Method for remote fitting of a hearing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9398386-B2
Application number	US-201113984357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2011
Priority date	Feb 9, 2011
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

The present invention proposes two alternative methods for remote fitting of one or two hearing devices ( 5, 5 ′), i.e. where a hearing device fitter ( 1 ) located in a first room (R 1 ) provides remote support to a user ( 6 ) of the one or two hearing devices ( 5, 5 ′) located in a distant second room (R 2 ) in order to adjust the one or two hearing devices ( 5, 5 ′) to the individual needs of the user ( 6 ). According to a first method a voice rendering signal processing is applied to the fitter's voice, thus achieving that the fitter's voice is perceived by the user ( 6 ) as if the user ( 6 ) were at a virtual user location (L) in the first room (R 1 ) wearing the one or two hearing devices ( 5, 5 ′). The same is achieved according to a second, alternative method, wherein the fitter's voice is picked up by at least one or two microphones of one or two further hearing devices located at the virtual user location (L) at a first position (P 1 ) and/or at a second position (P 2 ).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fitting one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′), wherein a fitter ( 1 ) is in a first room (R 1 ) and a user ( 6 ) of said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′) is in a second room (R 2 ) being distant from said first room (R 1 ), and wherein in said first room (R 1 ) there is a virtual user location (L) at a distance (d) in a range of 0.5 m to 5 m from said fitter ( 1 ), said method comprising the steps of:
picking up a voice of said fitter ( 1 ) in said first room (R 1 );
transmitting said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) to said second room (R 2 ) via a communication network ( 4 );
applying a hearing loss compensating signal processing to said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) before or after said transmission thereby obtaining a hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 );
applying a voice rendering signal processing to the voice of said fitter ( 1 ) before or after said transmission and before or after said hearing loss compensating signal processing, said voice rendering signal processing comprising applying at least one transfer function selected from a multitude of transfer functions and rendering said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) such that it is perceived by said user ( 6 ) as if said user ( 6 ) were at said virtual user location (L) wearing said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′);
presenting said hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) to said user ( 6 ) in said second room (R 2 );
obtaining a feedback (FB) from said user ( 6 ), said feedback (FB) being indicative of how said hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) was perceived by said user ( 6 );
transmitting said feedback (FB) to said first room (R 1 ) via said communication network ( 4 ) and presenting said feedback (FB) to said fitter ( 1 );
obtaining an adjustment instruction (AI) from said fitter ( 1 );
adjusting said hearing loss compensating signal processing according to said adjustment instruction (AI);
repeating the preceding steps until said fitter ( 1 ) or said user ( 6 ) is satisfied with said hearing loss compensating signal processing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said picking up said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) is performed at a position (P 0 ) in close proximity to said fitter's mouth.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said picking up said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) is performed at said virtual user location (L) at a first position (P 1 ) where a first ear of said user ( 6 ) would be if said user ( 6 ) were present in said first room (R 1 ) at said virtual user location (L) or at a second position (P 2 ) where a second ear of said user ( 6 ) would be if said user ( 6 ) were present in said first room (R 1 ) at said virtual user location (L).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said picking up said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) is performed by at least one microphones ( 2 ′, 2 ″) at said first or second position (P 1 , P 2 ), the at least one microphones ( 2 ′, 2 ″) being located
in a free field,
on one or both sides of a Jecklin disk, or
at or in one or both ears of a dummy head ( 8 ).

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
measuring or calculating transfer functions for different hearing devices, acoustic couplings, distances (d) between fitter ( 1 ) and virtual user location (L) or room acoustics;
storing said transfer functions in a database;
providing data from said database for use in said voice rendering signal processing.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said step of measuring or calculating transfer functions comprises one or more of the following sub-steps:
measuring a microphone location effect;
estimating an attenuation for a particular distance (d) between fitter ( 1 ) and virtual user location (L);
measuring a room acoustics, in particular by measuring an impulse response.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′) each comprises a rear and a front microphone, wherein one of the following applies:
said voice rendering signal processing comprises generating a first signal which replaces a front microphone signal derived from said front microphone and a second signal which replaces a rear microphone signal derived from said rear microphone, wherein said hearing loss compensating signal processing comprises a beam-forming processing;
said hearing loss compensating signal processing is operated in an omni-directional mode which does not differentiate between said front and rear microphone signals, at least whenever said voice of said fitter is presented.

8. A method for fitting one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′), wherein a fitter ( 1 ) is in a first room (R 1 ) and a user ( 6 ) of said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′) is in a second room (R 2 ) being distant from said first room (R 1 ), and wherein in said first room (R 1 ) there is a virtual user location (L) at a distance (d) in a range of 0.5 m to 5 m from said fitter ( 1 ), said method comprising the steps of:
picking up a voice of said fitter ( 1 ) in said first room (R 1 ) by at least one microphone ( 2 ′, 2 ″) of one or two further hearing devices ( 11 , 11 ′) located at said virtual user location (L) at a first position (P 1 ) where a first of said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′) being worn by said user ( 6 ) would be if said user ( 6 ) were present in said first room (R 1 ) at said virtual user location (L) or at a second position (P 2 ) where a second of said one or two hearing devices ( 5 ′, 5 ) being worn by said user ( 6 ) would be if said user ( 6 ) were present in said first room (R 1 ) at said virtual user location (L);
transmitting said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) to said second room (R 2 ) via a communication network ( 4 );
applying a hearing loss compensating signal processing to said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) before or after said transmission thereby obtaining a hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 );
presenting said hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) to said user ( 6 ) in said second room (R 2 );
obtaining a feedback (FB) from said user ( 6 ), said feedback (FB) being indicative of how said hearing loss compensated version of said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) was perceived by said user ( 6 );
transmitting said feedback (FB) to said first room (R 1 ) via said communication network ( 4 ) and presenting said feedback (FB) to said fitter;
obtaining an adjustment instruction (AI) from said fitter ( 1 );
adjusting said hearing loss compensating signal processing according to said adjustment instruction (AI);
repeating the preceding steps until said fitter ( 1 ) or said user ( 6 ) is satisfied with said hearing loss compensating signal processing.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said one or two further hearing devices ( 11 , 11 ′) are at said first or second position (P 1 , P 2 ) located
in a free field,
on one or both sides of a Jecklin disk, or
at or in one or both ears of a dummy head ( 8 ).

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein said one or two hearing devices ( 5 , 5 ′) each comprises a front and a rear microphone, wherein one of the following applies:
said one or two further hearing devices ( 11 , 11 ′) each comprises a front and a rear microphone by which said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) is picked up, wherein said hearing loss compensating signal processing comprises a beam-forming processing;
said one or two further hearing devices ( 11 , 11 ′) each comprises only one microphone by which said voice of said fitter ( 1 ) is picked up, wherein a front and a rear microphone signal is simulated by an appropriate filtering, wherein said hearing loss compensating signal process

Assignees

• Boretzki Michael
• Krueger Harald
• Launer Stefan
• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• Boretzki Michael
• Krueger Harald
• Launer Stefan

Classifications

• H04R25/70 Primary

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

• H04R25/30

  Monitoring or testing of hearing aids, e.g. functioning, settings, battery power · CPC title