Patent · US Active

Hearing device comprising a GSC beamformer

US9635473B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
0References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 16, 2015
Grant dateApr 25, 2017
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 16, 2035

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04R2430/25
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The application relates to a hearing device comprising a beamformer of the generalized sidelobe canceler (GSC) type. The application further relates to a method of operating a hearing device. The disclosure addresses a problem which occurs when using a GSC structure in a hearing device application. The problem arises due to a non-ideal target-cancelling beamformer. As a consequence, a target signal impinging from the look direction can—unintentionally—be attenuated by as much as 30 dB. To resolve this problem, it is proposed to monitor the difference between the output signals from the all-pass beamformer and the target-cancelling beamformer to control a time-varying regularization parameter in the GSC update. This has the advantage of providing a computationally simple solution to the non-ideality of the GSC beamformer. The invention may e.g. be used in hearing aids, headsets, ear phones, active ear protection systems, or combinations thereof.

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