Beam former calibration of a hearing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11510016-B2
Application number	US-201817283266-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2018
Priority date	Oct 8, 2018
Publication date	Nov 22, 2022
Grant date	Nov 22, 2022

Abstract

A method for adjusting a hearing device ( 12 ) adapted to be worn behind an ear ( 28 ) comprises: determining a cymba angle ( 54 ) between a cartilage ( 50 ) above the cymba ( 46 ) of the ear ( 28 ) and a viewing direction ( 38 ) of the user; estimating a tilt angle ( 39 ) of the hearing device ( 12 ) with respect to the viewing direction ( 38 ) from the cymba angle ( 54 ); and adjusting a beam former direction ( 37 ) of a beam former ( 34 ) of the hearing device ( 12 ), such that the beam former direction ( 37 ) is aligned with the viewing direction ( 38 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for adjusting a hearing device adapted to be worn behind an ear of a user, the method comprising:
receiving image data from the ear, the image data containing at least one image of the ear;
determining, from the image data, a cymba angle between a cartilage above a cymba of the ear and a viewing direction of the user, wherein a direction of the cartilage is determined by averaging a curve along the cartilage and the cymba angle is determined as an angle between the direction of the cartilage and the viewing direction;
estimating a tilt angle of the hearing device worn by the user with respect to the viewing direction from the cymba angle;
adjusting a beam former direction of a beam former of the hearing device, such that the beam former direction is aligned with the viewing direction.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the cymba angle is determined with an image recognition algorithm adapted for identifying parts of the ear.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the cymba angle is determined with a machine learning algorithm trained with image data of ears with known cymba angles.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the image data contains images of the ear from different directions and a three-dimensional representation is determined from the image data;
wherein the cymba angle is determined from the three-dimensional representation.

5. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the image data contains an image of a marker provided besides the ear, the marker having at least one of a scale or an indication of the viewing direction.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an ear size from the image data;
wherein a distance from a front of a helix of the ear to an ear channel is determined from the image data.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an optimal tube length of a tube interconnecting a part of the hearing device behind the ear with a part of the hearing device in the ear from the image data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, whether the user wears glasses, from the image data.

9. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the tilt angle is determined from a lookup table.

10. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the tilt angle is determined with a machine learning algorithm, which has been trained with known cymba angles.

11. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the tilt angle is determined from the cymba angle and at least one of:
an ear size,
a selected tube length of a tube interconnecting a part of the hearing device behind the ear with a part of the hearing device in the ear,
information about, whether the user wears glasses or not.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause a hearing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving image data from an ear of a user, the image data containing at least one image of the ear;
determining, from the image data, a cymba angle between a cartilage above a cymba of the ear and a viewing direction of the user, wherein a direction of the cartilage is determined by averaging a curve along the cartilage and the cymba angle is determined as an angle between the direction of the cartilage and the viewing direction;
estimating a tilt angle of the hearing device worn by the user with respect to the viewing direction from the cymba angle;
adjusting a beam former direction of a beam former of the hearing device, such that the beam former direction is aligned with the viewing direction.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the cymba angle is determined with an image recognition algorithm adapted for identifying parts of the ear.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 ,
wherein the cymba angle is determined with a machine learning algorithm trained with image data of ears with known cymba angles.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 ,
wherein the image data contains images of the ear from different directions and a three-dimensional representation is determined from the image data;
wherein the cymba angle is determined from the three-dimensional representation.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 ,
wherein the image data contains an image of a marker provided besides the ear, the marker having at least one of a scale or an indication of the viewing direction.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining an ear size from the image data;
wherein a distance from a front of a helix of the ear to an ear channel is determined from the image data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining an optimal tube length of a tube interconnecting a part of the hearing device behind the ear with a part of the hearing device in the ear from the image data.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining, whether the user wears glasses, from the image data.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 ,
wherein the tilt angle is determined from a lookup table.

Assignees

• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• Feilner Manuela
• El-Hoiydi Amre

Classifications

• H04R2225/021

  Behind the ear [BTE] hearing aids · CPC title

• H04R25/70

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

• H04R25/405 Primary

  by combining a plurality of transducers · CPC title