EP1458216B1 - Appareil et procédé à l'adaption de microphones dans une prothèse auditive - Google Patents

Appareil et procédé à l'adaption de microphones dans une prothèse auditive Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1458216B1
EP1458216B1 EP04003637A EP04003637A EP1458216B1 EP 1458216 B1 EP1458216 B1 EP 1458216B1 EP 04003637 A EP04003637 A EP 04003637A EP 04003637 A EP04003637 A EP 04003637A EP 1458216 B1 EP1458216 B1 EP 1458216B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
microphone
microphones
amplitude
output signal
polynomial
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP04003637A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP1458216A2 (fr
EP1458216A3 (fr
Inventor
Georg-Erwin Arndt
Joachim Dr. Eggers
Thomas Hanses
Torsten Dr. Niederdränk
Hartmut Ritter
Gunter Sauer
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Sivantos GmbH
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Siemens Audioligische Technik GmbH
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Publication of EP1458216A2 publication Critical patent/EP1458216A2/fr
Publication of EP1458216A3 publication Critical patent/EP1458216A3/fr
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Publication of EP1458216B1 publication Critical patent/EP1458216B1/fr
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R29/00—Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements
    • H04R29/004—Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements for microphones
    • H04R29/005—Microphone arrays
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
    • H04R25/40—Arrangements for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic
    • H04R25/407—Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method for the mutual adaptation of a plurality of microphones of a hearing device. Moreover, the present invention relates to a corresponding device for adapting the microphones.
  • Hearing impaired people often suffer from a reduced ability to communicate in noise.
  • To improve the signal / noise ratio directional microphone arrays have been used for some time, the benefits to the hearing impaired is undisputed.
  • either first-order systems i. H. used with two microphones, or higher order.
  • the exclusion of backward received interference signals as well as the focus on frontally incident sounds facilitate a better understanding in everyday situations.
  • Directional microphones are sensitive to detuning of the transfer functions of the microphones by amount and phase.
  • the sensitivity to moods increases with the order of the directional microphone system and with decreasing frequency. At low frequencies, such directional microphone systems are the most sensitive.
  • a microphone at low frequencies can be determined by a first order high pass.
  • FIG. 1 Characterize a first microphone 1 by a high pass with the transfer function s / s-pol_ac1.
  • the microphone 1 receives a first input signal 2.
  • This filtered with the high-pass filter of the microphone 1 input signal 2 is converted by means of a first compensation filter 3 in a first microphone output signal 4.
  • the Compensation filter 3 has the transfer function s-pol_ac1 / s-pol_ideal. Both numerator and denominator can be represented as polynomial.
  • the numerator polynomial of the compensation filter 3 is chosen to correspond to the denominator polynomial of the high-pass acoustic impedance of the microphone 1.
  • the denominator polynomial of the compensation filter 3 corresponds to the denominator polynomial of the high pass of an ideal microphone.
  • the specific high-pass with the transfer function s / s-pol_ac2 of the second microphone 5 is compensated by a second compensation filter 6 with the transfer function s-pol_ac2 / s-pol_ideal, so that a corresponding second microphone output signal 8 is formed from the second microphone input signal 7.
  • the denominator polynomial of the high-pass filter 5 is eliminated by the numerator polynomial of the second compensation filter 6.
  • a processor of the hearing aid is capable of determining a difference in mean signal levels of two input signals. From this and with the aid of IIR or FIR filters, the frequency response of a channel can be corrected. Optionally, processing takes place in a frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 kHz.
  • FIG. 1 A temporally averaged view of the input levels at the microphones can be drawn on the input sensitivity of the microphones. Assuming that the incident switching signals are received by all microphones with a time delay but at almost the same level, the amplitude of the input sensitivities can be adjusted by adjusting the average input levels at the microphones.
  • the object of the present invention is to simplify the compensation of microphone differences in hearing aids.
