Hearing apparatus

• US 10,798,494 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2017
• Issued: 10/06/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (WS Audiology A/S)
• Original Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (WS Audiology A/S)
• Inventors: Kamkar-Parsi, Homayoun, Puder, Henning, Yee, Dianna
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dang, Julie X
• Application Number:
  US15/722,318
• Publication Number:
  US 20180027340A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 381312, 381 92, 381315, 381 716, 381 947
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02165 Two microphones, one receiving mainly the noise signal and the other one mainly the speech signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/02 Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/552 Binaural
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/027 Spatial or constructional arrangements of microphones, e.g. in dummy heads

Abstract

A method of operating a hearing apparatus and hearing apparatus having at least one of a first microphone or a second microphone which generate a first microphone signal and a second microphone signal respectively, the first microphone and the second microphone being arranged in at least one of a first hearing device and a second hearing device, a third microphone which generates a third microphone signal, the third microphone being arranged in an external device, and a signal processing unit, wherein in the signal processing unit the third microphone signal and at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are processed together thereby producing an output signal with an enhanced signal to noise ratio compared to the first microphone signal and/or the second microphone signal.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a hearing apparatus including

at least one first microphone and a second microphone that generate a first microphone signal and a second microphone signal respectively, the at least one first microphone and the second microphone being arranged in a first hearing device and a second hearing device; and

an external device including a third microphone that generates a third microphone signal, and a signal processing unit;

wherein, in the signal processing unit, the third microphone signal and at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are processed together thereby producing an output signal with an enhanced signal to noise ratio compared to the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal,

wherein the signal processing unit comprises an adaptive noise canceller unit into which the third microphone signal and the at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are fed and further combined to obtain the output signal, and

wherein the adaptive noise canceller unit further comprises a comparing device in which the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal are compared for target speech detection, the comparing device generating a control signal for controlling the adaptive noise canceller unit such that the adaptive noise canceller unit is adapting only during an absence of target speech activity.

2. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the external device is a mobile device, a smart phone, an acoustic sensor or an acoustic sensor element being part of an acoustic sensor network.

3. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the output signal is coupled into an output coupler of the first hearing device or the second hearing device for generating an acoustic output signal.

4. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first hearing device and the second hearing device are each embodied as an in-the-ear hearing device.

5. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first hearing device comprises the at least one first microphone, and

wherein the second hearing device comprises the second microphone.

6. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in the adaptive noise canceller unit, the at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal is preprocessed to yield a noise reference signal and the third microphone signal is combined with the noise reference signal to obtain the output signal.

7. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein, in the adaptive noise canceller unit, the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal are combined to yield the noise reference signal.

8. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the adaptive noise canceller unit further comprises a target equalization unit, in which the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal are equalized with regard to target location components, and

wherein the equalized first microphone signal and the equalized second microphone signal are combined to yield the noise reference signal.

9. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit further comprises a calibration unit and/or a equalization unit,

wherein the third microphone signal and the at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are fed into the calibration unit for a group delay compensation and/or into the equalization unit for a level and phase compensation, and

wherein compensated microphone signals are fed into the adaptive noise canceller unit.

10. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third microphone is calibrated to match the at least one first microphone or the second microphone.

11. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third microphone is calibrated based on microphone characteristics of the at least one first microphone, the second microphone, or the third microphone.

12. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a latency of the third microphone is measured according to the at least one first microphone or the second microphone for calibration.

13. The hearing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first hearing device and the second hearing device are each embodied as a completely-in-canal hearing device.

19. The hearing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a smart phone and the signal processing unit is embodied within the external device.

14. A method comprising:

generating, by a first microphone, a first microphone signal;

generating, by a second microphone, a second microphone signal;

generating, by a third microphone, a third microphone signal;

processing, by a signal processing unit, a third microphone signal and at least one of the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal;

producing, by the signal processing unit, an output signal with an enhanced signal to noise ratio compared to the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal,

wherein at least one of the first microphone and the second microphone is arranged in a hearing device,

wherein the third microphone is arranged in an external device,

wherein, in the signal processing unit, the third microphone signal and at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are processed together thereby producing an output signal with an enhanced signal to noise ratio compared to the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal,

wherein the signal processing unit comprises an adaptive noise canceller unit into which the third microphone signal and the at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are fed and further combined to obtain the output signal, and

wherein the adaptive noise canceller unit further comprises a comparing device in which the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal are compared for target speech detection, the comparing device generating a control signal for controlling the adaptive noise canceller unit such that the adaptive noise canceller unit is adapting only during an absence of target speech activity.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising calibrating the third microphone before processing the third microphone signal.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising estimating a speech distortion by comparing a target speech signal to the output signal.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the enhanced signal to noise ratio is obtained by spatial filtering.

18. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising placing the third microphone close to a user'"'"'s body to attenuate a directional noise signal.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the external device is a smartphone.

21. A system comprising:

a hearing apparatus including

at least one first microphone and a second microphone that generate a first microphone signal and a second microphone signal respectively, the at least one first microphone and the second microphone being arranged in a first hearing device and a second hearing device; and

external device including a third microphone that generates a third microphone signal, and the external device being a smartphone; and

a signal processing unit, embodied within the external device, wherein, in the signal processing unit, the third microphone signal and at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are processed together thereby producing an output signal with an enhanced signal to noise ratio compared to the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal,

wherein the signal processing unit comprises an adaptive noise canceller unit into which the third microphone signal and the at least one of the first microphone signal or the second microphone signal are fed and further combined to obtain the output signal, and

wherein the adaptive noise canceller unit further comprises a comparing device in which the first microphone signal and the second microphone signal are compared for target speech detection, the comparing device generating a control signal for controlling the adaptive noise canceller unit such that the adaptive noise canceller unit is adapting only during an absence of target speech activity.