EP3104627B1 - Method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system - Google Patents

Method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3104627B1
EP3104627B1 EP16170741.9A EP16170741A EP3104627B1 EP 3104627 B1 EP3104627 B1 EP 3104627B1 EP 16170741 A EP16170741 A EP 16170741A EP 3104627 B1 EP3104627 B1 EP 3104627B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
user
directional
directional characteristic
signal
sound
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EP16170741.9A
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German (de)
French (fr)
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EP3104627C0 (en
EP3104627A1 (en
Inventor
Homayoun KAMKAR-PARSI
Marko Lugger
Tobias Daniel Rosenkranz
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Sivantos Pte Ltd
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Sivantos Pte Ltd
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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
    • H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
    • H04R25/55—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception using an external connection, either wireless or wired
    • H04R25/552—Binaural
    • 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
    • H04R25/405—Arrangements for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic by combining a plurality of transducers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/20—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics
    • H04R1/32—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired directional characteristic only
    • H04R1/40—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired directional characteristic only by combining a number of identical transducers
    • H04R1/403—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired directional characteristic only by combining a number of identical transducers loud-speakers
    • 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
    • H04R25/30—Monitoring or testing of hearing aids, e.g. functioning, settings, battery power
    • H04R25/305—Self-monitoring or self-testing
    • 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
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R3/00—Circuits for transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R3/005—Circuits for transducers, loudspeakers or microphones for combining the signals of two or more microphones
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
    • G10L25/00—Speech or voice analysis techniques not restricted to a single one of groups G10L15/00 - G10L21/00
    • G10L25/78—Detection of presence or absence of voice signals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2225/00—Details of deaf aids covered by H04R25/00, not provided for in any of its subgroups
    • H04R2225/41—Detection or adaptation of hearing aid parameters or programs to listening situation, e.g. pub, forest
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2225/00—Details of deaf aids covered by H04R25/00, not provided for in any of its subgroups
    • H04R2225/43—Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system.
  • the user's perception of their own voice plays a particularly important role, since the subjective perception of their own voice, as perceived when wearing the hearing aid, significantly influences the user's acceptance of a hearing aid.
  • the perception of one's own voice is influenced on the one hand by the signal path of the hearing aid device, i.e. via a recording of the voice by the microphone system, a corresponding signal processing of the microphone signal in the hearing aid device and a playback by the loudspeaker or generally the electro-acoustic transducer of the hearing aid device, whereby the sound generated is delivered directly to the user's hearing.
  • a sound conductor intended for this supply be it an earpiece of a "Behind-The-Ear” instrument (BTE) or be it the output of an "In-The-Ear” or “Completely-In-the-Canal".
  • "-Instruments (ITE or CIC) usually largely close the ear canal, which can lead to an occlusion effect when the user speaks. This is primarily caused by sound waves from your own voice, which pass through Structure-borne sound transmission is primarily conducted via the jawbone to the ear canal and cannot escape to the outside due to the closure of the ear canal, which means that one's own voice is perceived as muffled when speaking.
  • a hearing device and a corresponding method for self-voice detection are disclosed.
  • a first microphone is provided for recording ambient sound and a second microphone for recording ear canal sound. From a comparison of the signals from the first microphone and the second microphone, it is concluded that the user of the hearing aid is speaking or that their own voice is present. If the presence of your own voice is detected, a directional microphone in particular is deactivated. In this way, the directional microphone is operated without interference, since the directional microphone would always be aligned undesirably to the frontal direction if one's own voice was present.
  • a hearing device which comprises at least two independent analysis devices, each of which is designed to obtain speech activity data based on a received audio signal, which is dependent on the speaker activity of the wearer of the hearing device.
  • a fusion device is designed to receive the voice activity data from the analysis devices and, based on the voice activity data, to recognize whether the wearer is currently speaking or not.
  • the US 2007/098192 A1 describes a method for operating a hearing aid in which, during the wearer's own speech activity, a directional characteristic of the microphones is adjusted in such a way that sound signals from the near field generally experience a significant attenuation, while the directivity for sound signals from the far field is maintained as unchanged as possible.
  • the aim of this is to ensure that the wearer's own speech signal is suppressed without affecting the other person's contribution to a conversation.
  • the EP 2 381 702 A2 teaches, for a hearing aid in which a directional cone is automatically aligned with vocal activity to amplify and improve the signal-to-noise ratio, to suppress or cancel such alignment when the voice is identified as the wearer's own voice.