  • this object is achieved according to claim 1 by a method for mutual adaptation of a plurality of microphones of a hearing aid, by measuring a first amplitude of a first output signal from a first of the plurality of microphones in a predetermined frequency range, measuring a second amplitude of a second output signal from a second one of the plurality Microphones in the predetermined frequency range and filtering the first output signal in response to the first amplitude and the second amplitude, so that the difference between the two output signals is reduced.
  • the filtering is done by multiplying by a denominator and counter polynomial, but only the numerator polynomial is varied by a closed-loop control.
  • the predetermined frequency range for measuring the amplitudes of the two output signals of the microphones corresponds to several frequency bands below 150 Hz.
  • the frequency band is between 40 and 60 Hz or 80 to 120 Hz. This is the range in which there are differences in the cutoff frequency of the high-pass filters make the microphones particularly noticeable.
  • FIG. 1 can be dispensed with by the invention to a compensation filter in a microphone path, the reference path.
  • Each compensation filter is thus contained in each path except the reference path. This means that, for example, with three microphones in two microphone paths, a compensation filter is to be provided, while the third microphone path is used as the reference path.
  • the filtering may be adjusted by a control loop so that the first and second amplitudes correspond to each other. This makes it possible to change the timing of the transfer function the microphones, for example, by pollution or aging effectively counter.
  • the compensation filtering can be divided into two sub-filters.
  • a first partial filtering is realized by a denominator polynomial that models the high-pass frequency of the reference path.
  • a second sub-filter is realized by a counter polynomial adapted to minimize the average level difference between the microphone paths.
  • the adaptation takes place by amount formation of the signals, whereby a phase dependence is eliminated. This can be dispensed with a unit such as the above-mentioned "acoustical delay compensation" block.
  • the coefficients of the counter polynomial depend only on a single parameter. This leads to a low effort in the adaptation. If only the counter polynomial is adaptable, this will in principle not lead to identically identical microphone signals, since there may be an error between the characteristic of the reference microphone and the filter effect described in the denominator polynomial. However, the effect of this good approximate solution is sufficient to significantly improve the directivity with minimal effort.
  • the amount and / or phase of the first output signal can be modified by the filtering. This can be used to improve the directional microphone setting.
  • the aim is to match the two or more microphones in their electrical and acoustic behavior to each other.
  • Each microphone can be described in the low-frequency range by a characteristic acoustic high pass whose corner frequency is about 50 Hz and a high-voltage electrical pass whose corner frequency is about 100 Hz. Both the acoustic and electrical high passes of the plurality of hearing aid microphones are slightly different and can be adapted to each other in the following manner.
  • a compensation according to the invention of the microphone differences is that first as in the prior art according to FIG. 1 the microphone input signal 2 is filtered with an acoustic high pass 1 of the first microphone 1 with the transfer function s / s-pol_ac1.
  • the subsequent compensation filter 3 has the transfer function s-pol_ac1 / s-pol_ac2.
  • the second microphone path which is in FIG. 2 below is taken into account.
  • the signal 7 of a reference microphone 5 is subjected to high-pass filtering in accordance with the transfer function s / s-pol_ac2.
  • the denominator polynomial of the second high-pass acoustic pass of the second microphone 5 is used to normalize the compensation filter 3 'in the first microphone path.
  • the compensation filter 3 'does not have to be normalized to an ideal microphone in order to obtain the first microphone output signal 4.
  • In the second microphone path can be dispensed with a compensation filter to obtain the second microphone output signal 8.
  • the compensation filter 3 ' has a transfer function with a counter polynomial s-pol_ac1 and a denominator polynomial s-pol_ac2. With simplified compensation, only the numerator and not the denominator and the counter are adjusted.
  • the denominator of the compensation filter 3 ' is set at a nominal frequency. In the acoustic case the nominal frequency is 50 Hz and in the electrical case 100 Hz. However, with this fixed nominal frequency only approximate compensation is possible. This approximate compensation is, as mentioned, sufficiently good, for example, to improve the directivity of a directional microphone.
