Providing feedback of an own voice loudness of a user of a hearing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10873816-B2
Application number	US-201916692994-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2019
Priority date	Dec 5, 2018
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

A method for providing feedback of an own voice loudness of a user of a hearing device comprises: extracting an own voice signal of the user from an audio signal acquired with a microphone of the hearing device; determining a sound level of the own voice signal from the audio signal; determining an acoustic situation of the user; determining at least one of a minimal threshold and a maximal threshold for the sound level of the own voice signal from the acoustic situation of the user; and notifying the user, when the sound level is at least one of lower than the minimal threshold and higher than the maximal threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing notice to a user of a hearing device, the method comprising:
extracting an own voice signal of the user from an audio signal acquired with a microphone of the hearing device;
determining a sound level of the own voice signal;
determining, based on an operating mode of the hearing device, an acoustic situation of the user;
determining at least one of a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold for the sound level of the own voice signal from the acoustic situation of the user;
notifying the user, when the sound level is at least one of lower than the minimum threshold and higher than the maximum threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one of the minimal threshold and the maximal threshold are determined from a table of thresholds, the table storing different thresholds for a plurality of acoustic situations.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the acoustic situation is further determined from a further audio signal;
wherein the further audio signal is extracted from the audio signal acquired by the hearing device and/or the further audio signal is acquired by a further microphone.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the acoustic situation is further determined from at least one of:
a room acoustics;
a speech characteristics of another person;
a further user voice signal, which is extracted from a further audio signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein
determining the acoustic situation further depends on a user input.

6. The method of claim 5 ,
wherein the user input includes at least one of:
a number of persons, to which the user is speaking;
a distance to a person, to which the user is speaking.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a location of the user;
wherein determining the acoustic situation further depends on the location of the user.

8. The method of claim 1
wherein the minimal threshold and/or the maximal threshold for an acoustic situation are set by user input.

9. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the user is notified via an output device of the hearing device; and/or
wherein the user is notified by a portable device carried by the user, which is in data communication with the hearing device.

10. The method of claim 9 ,
wherein the user is notified at least one of:
acoustically,
tactilely,
visually.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
logging the sound level over time;
visualizing a distribution of the sound level over time.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program that, when executed, direct a processor to:
extract an own voice signal of a user from an audio signal acquired with a microphone of a hearing device;
determine a sound level of the own voice signal;
determine, based on an operating mode of the hearing device, an acoustic situation of the user;
determine at least one of a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold for the sound level of the own voice signal from the acoustic situation of the user;
notify the user, when the sound level is at least one of lower than the minimum threshold and higher than the maximum threshold.

13. A hearing system comprising:
a hearing device adapted to:
extract an own voice signal of a user from an audio signal acquired with a microphone of the hearing device;
determine a sound level of the own voice signal;
determine, based on an operating mode of the hearing device, an acoustic situation of the user;
determine at least one of a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold for the sound level of the own voice signal from the acoustic situation of the user;
notify the user, when the sound level is at least one of lower than the minimum threshold and higher than the maximum threshold.

14. The hearing system of claim 13 ,
wherein the at least one of the minimal threshold and the maximal threshold are determined from a table of thresholds, the table storing different thresholds for a plurality of acoustic situations.

15. The hearing system of claim 13 ,
wherein the acoustic situation is further determined from a further audio signal;
wherein the further audio signal is extracted from the audio signal acquired by the hearing device and/or the further audio signal is acquired by a further microphone.

16. The hearing system of claim 13 ,
wherein the acoustic situation is further determined from at least one of:
a room acoustics;
a speech characteristics of another person;
a further user voice signal, which is extracted from a further audio signal.

17. The hearing system of claim 13 , wherein
determining the acoustic situation further depends on a user input.

18. The hearing system of claim 13 , wherein the hearing device is further adapted to:
determine a location of the user;
wherein determining the acoustic situation further depends on the location of the user.

Assignees

• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• Feilner Manuela

Classifications

• H04R25/70

  Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting · CPC title

• H04R25/305 Primary

  Self-monitoring or self-testing · CPC title

• G10L25/51

  for comparison or discrimination · CPC title

• H04R2460/07

  Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection · CPC title

• H04R2225/41

  Detection or adaptation of hearing aid parameters or programs to listening situation, e.g. pub, forest · CPC title