  • the invention is based on the object of specifying a method which is intended to improve the sound of a recording signal in a hearing system during vocal activity for further processing as simply and efficiently as possible, particularly with regard to perception by a user.
  • the recording signal is to be understood as the signal into which the first signal from the first directional microphone, into which sound from the environment is converted with the spatial sensitivity specified by the set directional characteristic, is received for further signal processing.
  • the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic is here to be understood as the spatial direction in which the first directional microphone in this case has the greatest sensitivity, that is to say that in the case of a sound with a constant level that strikes the first directional microphone from different directions, upon impact The strongest signal level in the first signal is generated from the preferred direction.
  • the first directional characteristic preferably has axial or mirror symmetry, with the preferred direction lying on the axis of symmetry or in the plane of symmetry.
  • the frontal direction of the user is defined by the direction of view of his head, which runs parallel to the plane of symmetry of the head.
  • the first directional characteristic can be set in relation to the frontal direction of the user.
  • the first directional characteristic can preferably have a monotonous decrease in sound sensitivity in an angular range around the preferred direction, so that when adjusted by increasing the angle between the preferred direction and the frontal direction in the frontal direction, the attenuation of the sound sensitivity is achieved.
  • the invention is initially based on the consideration that any regulation or correction of the user's own voice in the recording signal, which is only carried out via the AGC or by adjusting the parameters for the compression, also has an impact on the perception of sound from the environment .
  • any regulation or correction of the user's own voice in the recording signal which is only carried out via the AGC or by adjusting the parameters for the compression, also has an impact on the perception of sound from the environment .
  • the user's own vocal activity could sometimes coincide with a useful signal formed by the speech of one of the conversation partners, this would result in rapid changes in the volume and/or dynamics of the useful signal formed by the speech of the conversation partner, as well as for the sound from the surrounding area.
  • the invention now makes use of the empirically detectable fact that due to the diffraction of the sound that leaves the mouth during speech activity, the sound of the user's own voice, which the user perceives in one ear, is essentially perceived as coming from the frontal direction.
  • the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic By adjusting the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic relative to the frontal direction of the user, it can be achieved that a smaller proportion of the user's own speech is included in the recording signal. For a pleasant hearing experience of one's own speech, an attenuation of 6 dB to 10 dB in the signal path in relation to the signal processing of other useful signals is usually sufficient. If the first directional characteristic has a monotonous decrease in sound sensitivity away from the preferred direction, a moderate deviation of the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic from the frontal direction is sufficient to attenuate the user's recorded speech signal by 6 dB to 10 dB.
  • the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20°, preferably between 5° and 10°, relative to the frontal direction of the user.
  • adjusting the preferred direction in the specified angular range is usually sufficient to achieve a sufficient attenuation of the signal component of the user's own language in the recording signal.
  • the perception of background noise in the listening situation which has a certain directional dependency, such as music from a localizable loudspeaker at a distance of several meters, is not really influenced, which means that the adjustment is even less noticeable for a user becomes.
  • the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation with a directional main sound source, with the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user without detecting a speech activity of the user when a listening situation with a directional main sound source is detected.
  • a directional main sound source is a sound source that has a significant directional dependence in relation to the sound level of other signal components, and whose sound level in the direction of the maximum is significantly above the level of other signal components regardless of their spatial direction (for example a loudspeaker box or the like).
  • the frontal direction of the user which usually essentially corresponds to the direction of his gaze, can be determined by further analysis of the recording signal, or also by a presetting in the hearing aid be determined based on the orientation of the first directional microphone when the hearing aid is worn properly.
  • the acoustic resolution - i.e. the signal-to-noise ratio - is achieved by appropriately adjusting the directional characteristic by adjusting the preferred direction towards the main sound source.
  • the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation corresponding to a conversation, with the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user without detecting a speech activity of the user when a listening situation corresponding to a conversation is detected.
  • a listening situation corresponding to a conversation possibly with little directed background noise, is a particularly common case for a listening situation with a main sound source, which is here formed by a conversation partner. If such a listening situation is initially recognized, it is assumed that the user's line of sight is usually in the direction of the currently active conversation partner if he or she is not speaking and therefore no own speech activity is recognized.
