being detected; and

producing an audible signal using a speaker based on the audio output signal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing directionality to the audible signal by producing the audio output signal using microphone signals received from both the first microphone and the second microphone.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising controlling an active noise canceller for occlusion reduction using an outcome of the detection of the voice of the wearer.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein producing the audio output signal comprises calculating a gain of the processing using an outcome of the detection of the voice of the wearer.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising classifying an acoustic environment using an outcome of the detection of the voice of the wearer, and setting a gain of the processing using an outcome of the classification of the acoustic environment.