Method for operating a hearing system and hearing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12587797-B2
Application number	US-202318502148-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2023
Priority date	May 25, 2021
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

A method operates a hearing system that has first and second hearing devices. In the first hearing device, a first reference signal and a first auxiliary signal are generated from an environment sound collected by microphones. A first pre-processed signal is generated by applying a direction-sensitive pre-processing to the first reference and auxiliary signals using first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients. For the microphones, a respective first reference head related transfer function and first auxiliary head related transfer function are provided, and a first head related transfer function is derived from the first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients and from the first reference and auxiliary head related transfer functions. For the second hearing device a second pre-processed signal is generated using second microphones, and a second position related transfer function is provided. A direction-sensitive signal processing task is performed on the first and second pre-processed signals.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for operating a hearing system, the hearing system having a first hearing device and a second hearing device, the first hearing device having at least a first reference microphone and a first auxiliary microphone, and the second hearing device having a plurality of second microphones, which comprises the following steps:
performing, via the first hearing device, the substeps of:
generating a first reference signal and a first auxiliary signal from an environment sound via the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone, respectively;
generating a first pre-processed signal by applying a direction-sensitive pre-processing to the first reference signal and the first auxiliary signal, by means of corresponding first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients, respectively;
providing for the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone, a first reference head related transfer function and a first auxiliary head related transfer function, being representative of a propagation of a generic sound signal from a given angle towards the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone when the first hearing device is mounted on a head of a user; and
deriving a first head related transfer function, representative of the propagation of the generic sound signal from the given angle towards the first hearing device when the first hearing device is mounted on the head of the user, from the corresponding first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients and from the first reference and auxiliary head related transfer functions;
performing, via the second hearing device, the substeps of:
generating a second pre-processed signal by means of the plurality of second microphones, the second pre-processed signal being representative of the environment sound;
providing a second position related transfer function, representative of the propagation of the generic sound signal from the given angle towards the second hearing device when the second hearing device is mounted at a specific location; and
performing a direction-sensitive signal processing task on the first pre-processed signal and the second pre-processed signal, using the first head related transfer function and the second position related transfer function for the direction-sensitive signal processing task; wherein the plurality of second microphones of the second hearing device includes at least a second reference microphone and a second auxiliary microphone, performing, via the second hearing device, the further steps of:
generating a second reference signal and a second auxiliary signal from the environment sound by the second reference microphone and the second auxiliary microphone, respectively;
generating a second pre-processed signal by applying a direction-sensitive pre-processing to the second reference signal and the second auxiliary signal by means of corresponding second reference and second auxiliary pre-processing coefficients, respectively; and
providing the second reference microphone and the second auxiliary microphone, a second head related transfer function and second auxiliary head related transfer function, representative of the propagation of the generic sound signal from the given angle towards the second reference microphone and the second auxiliary microphone when the second hearing device is mounted on the head of the user, a second head related transfer function is given as the second position related transfer function by derivation from the corresponding second reference and second auxiliary pre-processing coefficients and from the second head related transfer function and the second auxiliary head related transfer function;
wherein as the direction-sensitive signal processing task, an angle of a sound source is determined and/or a beamformer signal is generated, the beamformer signal containing signal contributions from the first and second pre-processed signals; and wherein for determining the angle of the sound source, a set of spatial filters is generated by means of the first and second head related transfer functions, each of the spatial filters forming an attenuation notch in space towards a different angle.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein for the direction-sensitive signal processing task, the first head related transfer function is used as a correction to the first reference head related transfer function or the first auxiliary head related transfer function.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first head related transfer function and the first pre-processed signal have a same functional dependence on the corresponding first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients, respectively.

4 . A hearing system, comprising:
a first hearing device having at least a first reference microphone and a first auxiliary microphone; a second hearing device having at least a plurality of second microphones; a controller with at least one signal processor; and wherein the hearing system is configured to perform the method according to claim 1 .

5 . The hearing system according to claim 4 , wherein the hearing system is configured as a binaural hearing system, wherein said first hearing device and said second hearing device are configured to be worn by the user on and/or at different ears during operation of said binaural hearing system.

6 . A method for operating a hearing system, the hearing system having a first hearing device and a second hearing device, the first hearing device having at least a first reference microphone and a first auxiliary microphone, and the second hearing device having a plurality of second microphones, which comprises the following steps:
performing, via the first hearing device, the substeps of:
generating a first reference signal and a first auxiliary signal from an environment sound via the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone, respectively;
generating a first pre-processed signal by applying a direction-sensitive pre-processing to the first reference signal and the first auxiliary signal, by means of corresponding first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients, respectively;
providing for the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone, a first reference head related transfer function and a first auxiliary head related transfer function, being representative of a propagation of a generic sound signal from a given angle towards the first reference microphone and the first auxiliary microphone when the first hearing device is mounted on a head of a user; and
deriving a first head related transfer function, representative of the propagation of the generic sound signal from the given angle towards the first hearing device when the first hearing device is mounted on the head of the user, from the corresponding first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients and from the first reference and auxiliary head related transfer functions;
performing, via the second hearing device, the substeps of:
generating a second pre-processed signal by means of the plurality of second microphones, the second pre-processed signal being representative of the environment sound;
providing a second position related transfer function, representative of the propagation of the generic sound signal from the given angle towards the second hearing device when the second hearing device is mounted at a specific location; and
performing a direction-sensitive signal processing task on the first pre-processed signal and the second pre-processed signal, using the first head related transfer function and the second position related transfer function for the direction-sensitive signal p

Assignees

• Sivantos Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Kamkar-Parsi Homayoun
• Bouchard Martin
• As'Ad Hala

Classifications

• H04R2430/23

  Direction finding using a sum-delay beam-former · CPC title

• H04R2225/43

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

• H04R25/552

  Binaural · CPC title

• H04R25/407

  Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers · CPC title

• H04R25/405 Primary

  by combining a plurality of transducers · CPC title