Hearing Aids, Computing Devices, and Methods for Hearing Aid Profile Update

• US 20110176697A1
• Filed: 01/17/2011
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Original Assignee: Audiotoniq, Inc
• Inventors: Landry, David Mathew, Coplin, Donald, Ibrahim, Samir, Apfel, Russell J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,792,661 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/314
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/39 Aspects relating to automatic logging of sound environment parameters and the performance of the hearing aid during use, e.g. histogram logging, or of user selected programs or settings in the hearing aid, e.g. usage logging
• 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 25/305 Self-monitoring or self-testing

Abstract

A method includes receiving a data at a hearing aid during operation of the hearing aid and selectively updating a hearing aid profile in response to receiving the data to produce a modified hearing aid profile. The method further includes applying the modified hearing aid profile using a processor of the hearing aid to shape an audio output.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving data at a hearing aid during operation of the hearing aid;

selectively updating a hearing aid profile in response to receiving the data to produce a modified hearing aid profile; and

applying the modified hearing aid profile using a processor of the hearing aid to shape an audio output.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in acoustic parameters of an acoustic environment; and

in response to detecting the change in the acoustic parameter, sending an alert to a computing device through a wireless communication channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the change in the acoustic parameters comprises:

comparing the acoustic parameters of a sound sample from the acoustic environment to a baseline; and

detecting the change when a difference between the acoustic parameters and the baseline exceed a threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively updating the hearing aid profile comprises:

determining characteristic values associated with an acoustic environment of the hearing aid in response to receiving the data; and

comparing the characteristic values to a plurality of baselines to determine a set of one or more hearing aid profiles from a plurality of hearing aid profiles, each of the plurality of baselines associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of hearing aid profiles.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein comparing the characteristic values to the plurality of baselines to determine the set of one or more hearing aid profiles comprises identifying the set of one or more hearing aid profiles from the plurality of hearing aid profiles with the associated baseline that differ from the characteristic values by less than a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, before receiving the data, the method further comprises:

detecting when a sound sample differs from a baseline by more than a threshold amount;

generating an alert related to the sound sample; and

transmitting the alert to a computing device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the hearing aid receives the data in response to transmitting the alert to the computing device.

8. A computing device comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a hearing aid through a wireless communication channel;

a memory to store a plurality of hearing aid profiles and a hearing aid configuration utility; and

a processor having access to the memory, the processor configured to execute the hearing aid configuration utility to automatically update a hearing aid profile of the hearing aid during operation.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the computing device comprises at least one of a cell phone, a portable music player, a PDA, and a tablet computer.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor executes the hearing aid configuration utility to detect a change in a parameter of an acoustic environment and to selectively update the hearing aid profile in response to detecting the change.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor receives a trigger and executes the hearing aid configuration utility in response to receiving the trigger.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the trigger is received from the hearing aid through the communication channel via the transceiver.

13. The computing device of claim 11, further comprising:

an input interface for receiving a user input; and

wherein the trigger comprises the user input.

14. The computing device of claim 8, wherein:

the memory includes a plurality of baselines, each of the plurality of baselines is associated with one of the plurality of hearing aid profiles; and

wherein the processor executes the hearing aid configuration utility to;

generate characteristic values for a sound sample based on a current hearing aid profile in use by a processor of the hearing aid;

detect a change in a parameter of an acoustic environment by comparing the characteristic values to a baseline associated with the current hearing aid profile;

identify a new hearing aid profile for the hearing aid based on a difference between the characteristic values and the plurality of baselines; and

transmit the new hearing aid profile to the hearing aid in response to identifying the new hearing aid profile.

15. The computing device of claim 8, further comprising:

an input interface for receiving a user input; and

wherein the processor executes the hearing aid configuration utility to generate a graphic user interface including text and one or more user-selectable elements accessible by a user through the user input to update a selected hearing aid profile of the plurality of hearing aid profiles.

16. A hearing aid comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a computing device through a communication channel;

a processor configured to shape sounds according to a selected hearing aid profile; and

a logic circuit adapted to receive data from the computing device and automatically update the selected hearing aid profile in response to receiving the data during operation.

17. The hearing aid of claim 16, wherein the logic circuit is configured to detect a change in an acoustic parameter of an acoustic environment and to transmit a signal to the computing device through the communication channel in response to detecting the change.

18. The hearing aid of claim 17, wherein:

the logic circuit receives the data in response to transmitting the signal; and

the data includes at least one parameter related to the selected hearing aid profile.

19. The hearing aid of claim 16, wherein the logic circuit detects the change by capturing a sample of the acoustic environment and comparing the sample to a stored value.

20. The hearing aid of claim 16, wherein the logic circuit detects the change by capturing a sample of the acoustic environment and by determining when the sample differs from a stored value by more than a threshold.