Patent · US Expired

Hearing aid having improved speech intelligibility due to frequency-selective signal processing, and method for operating same

US6768801B1 · kind B1 · utility

12Cited by

8References

9Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft · DE

Inventors

Frank Wagner · Reiskirchen, DE
Fred Zoels · Wörth an der Donau, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Mar 12, 2001
Grant date	Jul 27, 2004
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Mar 12, 2021

Classification

Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
CPC primaryH04R2225/43
WIPO fieldComputer technology
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In a hearing aid having a microphone and an earphone with a signal processing unit connected therebetween, and a method for operating such a hearing aid, a filter element in the signal processing unit splits the signal from the microphone into a number of partial signals, and each of the partial signals is analyzed, to determine whether they respectively contain speech information, by comparing the magnitude of the envelope of the partial signal to the average value of the partial signal. For any partial signal having an envelope magnitude which exceeds the average value, the analysis unit operates an amplification stage to amplify that partial signal before it proceeds to the earphone.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.