Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090202091 | Method of estimating weighting function of audio signals in a hearing aid - Disclosed is method of generating an audible signal in a hearing aid by estimating a weighting function of received audio signals, the hearing aid is adapted to be worn by a user; the method comprises the steps of: | 08-13-2009 |
20100303267 | LISTENING DEVICE PROVIDING ENHANCED LOCALIZATION CUES, ITS USE AND A METHOD - The invention relates to a listening device comprising an ear-part adapted for being worn in or at an ear of a user, a front and rear direction being defined relative to a person wearing the ear-part in an operational position. The invention further relates to a method of operating a hearing instrument, to its use, to a listening system, to a computer readable medium and to a data processing system. The object of the present invention is to provide localization cues for indicating a direction of origin of a sound source. The problem is solved in that the listening system comprises (a) a microphone system comprising at least two microphones each converting an input sound to an electrical microphone signal, (b) a DIR-unit comprising a directionality system for providing a weighted sum of the at least two electrical microphone signals thereby providing at least two directional microphone signals having maximum sensitivity in spatially different directions and a combined microphone signal, and (c) a frequency shaping-unit for modifying the combined microphone signal to indicate directional cues of input sounds originating from at least one of said spatially different directions and providing an improved directional output signal. This has the advantage of providing an alternative or an addition to natural localization cues. The invention may e.g. be used in listening devices, e.g. hearing instruments, head phones, headsets or active ear plugs. | 12-02-2010 |
20110046948 | AUTOMATIC SOUND RECOGNITION BASED ON BINARY TIME FREQUENCY UNITS - The invention relates to a method of automatic sound recognition. The object of the present invention is to provide an alternative scheme for automatically recognizing sounds, e.g. human speech. The problem is solved by providing a training database comprising a number of models, each model representing a sound element in the form of a binary mask comprising binary time frequency (TF) units which indicate the energetic areas in time and frequency of the sound element in question, or of characteristic features or statistics extracted from the binary mask; providing an input signal comprising an input sound element; estimating the input sound element based on the models of the training database to provide an output sound element. The method has the advantage of being relatively simple and adaptable to the application in question. The invention may e.g. be used in devices comprising automatic sound recognition, e.g. for sound, e.g. voice control of a device, or in listening devices, e.g. hearing aids, for improving speech perception. | 02-24-2011 |
20110051948 | METHOD OF CORRECTING ERRORS IN BINARY MASKS - The invention relates to a method of identifying and correcting errors in a noisy binary mask. An object of the present invention is to provide a scheme for improving a binary mask representing speech. The problem is solved in that the method comprises a) providing a noisy binary mask comprising a binary representation of the power density of an acoustic signal comprising a target signal and a noise signal at a predefined number of discrete frequencies and a number of discrete time instances; b) providing a statistical model of a clean binary mask representing the power density of the target signal; and c) using the statistical model to detect and correct errors in the noisy binary mask. This has the advantage of providing an alternative and relatively simple way of improving an estimate of a binary mask representing a speech signal. The invention may e.g. be used for speech processing, e.g. in a hearing instrument. | 03-03-2011 |
20120148056 | METHOD TO REDUCE ARTIFACTS IN ALGORITHMS WITH FAST-VARYING GAIN - A method and device reduce artifacts in an audio processing algorithm for applying a time and frequency dependent gain to an input audio signal. The method provides a time frequency representation of an input audio signal comprising a number of frequency bands; applies an audio processing algorithm providing an estimated algorithm output signal; determines for each frequency band a difference between a value of the estimated gain signal at a given time and at a preceding time; averages the difference over a predefined time; provides a confidence estimate based on the time averaged difference, the said confidence estimate being relatively low in case said time averaged difference is above a predetermined threshold level and relatively high in case said time averaged difference is below a predetermined threshold level; and optionally applies the confidence estimate to the noise reduced output signal thereby providing an improved algorithm output signal. | 06-14-2012 |
20120243715 | AUDIO PROCESSING DEVICE, SYSTEM, USE AND METHOD - An audio processing device includes a) an input unit for converting a time domain input signal to a number N | 09-27-2012 |
