Hearing aid, computing device, and method for selecting a hearing aid profile

• US 8,538,049 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2011
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Original Assignee: Audiotoniq, Inc
• Inventors: Apfel, Russell J., Landry, David Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US13/024,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20110200215A1
• Time in Patent Office: 951 Days
• Field of Search: 381/60, 381/312, 381314-317, 381320-321, 381/323
• US Class Current: 381/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A hearing aid includes a microphone to convert sounds into electrical signals, a transceiver configured to communicate with a computing device through a wireless communication channel, and a processor coupled to the microphone and the transceiver. The hearing aid further includes a memory accessible to the processor and configured to store a table including plurality of hearing aid profile identifiers (IDs). Each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of hearing aid profiles. The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to identify a hearing aid profile ID from the table based on a sound sample, retrieve a hearing aid profile from the computing device using the hearing aid profile ID, and apply the hearing aid profile to modulate an audio output signal.

Claims

1. A hearing aid comprising:

a microphone to convert sounds into electrical signals;

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

a processor coupled to the microphone and the transceiver;

a memory accessible to the processor and configured to store a lookup table including a plurality of hearing aid profile identifiers (IDs) and a plurality of usability values, each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of hearing aid profiles and each of the plurality of usability values corresponding to one of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs, the memory configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

identify a hearing aid profile ID from the lookup table based on a sound sample by comparing a parameter associated with the sound sample to at least one of the plurality of usability values to identify an approximate match;

retrieve a hearing aid profile from the computing device using the hearing aid profile ID; and

apply the hearing aid profile to modulate an audio output signal.

2. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein each of the usability values includes one or more values for determining suitability of a hearing aid profile to the sound sample.

3. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the usability values include an average volume.

4. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein:

the memory includes a first plurality of hearing aid profiles;

the computing device includes a second plurality of hearing aid profiles; and

the plurality of hearing aid profiles includes the first and second pluralities of hearing aid profiles.

5. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the memory includes second instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

detect a change in an acoustic environment based on the electrical signals; and

identify the hearing aid profile ID from the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs in response to detecting the change.

6. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the processor stores the hearing aid profile as an active hearing aid profile in the memory in response to receiving the hearing aid profile from the computing device.

7. The hearing aid of claim 1, further comprising:

a speaker including an input coupled to the processor for receiving the audio output signal; and

the processor applies the hearing aid profile to the electrical signals to produce a shaped output signal, wherein the shaped output signal is reproduced as sound by the speaker.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a sound sample;

identifying a hearing aid profile identifier (ID) from a table including a plurality of hearing aid profile identifiers (IDs) and a plurality of usability values by comparing a parameter associated with the sound sample to at least one of the plurality of usability values to identify an approximate match, each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of hearing aid profiles and each of the plurality of usability values corresponding to one of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs; and

sending a request including the hearing aid profile ID to a computing device through a communication channel to retrieve a hearing aid profile that corresponds to the hearing aid profile ID during operation.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving the sound sample at a processor of a hearing aid;

comparing a value related to the sound sample to a baseline value to determine a first difference; and

when the first difference is greater than a threshold, executing instructions to compare one or more parameters of the sound sample to parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs to identify the hearing aid profile to request from the computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs are representative of suitability of a hearing aid profile to the sound sample.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs and the hearing aid profile IDs are stored in a lookup table.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs include at least one frequency range.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of hearing aid profile IDs include a frequency average.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein sending the request comprises:

generating a hearing aid profile request including the hearing aid profile ID and associated instructions; and

sending the hearing aid profile request to the computing device through the communication channel to retrieve the hearing aid profile from a plurality of hearing aid profiles stored in a memory of the computing device.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein, when the hearing aid profile is not identified, the method further comprises:

generating an alert including data related to the sound-related signal; and

sending the alert to the computing device through the communication channel.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving the hearing aid profile from the computing device through the communication channel is response to sending the request; and

applying the hearing aid profile to the sound-related signal using the processor of the hearing aid.