Programmable digital hearing aid system
US4731850A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 26, 1986 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 26, 2006 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04R2225/43
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A hearing aid system comprises a hearing aid that is programmable so as to have optimum electro-acoustic characteristics for the patient and acoustic environment in which it is used. Selected optimum parameter values are programmed into an electronically erasable, programmable read only memory (EEPROM) which supplies coefficients to a programmable filter and amplitude limiter in the hearing aid so as to cause the hearing aid to adjust automatically to the optimum set of parameter values for the speech level, room reverberation, and type of background noise then obtaining. The programmable filter may be a digital equivalent of a tapped delay line in which each delayed sample is multiplied by a weighting coefficient and the sum of the weighted samples generates a desired electro-acoustic characteristic. Alternatively, the programmable filter may be a tapped analog delay line in which the sum of the weighted outputs of the taps generates the desired characteristics. Acoustical feedback is reduced by an electrical feedback path in the hearing aid which is matched in both amplitude and phase to the acoustic feedback path, the two feedback signals being subtracted so as to cancel each ot…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.