20120275628 | SYSTEM COMPRISING A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH A TIME FUNCTION - A portable electronic device and an auxiliary device each having an interface allowing the establishment of a communication link between them, at least to be able to transmit data representative of a status information from the auxiliary device to the portable electronic device, and-a method of of establishing a measure of an absolute elapsed time in a listening device. The problem is solved in that the portable electronic device has a timing unit for determining a time interval and a memory for storing data, and wherein the auxiliary device has a master timing unit for providing a signal representative of the present time, and wherein the system is adapted to transfer a signal representative of the present time from the auxiliary device to the portable electronic device and to store it in the memory. | 11-01-2012 |
20120328118 | FEEDBACK CONTROL IN A LISTENING DEVICE - A listening device includes a) an input transducer; and b) an output transducer for converting a processed electric signal to an output sound; a forward signal path being defined there between and comprising c) a signal processing unit for processing an electric input signal or a signal derived therefrom and providing a processed output signal; d) a manually operable user interface located on the listening device allowing a user to control a function of the listening device; e) a feedback estimation system for estimating a feedback path from the output transducer to the input transducer, the feedback estimation system comprising e1) an adaptive filter having e11) a variable filter part and e12) an algorithm part comprising an adaptive algorithm. | 12-27-2012 |
20130170660 | LISTENING DEVICE AND A METHOD OF MONITORING THE FITTING OF AN EAR MOULD OF A LISTENING DEVICE - A method detects whether an ear mould of a listening device is correctly mounted in the ear of a user. An indication of whether or not a mould of a listening device is correctly mounted in an ear canal of a user is provided. The method comprises a) providing a long term estimate of the feedback path; b) providing an estimate of the current feedback path; c) comparing the long term feedback path estimate with the current feedback path estimate, and providing a measure of their difference, termed the feedback difference measure FBDM; and optionally d) providing an alarm indication, if the feedback difference measure exceeds a predefined threshold. | 07-04-2013 |
20130188796 | METHOD OF IMPROVING A LONG TERM FEEDBACK PATH ESTIMATE IN A LISTENING DEVICE - A method provides a long term feedback path estimate of a listening device. The method comprises a) providing an estimate of the current feedback path; b) providing a number of detectors of parameters or properties of the acoustic environment of the listening device and/or of a signal of the listening device, each detector providing one or more detector signals; c) providing a criterion for deciding whether an estimate of the current feedback path is reliable based on said detector signals; d) storing said estimate of the current feedback path, if said criterion IS fulfilled and neglecting said estimate of the current feedback path, if said criterion is NOT fulfilled; e) providing a long term estimate of the feedback path based on said stored estimate(s) of the current feedback path. | 07-25-2013 |
20140169601 | HEARING INSTRUMENT - An audio system includes a headset and a portable computing device. The headset includes a first speaker and a first microphone, a second speaker, a second microphone and a processing unit. The first microphone and the second microphone output a first signal and a second signal, respectively. The processing unit combines the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal into a third electrical signal, and communicates the third electrical signal to a portable computing device through an output channel. The portable computing device preferably includes an application that separates the third electrical signal into the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal. The application compensates the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal for a hearing loss of an individual. | 06-19-2014 |
20140177868 | AUDIO PROCESSING DEVICE COMPRISING ARTIFACT REDUCTION - An audio processing device comprises a forward path comprising an input unit for delivering a time varying electric input signal representing an audio signal, the electric input signal comprising a target signal part and a noise signal part, a signal processing unit for processing said electric input signal and providing a processed signal, and an output unit for delivering an output signal based on said processed signal. An audio processing device comprises an analysis path comprising a model unit comprising a perceptive model of the human auditory system and providing an audibility measure, an artifact identification unit for identifying an artifact introduced into the processed signal by the processing algorithm and providing an artifact identification measure, and a gain control unit for controlling a gain applied to a signal of the forward path. | 06-26-2014 |
20140321682 | HEARING ASSISTANCE DEVICE WITH A LOW-POWER MODE - A portable hearing assistance device comprises an input unit, an output unit, a forward path between the input unit and the output unit, and an energy source for energizing components of the hearing assistance device. The hearing assistance device further comprises a control unit to control activation (or deactivation) of a low-power mode of operation of the hearing assistance device. When the low-power mode is activated—the draw of current from said energy source is reduced compared to a normal mode of operation of the device, the activation (or deactivation) being influenced by a combination of at least two different control input signals to the control unit, each control input signal being a signal selected from 1) signals relating to current physical environment, 2) signals relating to current acoustic environment, 3) signals relating to current wearer state, and 4) signals relating to current state or operation mode. | 10-30-2014 |