Hearing device and a hearing system configured to localize a sound source
US9980055B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 11, 2016 |
| Grant date | May 22, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 11, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04R2420/01
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The problem of estimating the direction to one or more sound sources of interest relative to a user wearing a pair of hearing devices, e.g. hearing aids, is dealt with. A target signal is generated by a target signal source and transmitted through an acoustic channel to a microphone of a hearing system. Due to additive environmental noise, a noisy acoustic signal is received at the microphones of the hearing system. An essentially noise-free version of the target signal is transmitted to the hearing devices of the hearing system via a wireless connection. Each of the hearing devices comprises a signal processing unit comprising a sound propagation model of the acoustic propagation channel from the target sound source to the hearing device when worn by the user. The sound propagation model is configured to be used for estimating a direction-of-arrival of the target sound signal relative to the user.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.