Hearing system and transmission method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9570089-B2
Application number	US-201314431871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2013
Priority date	Sep 27, 2012
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A hearing system for improving intelligibility during the holding of a telephone conversation, includes a receiving device for receiving a first signal having first acoustic information and converting the first signal into electrical signals having the first acoustic information, a signal processing device for processing the electrical signals having the first acoustic information into electrical signals having second acoustic information, and an output device for outputting a second signal having the second acoustic information. A method for improving intelligibility during the holding of a telephone conversation using a hearing system is also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hearing system for improving intelligibility during the holding of a telephone conversation, the hearing system comprising:
a receiving device for receiving a first signal having first acoustic information and for converting the first signal into electrical signals having the first acoustic information;
a recognition device configured to recognize that the first signal is a signal of a telephone conversation and to output a recognition signal;
a signal processing device for processing the electrical signals having the first acoustic information into electrical signals having second acoustic information, said signal processing device being configured to perform an artificial bandwidth extension of the first signal by supplementing the first acoustic information with reference to a model of a source of the first signal by acoustic information with missing frequency components to form the second acoustic information, and said signal processing device being configured to carry out the artificial bandwidth extension when the recognition signal is present; and
an output device for outputting a second signal having the second acoustic information.

2. The hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein said receiving device is a microphone that converts sound into electrical signals.

3. The hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein said receiving device is a receiving device for electromagnetic fields, the first signal includes electromagnetic fields and said receiving device is configured to convert the electromagnetic fields having the first acoustic information into electrical signals having the first acoustic information.

4. The hearing system according to claim 3 , wherein said receiving device is an induction coil configured to receive alternating electromagnetic fields of a telephone device having acoustic information.

5. The hearing system according to claim 3 , wherein said receiving device is configured to receive first signals according to the Bluetooth standard and to convert the first signals into electrical signals having the first acoustic information.

6. The hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein said output device is one of two output devices each outputting the second signal having the second acoustic information for a respective ear of a wearer.

7. The hearing system according to claim 1 , which further comprises a transmission device for a wireless transmission of the second signal between said signal processing device and said output device.

8. The hearing system according to claim 7 , wherein said signal processing device and said output device have separate housings and separate energy sources.

9. A method for improving intelligibility during the holding of a telephone conversation using a hearing system, the method comprising the following steps:
providing a receiving device, a signal processing device, a recognition device, an output device and an energy source;
receiving a first signal having first acoustic information and converting the first signal into electrical signals having the first acoustic information using the receiving device;
using the recognition device to recognize that the first signal is a signal of a telephone conversation and to output a recognition signal;
processing the electrical signals having the first acoustic information into electrical signals having second acoustic information using the signal processing device, carrying out the processing of the electrical signals by performing an artificial bandwidth extension of the first signal by supplementing the first acoustic information with reference to a model of a source of the first signal by acoustic information with missing frequency components to form the second acoustic information, and using the signal processing device to carry out the artificial bandwidth extension when the recognition signal is present; and
outputting a second signal having the second acoustic information using the output device.

Assignees

• Sivantos Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Bauer Patrick
• Fingscheidt Tim
• Fischer Rosa-Linde
• Puder Henning

Classifications

• G10L21/038 Primary

  using band spreading techniques · CPC title

• H04R2205/041

  Adaptation of stereophonic signal reproduction for the hearing impaired · CPC title

• H04R2225/55

  Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange · CPC title

• H04R2225/43

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

• H04R25/554

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title