Hearing Augmentation Systems and Methods

• US 20170230764A1
• Filed: 02/06/2017
• Published: 08/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: K/S HIMPP
• Original Assignee: Nar Special Global LLC
• Inventors: Simonides, Ted, Manser, Steve, Keller, Dan, Wuensch, Larry, Kisch, Mike, Dundas, Drew
• Granted Patent: US 10,390,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

Various systems and methods are disclosed herein to increase the quality of the sound delivered to a user and allow personalization to optimize listening performance and comfort under atypical listening conditions, environment specific adjustment, and data capture to assist in the personalization of the system to the user'"'"'s needs and preferences. Features disclosed include sound level rating systems that aggregate noise data detected by user'"'"'s mobile phones or hearing devices to provide a database of real-time noise levels. Additionally, a user'"'"'s sound settings may be saved in the system by location so that they may be recalled when re-entering a specific location. A remote clinician may tune a hearing device, or a user can tune the device using a pre-recorded audio sample. Also, a user may replay the last X seconds of audio recorded by their hearing device.

Claims

1. A hearing device capable of being tuned by a pre-recorded audio sample comprising:

a speaker configured to direct sound into a patient'"'"'s ear;

a microphone configured to output audio data representing ambient sound;

a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions;

a control system coupled to the memory, the control system configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the control system to;

play, by the speaker, a pre-recorded audio sample in response to receiving instructions to initiate a tuning process;

receive control data that includes instructions for modifying audio settings that control the output of the speaker after playing the pre-recorded audio sample; and

execute the control data to modify the audio settings.

2. The hearing device of claim 1, further comprising signal processing equipment for processing the audio data into processed audio data.

3. The hearing device of claim 2, wherein the modifying the audio settings include modifying the processing of the audio data.

4. The hearing device of claim 2, where the processing includes one or both of noise filters and amplifiers.

5. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions for modifying the audio settings include instructions for modifying the volume controls and/or instructions for modifying a directionality of the microphone.

6. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the control data is received from a computing device or a mobile device.

7. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the control data is received from manual controls on the hearing device.

8. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to play, by the speaker, multiple pre-recorded audio samples and receive control data after playing each pre-recorded audio sample.

9. A method for tuning a hearing device comprising:

playing a first pre-recorded audio sample from a speaker of a hearing device;

receiving a first set of feedback data after playing the pre-recorded audio sample;

after receiving the first set of feedback data, playing a second pre-recorded audio sample from the speaker;

receiving a second set of feedback data after playing the second pre-recorded audio sample; and

configuring the audio settings of the hearing device based on at least the first and second sets of feedback data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the configuring the audio settings comprises modifying one or more of noise filters, amplifiers, and volume.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first pre-recorded audio sample includes sound in the human voice frequency range.