  • the binaural hearing system comprises a further hearing aid, in particular a hearing aid, wherein the further hearing aid comprises a second directional microphone, wherein the second directional microphone converts sound into a second signal which is included in the recording signal, and wherein when speech activity is detected of the user, the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted relative to a frontal direction of the user in such a way that the second directional characteristic experiences an attenuation in the frontal direction.
  • the hearing system is designed as a binaural hearing system, in which a stereo playback signal is formed in particular from the recording signal, into which the first signal of the at least one hearing aid and the second signal of the further hearing aid are received, in such a way that to generate a first playback channel and of a second playback channel, signal components of both the first signal and the second signal are used.
  • a first playback channel can, on the one hand, only contain signal components of the first signal, the directional characteristic of which is influenced by the signal components of the second signal, or can directly contain signal components of the first signal and the second signal.
  • the user's own voice is perceived as coming from the frontal direction due to the lack of transit time difference in the signal components of the voice between the first signal and the second signal and is amplified accordingly.
  • the proposed method can reduce the signal components of the user's own voice in the recording signal particularly easily and without much effort in signal processing, with no noticeable changes in the signal level or in background noise recorded from the environment.
  • the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20°, preferably between 5° and 10°, relative to the frontal direction of the user.
  • the preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are expediently adjusted in the specified angular range.
  • adjusting the preferred direction in the specified angular range is usually sufficient to achieve a sufficient attenuation of the signal component of the user's own language in the recording signal.
  • the perception of background noise in the listening situation which has a certain directional dependency, such as music from a localizable loudspeaker at a distance of several meters, is not really influenced, which means that the adjustment is even less noticeable for a user becomes.
  • the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation corresponding to a conversation, with the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user when a conversation partner's speech activity is detected.
  • the preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are expediently aligned with the frontal direction of the user. Particularly in the case of a binaural hearing system with a rich spatial sound, particularly good intelligibility of the conversation partner's speech signal can be achieved in the hearing situation mentioned with little effort in signal processing.
  • the preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are adjusted relative to the frontal direction of the user in such a way that the preferred directions the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic, starting as vectors from the respective hearing aid, cross each other.
  • the adjustment is carried out symmetrically, that is, the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic and the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic are each adjusted inwards or towards each other by the same angular amount with respect to the frontal direction.
  • the signal component of the user's own voice which is included in the recording signal, is reduced via the shading effect that the head exerts on the sound of the voice when the directional characteristics are aligned accordingly.
  • the directional characteristics cross, sudden interjections from a conversation partner standing at the front can continue to be recorded almost unaffected.
  • the recording signal is broken down into a plurality of frequency bands, and when a speech activity of the user is detected, a preferred direction of the first directional characteristic and/or a preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted in at least one frequency band relative to the frontal direction of the user.
  • the directional characteristics only appear in those Frequency bands adjusted relative to the frontal direction, in which either an excessive signal component in the recording signal is perceived by the user as particularly unpleasant, or which have a particularly high directionality in the speech signal and are therefore particularly easy to influence by adjusting the directional characteristic, this can be done in the Signal processing of the other frequency bands save resources.
  • the invention further mentions a binaural hearing system with two hearing aids, in particular hearing aid devices, each of which has at least one directional microphone, which is set up to carry out the method described above.
  • the advantages stated for the method and its further developments can be transferred analogously to the binaural hearing system.
  • FIG. 1 A top view shows schematically a user 1 of a binaural hearing system 2, which includes two hearing aids 6, 7 designed as hearing aids 4, 5.
  • the left hearing aid 6 has a first directional microphone 8 with a first directional characteristic 10, which is symmetrical with respect to a preferred direction 12.
  • the right hearing aid 7 has a second directional microphone 14 with a second directional characteristic 16, which is symmetrical with respect to a preferred direction 18.
  • the hearing situation 20 of the user 1 of the binaural hearing system 2 is given by a conversation with conversation partners 22 to 26.
  • the current conversation situation is now such that the user 1 aligns his frontal direction 28 (which is given by the direction of vision of the head) towards the conversation partner 22 for better listening.
  • the interlocutor 22 is the main actor in the present conversation situation, and the other interlocutors 23 to 26 only make occasional objections, the preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 and the preferred direction 18 of the second directional characteristic 16 are aligned in the frontal direction 28 of the user 1 , whereby the speech signal of the conversation partner 22 can be perceived particularly well via the binaural hearing system 2.
