BINAURAL HEARING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM COMPRISING BINAURAL NOISE REDUCTION
First Claim
1. A binaural hearing assistance system comprising left and right hearing assistance devices adapted for being located at or in left and right ears of a user, or adapted for being fully or partially implanted in the head of the user, the binaural hearing assistance system further comprising a user interface configured to communicate with said left and right hearing assistance devices and to allow a user to influence functionality of the left and right hearing assistance devices,each of the left and right hearing assistance devices comprisinga) A multitude of input units IUi, i=1, . . . , M, M being larger than or equal to two, for providing a time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of an input signal xi(n) at an ith input unit in a number of frequency bands and a number of time instances, k being a frequency band index, m being a time index, n representing time, the time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of the ith input signal comprising a target signal component and a noise signal component, the target signal component originating from a target signal source;
- b) a multi-input unit noise reduction system comprising a multi-channel beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said multitude of input units IUi, i=1, . . . , M, and configured to provide a beamformed signal Y(k,m), wherein signal components from other directions than a direction of the target signal source are attenuated, whereas signal components from the direction of the target signal source are left un-attenuated or attenuated less than signal components from said other directions;
the binaural hearing assistance system being configured to allow a user to indicate a direction to or a location of the target signal source relative to the user via said user interface.
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Abstract
The application relates to a binaural hearing assistance system comprising left and right hearing assistance devices, and a user interface, to its use and to a method. The left and right hearing assistance devices comprises a) at least two input units for providing a time-frequency representation of an input signal in a number of frequency bands and a number of time instances; and b) a multi-input unit noise reduction system comprising a multi-channel beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said at least two input units and configured to provide a beamformed signal. The binaural hearing assistance system is configured to allow a user to indicate a direction to or location of a target signal source relative to the user via said user interface. This has the advantage that interaural cues of the target signals can be maintained, while the ambient noise is reduced.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A binaural hearing assistance system comprising left and right hearing assistance devices adapted for being located at or in left and right ears of a user, or adapted for being fully or partially implanted in the head of the user, the binaural hearing assistance system further comprising a user interface configured to communicate with said left and right hearing assistance devices and to allow a user to influence functionality of the left and right hearing assistance devices,
each of the left and right hearing assistance devices comprising a) A multitude of input units IUi, i=1, . . . , M, M being larger than or equal to two, for providing a time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of an input signal xi(n) at an ith input unit in a number of frequency bands and a number of time instances, k being a frequency band index, m being a time index, n representing time, the time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of the ith input signal comprising a target signal component and a noise signal component, the target signal component originating from a target signal source; -
b) a multi-input unit noise reduction system comprising a multi-channel beamformer filtering unit operationally coupled to said multitude of input units IUi, i=1, . . . , M, and configured to provide a beamformed signal Y(k,m), wherein signal components from other directions than a direction of the target signal source are attenuated, whereas signal components from the direction of the target signal source are left un-attenuated or attenuated less than signal components from said other directions; the binaural hearing assistance system being configured to allow a user to indicate a direction to or a location of the target signal source relative to the user via said user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19)
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18. A method of operating a binaural hearing assistance system, the system comprising left and right hearing assistance devices adapted for being located at or in left and right ears of a user, or adapted for being fully or partially implanted in the head of the user, the binaural hearing assistance system further comprising a user interface configured to communicate with said left and right hearing assistance devices and to allow a user to influence functionality of the left and right hearing assistance devices,
the method comprising in each of the left and right hearing assistance devices a) providing a time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of an input signal xi(n) at an ith input unit in a number of frequency bands and a number of time instances, k being a frequency band index, m being a time index, n representing time, M being larger than or equal to two, for the time-frequency representation Xi(k,m) of the ith input signal comprising a target signal component and a noise signal component, the target signal component originating from a target signal source; -
b) providing a beamformed signal Y(k,m) from said time-frequency representations Xi(k,m) of said multitude of input signals, wherein signal components from other directions than a direction of the target signal source are attenuated, whereas signal components from the direction of the target signal source are left un-attenuated or are attenuated less than signal components from said other directions in said beamformed signal Y(k,m); and configuring the binaural hearing assistance system to allow a user to indicate a direction to or a location of the target signal source relative to the user via said user interface.
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Specification