  • the functions p 1 and p 0 and the parameter q 0 result from the above-mentioned European Patent Application EP 0982971 A2 ,
  • the variable z represents the frequency variable of the microphone input signal.
  • the parameter Xp corresponds to a manipulated variable of the compensation filter.
  • the denominator can not be varied in this simplified approach.
  • FIG. 3 An implementation for adapting the high pass of a microphone according to the first embodiment, in which the denominator of the transfer function of the compensation filter is fixed, is in FIG FIG. 3 shown as a block diagram.
  • the input unit forms the compensation filter 3 ', which is already in connection with FIG. 2 was explained.
  • Input signal here is the signal 2 of a first microphone, in contrast to FIG. 2 on the playback of an acoustic high pass, which represents the microphone has been omitted.
  • Output signal of the compensation filter 3 ' which performs the low-frequency microphone matching in the present case of the acoustic high-pass at 50 Hz, in turn, the signal 4.
  • This is a multiplication unit 10, in which the signal with a corresponding compensation factor 11 broadband corrected in amplitude can be.
  • a frequency range between 40 and 60 Hz is cut out of the output signal of the multiplication unit 10 and fed to a level meter 13. There, the level of the frequency range to be analyzed determined from the signal of the first microphone 2.
  • a bandpass 14 also cuts out the frequency range between 40 and 60 Hz from the output signal of the microphone and also delivers the filtered signal to a level meter 15.
  • the levels measured by the level meters 13 and 15 are subtracted from each other and the resulting level difference is made available to an updating unit for updating the Xp variable.
  • an update of the Xp value should only take place if the microphone signals have a correspondingly high level.
  • the microphone levels are applied to an input level sensing block 18 which generates an enable Xp signal when both signal levels exceed a certain threshold. This can be prevented that in cases where there are no acoustic input signals but only microphone noise, a microphone adaptation takes place. The enable-Xp signal is therefore looped to the Xp update block.
  • the value Xp, optionally updated in block 17, is now provided to the compensation filter 3 'to complete the control loop.
  • the determination of the Xp value and thus the adaptation of the microphones to each other in the Xp update block 17 can be carried out by a (N) LMS algorithm (Normalized Leased Meansquare), wherein an "acoustical delay" block is necessary.
  • FIG. 4 a circuit diagram of an improved version of a matching circuit is shown.
  • the essential structure corresponds to that of FIG. 3 , wherein the corresponding function blocks perform substantially the same functions.
  • Only the compensation filter, which is also designated by the reference numeral 3 ', has a further signal input, with which also the denominator polynomial can be changed via the variable X q .
  • the output signal of the input level query block 18, with which it is determined whether the two microphone signals have a sufficiently high level is forwarded to a switch 19.
  • This switch 19 alternately generates an enable-X q signal and an enable-X p signal in time if it receives an enable-X p -X q signal from block 18.
  • Xq update block 20 is therefore provided for changing or updating the X q -value here.
  • the switch 19 outputs an enable-X q signal, the X q value is changed in accordance with the level difference from the subtractor 16. Otherwise, if the switch 19 outputs an enable-signal X p, X p value is changed in the X p -Update block 17 corresponding to the level difference.
  • the level difference is less than 0, the X p or X q value in one direction and when the level difference is greater than 0 are changed in the corresponding other direction.
  • the compensation filter 3 'receives the modified or updated X p and X q values as manipulated variables.
  • the different high-pass frequencies of the microphones in a narrow frequency range around the corner frequencies mean different average output levels of the two microphone signals. This means that the level difference depends directly on the difference between the corner frequencies. To adapt the corner frequencies, therefore, simply the difference of the level is formed (power difference).
  • the total distance of a directional microphone from the microphone input to the output is often described at low frequencies with other first-order high-passes.
  • the microphone still has a first order electrical high pass with a corner frequency of about 180 Hz.
  • Another high pass results from a coupling capacitor and input resistance of an IC input stage.

