Hearing aid determining turn-taking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11375322-B2
Application number	US-202016804873-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2020
Priority date	Feb 28, 2020
Publication date	Jun 28, 2022
Grant date	Jun 28, 2022

Abstract

The present application relates to a hearing aid adapted to be worn in or at an ear of a hearing aid user and/or to be fully or partially implanted in the head of the hearing aid user. The hearing aid may comprise an input unit for receiving an input sound signal from an environment of a hearing aid user and providing at least one electric input signal representing said input sound signal, an output unit for providing at least one set of stimuli perceivable as sound to the hearing aid user based on processed versions of said at least one electric input signal, a voice activity detector (VAD) configured to determine speech in the input sound signal, an own voice detector (OVD) configured to determine own voice of the hearing aid user in the input sound signal, a processing unit connected to said input unit and to said output unit and comprising signal processing parameters of the hearing aid to provide processed versions of said at least one electric input signal, a turn-taking determining unit configured to determine turn-taking behaviour of the hearing aid user, wherein the processing unit is configured to adjust said signal processing parameters based on the determined turn-taking behavior of the hearing aid user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hearing system comprising:
a first and a second hearing aids adapted to be worn in or at an ear of a hearing aid user and/or to be fully or partially implanted in the head of the hearing aid user, each of the first and second hearing aids including:
an antenna and a transceiver circuitry for establishing a communication link to the other hearing aid, and thereby allowing the exchange of information between the two hearing aids,
an input unit for receiving an input sound signal from an environment of the hearing aid user and providing at least one electric input signal representing said input sound signal,
an output unit for providing at least one set of stimuli perceivable as sound to the hearing aid user based on processed versions of said at least one electric input signal,
a voice activity detector (VAD) configured to determine speech in the input sound signal,
an own voice detector (OVD) configured to determine own voice of the hearing aid user in the input sound signal,
a processing unit connected to said input unit and to said output unit and comprising signal processing parameters of the hearing aid to provide processed versions of said at least one electric input signal, and
a turn-taking determining unit configured to determine turn-taking behaviour of the hearing aid user,
wherein the processing unit is configured to adjust said signal processing parameters based on the determined turn-taking behavior of the hearing aid user and determine a confidence level of the determined turn-taking behavior, and
wherein each of the first and second hearing aids is configured to communicate their determined turn-taking behaviour to the other hearing aid, and to determine a confidence level of the respective determined turn-taking behavior.

2. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid further comprises a modulation filter configured to determine speaking rate of the hearing aid user.

3. Hearing behavior according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid further comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimator configured to determine SNR in the environment of the hearing aid user.

4. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid further comprises a sound pressure level (SPL) estimator for measuring the level of sound at the input unit.

5. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid further comprises a timer configured to determine starting points in time of the turn taking determination.

6. Hearing system according to claim 5 , wherein each hearing aid is configured to initiate the turn-taking determination unit when the timer is determining a starting point.

7. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid comprises a memory unit configured to store reference signal processing parameters of the processing unit, and wherein the processing unit is configured to apply the reference signal processing parameters when the OVD has not determined own voice for a second time segment.

8. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid comprises an accelerometer and/or an ear canal microphone, and wherein the OVD is configured to determine own voice of the hearing aid user based on the accelerometer and/or an ear canal microphone.

9. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid comprises an inertial measurement unit.

10. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid is configured to transmit the determined turn-taking behaviour of the hearing aid user to a server device configured to adjust the reference signal processing parameters of the hearing aid based on the said turn-taking behaviour.

11. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein each hearing aid is configured to receive the adjusted reference signal processing parameters from a server device and store the adjusted reference signal processing parameters on a memory unit.

12. Hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein, when the determined confidence level is above a confidence threshold, then the processing unit is configured to adjust the signal processing parameters.

13. Hearing system according to claim 1 , further comprising infra-red (IR) sensors configured to monitor eye gaze of the hearing aid user.

14. Method for determining a turn-taking behavior of first and second hearing aids in a hearing system, the method comprising
establishing a communication link between the first and second hearing aids to allow the exchange of information between the two hearing aids,
receiving an input sound signal from an environment of a hearing aid user and providing at least one electric input signal representing said input sound signal, by an input unit,
determining speech in the input sound signal, by a voice activity detector (VAD),
determining own voice of the hearing aid user in the input sound signal, by an own voice detector (OVD),
determining turn-taking behaviour of the hearing aid user, by a turn-taking determining unit,
adjusting signal processing parameters based on the determined turn-taking behavior of the hearing aid user,
providing processed versions of said at least one electric input signal, by a processing unit connected to said input unit and to an output unit and comprising said adjusted signal processing parameters of each hearing aid,
providing at least one set of stimuli perceivable as sound to the hearing aid user based on the processed versions of said at least one electric input signal, by the output unit, and
determining a confidence level of the determined turn-taking behavior, by the processing unit,
wherein each of the first and second hearing aids is configured to communicate their determined turn-taking behaviour to the other hearing aid, and to determine a confidence level of the respective determined turn-taking behavior.

15. Hearing system according to claim 2 , wherein each hearing aid further comprising a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimator configured to determine SNR in the environment of the hearing aid user.

16. Hearing system according to claim 4 , wherein each hearing aid further comprising a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimator configured to determine SNR in the environment of the hearing aid user.

17. Hearing system according to claim 2 , wherein each hearing aid further comprising a sound pressure level (SPL) estimator for measuring the level of sound at the input unit.

18. Hearing system according to claim 3 , wherein each hearing aid further comprising a sound pressure level (SPL) estimator for measuring the level of sound at the input unit.

Assignees

• Oticon As

Inventors

• Lunner Thomas
• Bramsløw Lars

Classifications

• G10L17/00

  Speaker identification or verification techniques · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04R25/505 Primary

  using digital signal processing · CPC title

• H04R2225/41

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

• H04R2225/43

  Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility · CPC title