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Neurosurgery (AREA)
  • Circuit For Audible Band Transducer (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Mechanical Vibrations Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
  • Details Of Audible-Bandwidth Transducers (AREA)
  • Transmitters (AREA)

Claims (6)

  1. Procédé d'adaptation mutuelle de plusieurs microphones (1, 5) d'une prothèse auditive par
    - mesure (13) d'une première amplitude d'un premier signal de sortie d'un premier des plusieurs microphones (1) dans une plage (12) de fréquences prescrite,
    - mesure (15) d'une deuxième amplitude d'un deuxième signal de sortie d'un deuxième des plusieurs microphones (5) dans une plage (14) de fréquences prescrite et
    - filtrage (3') du premier signal de sortie en fonction de la première amplitude et de la deuxième amplitude, de manière à réduire la différence (16) entre les deux signaux de sortie,
    caractérisé en ce que
    - on effectue le filtrage (3') par multiplication par un polynôme dénominateur et par un polynôme numérateur,
    - on fait varier exclusivement le polynôme numérateur par une régulation et
    - la plage (12, 14) de fréquences prescrite est constituée d'une première bande de fréquences entre 40 et 60 Hz et d'une deuxième bande de fréquences entre 80 et 120 Hz.
  2. Procédé suivant la revendication 1, dans lequel on adapte des paramètres de filtrage (3') dans une boucle de régulation, de manière à ce que la première et la deuxième amplitude se correspondent.
  3. Procédé suivant la revendication 1 ou 2, dans lequel on modifie la valeur absolue et/ou la phase du premier signal de sortie par filtrage.
  4. Dispositif d'adaptation mutuelle de plusieurs microphones (1, 5) d'une prothèse auditive comprenant
    - un premier dispositif (13) de mesure d'une première amplitude d'un premier signal de sortie d'un premier des plusieurs microphones (1) dans une plage (12) de fréquences prescrite,
    - un deuxième dispositif (15) de mesure d'une deuxième amplitude d'un deuxième signal de sortie d'un deuxième des plusieurs microphones (5) dans la plage (14) de fréquences prescrite et
    - un dispositif (3') de filtrage qui est raccordé au premier et au deuxième dispositif (13, 15) de mesure, pour filtrer le premier signal de sortie en fonction de la première amplitude et de la deuxième amplitude, de manière à pouvoir réduire la différence (16) entre les deux signaux de sortie,
    caractérisé en ce que
    - le dispositif (3') de filtrage peut être modellé par un polynôme dénominateur et par un polynôme numérateur,
    - un dispositif de régulation est raccordé au dispositif de filtrage, dispositif par lequel exclusivement le polynôme numérateur peut être modifié, et
    - la plage (12, 14) de fréquences prescrite est constituée d'une première bande de fréquences entre 40 et 60 Hz et d'une deuxième bande de fréquences entre 80 et 120 Hz.
  5. Dispositif suivant la revendication 4, dans lequel le dispositif (3') de filtrage peut être adapté dans une boucle de régulation, de manière à ce que la première et la deuxième amplitude se correspondent.
  6. Dispositif suivant la revendication 4 ou 5, dans lequel la valeur absolue et/ou la phase du premier signal de sortie peut être modifiée par le dispositif de filtrage.
EP04003637A 2003-03-11 2004-02-18 Appareil et procédé à l'adaption de microphones dans une prothèse auditive Expired - Lifetime EP1458216B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE10310580 2003-03-11
DE10310580A DE10310580A1 (de) 2003-03-11 2003-03-11 Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Adaption von Hörgerätemikrofonen

Publications (3)

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EP1458216A2 EP1458216A2 (fr) 2004-09-15
EP1458216A3 EP1458216A3 (fr) 2005-12-14
EP1458216B1 true EP1458216B1 (fr) 2008-08-06

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EP04003637A Expired - Lifetime EP1458216B1 (fr) 2003-03-11 2004-02-18 Appareil et procédé à l'adaption de microphones dans une prothèse auditive

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US (1) US7254245B2 (fr)
EP (1) EP1458216B1 (fr)
AT (1) ATE404032T1 (fr)
DE (2) DE10310580A1 (fr)
DK (1) DK1458216T3 (fr)

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DK200401280A (da) * 2004-08-24 2006-02-25 Oticon As Lavfrekvens fase matchning til mikrofoner
JP4643651B2 (ja) 2004-10-19 2011-03-02 ヴェーデクス・アクティーセルスカプ 補聴器における適応的マイクロホン整合システムおよび方法
EP1773098B1 (fr) 2005-10-06 2012-12-12 Oticon A/S Un système et une méthode pour adapter des microphones
US8031881B2 (en) 2007-09-18 2011-10-04 Starkey Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for microphone matching for wearable directional hearing device using wearer's own voice
US8374362B2 (en) 2008-01-31 2013-02-12 Qualcomm Incorporated Signaling microphone covering to the user
US9838783B2 (en) * 2015-10-22 2017-12-05 Cirrus Logic, Inc. Adaptive phase-distortionless magnitude response equalization (MRE) for beamforming applications
WO2019134115A1 (fr) * 2018-01-05 2019-07-11 万魔声学科技有限公司 Procédé et appareil de réduction active de bruit, et écouteurs
US11070907B2 (en) 2019-04-25 2021-07-20 Khaled Shami Signal matching method and device
DE102020200553B3 (de) * 2020-01-17 2021-05-12 Sivantos Pte. Ltd. Verfahren zur Abstimmung der jeweiligen Phasengänge eines ersten Mikrofones und eines zweiten Mikrofons

Family Cites Families (11)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5402496A (en) * 1992-07-13 1995-03-28 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company Auditory prosthesis, noise suppression apparatus and feedback suppression apparatus having focused adaptive filtering
US5550923A (en) * 1994-09-02 1996-08-27 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company Directional ear device with adaptive bandwidth and gain control
DE19810043A1 (de) * 1998-03-09 1999-09-23 Siemens Audiologische Technik Hörgerät mit einem Richtmikrofon-System
DE19814180C1 (de) 1998-03-30 1999-10-07 Siemens Audiologische Technik Digitales Hörgerät sowie Verfahren zur Erzeugung einer variablen Richtmikrofoncharakteristik
US6654468B1 (en) * 1998-08-25 2003-11-25 Knowles Electronics, Llc Apparatus and method for matching the response of microphones in magnitude and phase
DE19849739C2 (de) * 1998-10-28 2001-05-31 Siemens Audiologische Technik Adaptives Verfahren zur Korrektur der Mikrofone eines Richtmikrofonsystems in einem Hörgerät sowie Hörgerät
DE19918883C1 (de) * 1999-04-26 2000-11-30 Siemens Audiologische Technik Hörhilfegerät mit Richtmikrofoncharakteristik
DE19927278C1 (de) * 1999-06-15 2000-12-14 Siemens Audiologische Technik Verfahren zum Anpassen eines Hörhilfegeräts sowie Hörhilfegerät
ATE242588T1 (de) * 1999-08-03 2003-06-15 Widex As Hörgerät mit adaptiver anpassung von mikrofonen
DE19955156A1 (de) * 1999-11-17 2001-06-21 Univ Karlsruhe Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Unterdrückung eines Störsignalanteils im Ausgangssignal eines Schallwandlermittels
US7027607B2 (en) * 2000-09-22 2006-04-11 Gn Resound A/S Hearing aid with adaptive microphone matching

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE10310580A1 (de) 2004-10-07
US7254245B2 (en) 2007-08-07
DE502004007757D1 (de) 2008-09-18
EP1458216A2 (fr) 2004-09-15
DK1458216T3 (da) 2008-11-24
EP1458216A3 (fr) 2005-12-14
US20040228495A1 (en) 2004-11-18
ATE404032T1 (de) 2008-08-15

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