  • Frontal perception is also due to the fact that the sound of one's own speech arrives at both ears without a difference in transit time, so that the symmetrical perception creates the sensation of a sound hitting frontally.
  • the directional characteristics 10, 16 of the two directional microphones 8, 14 of the binaural hearing system 2 are adjusted against the frontal direction 28 when the user 1 is speaking. This is in Fig. 2 shown.
  • the preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 is tilted slightly outwards with respect to the frontal direction 28 when the user 1 is speaking.
  • the directional characteristics 10, 16 form a type of channel 30 from the user 1 to the conversation partner 22, in which the sound sensitivity of the binaural hearing system 2 is reduced.
  • the sound 32 of the user 1's own language initially propagates in this channel 30 and is guided to the directional microphones 8, 14 by diffraction. Since the preferred directions 12, 18, which represent the direction with the greatest sound sensitivity for the directional characteristics 10, 16, are now adjusted relative to the frontal direction 28 of the user 1, the sound 32 of the user 1's own language experiences its input into a recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2 a slight attenuation.
  • FIG. 3 An inventive adjustment of the directional characteristics 10, 16 relative to the frontal direction 28 of the user 1 during one's own speech activity is shown schematically in a top view in Fig. 3 shown.
  • the first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 is not adjusted outwards, i.e. away from the frontal direction 28 of the user 1, but rather inwards "inwards” towards one another, so that the preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 crosses the frontal direction 28.
  • the attenuation of the signal component that enters a recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2 occurs primarily as a result of shadowing effects caused by the head of the user 1.
  • the directional characteristics 10, 16 are set so that the areas with particularly high sound sensitivity are already partially covered ("shadowed") by the user's head, so that the sound hitting the directional microphones 8, 14 from the front is also the user's own speech This causes the recording signal to be attenuated.
  • the variant shown here also has the advantage that the conversation partner 22 is still well detected by the directional characteristics 16, 10 of the directional microphones 8, 14, i.e.
  • the sound sensitivity of the directional microphones 8, 14 in an immediate environment of the conversation partner 22 is still good enough at a usual conversation distance of 0.5 to 1.5 m to include any spontaneous replies and/or interjections of the conversation partner 22 with a sufficiently high signal level in the recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2.
  • Fig. 4 the sequence of a method 40 for improving a recording signal 42 in a binaural hearing system 2 is shown in a block diagram.
  • the two directional microphones 8, 14 of the hearing aids 4, 5 generate a first signal 44 or a second signal 46 from a sound 43, which are included in the recording signal 42.
  • the recording signal 42 is broken down into a plurality of frequency bands 48 and monitored for a listening situation 20 corresponding to a conversation based on the sound levels in the frequency bands 48 and based on the correlations in the signal components of the frequency bands 48. If this hearing situation 20 is recognized, monitoring of the user's speech activity 50 is carried out in some frequency bands 48.
  • the first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 and the second directional characteristic 16 of the second directional microphone 14 are directed against the frontal direction of the user in the manner described above adjusted.
  • the directional characteristics 10, 16 are aligned in the frontal direction in the manner explained above. In particular, this can also be done depending on a recognized speech activity 54 of the conversation partner, i.e. the directional characteristics 10, 16 in the relevant frequency bands towards the frontal direction are only adjusted when the signal coming from the direction of the conversation partner 22 has a correspondingly appreciable level, so that speech activity 54 is thereby detected.
  • the recording signal 42 formed by the frequency bands 48 can now be further processed in accordance with the applications intended for the binaural hearing system 2.
  • the two hearing aids 6, 7 each include a substantially omnidirectional individual microphone 55 and 56 (see Fig. 4 ).
  • the two directional microphones 8, 14 are each formed by interconnecting the two individual microphones 55, 56 (illustrated by a dashed connecting line in Fig. 4 ), whereby the first directional characteristic 10 for the first hearing aid 6 and the second directional characteristic 16 for the second hearing aid 7 arise or result from separate signal processing of the signals from the first and second individual microphones 55 and 56, respectively.

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Neurosurgery (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Stereophonic System (AREA)
  • Circuit For Audible Band Transducer (AREA)
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Description

Die Erfindung betrifft ein Verfahren zur Verbesserung eines Aufnahmesignals in einem Hörsystem.The invention relates to a method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system.

Für ein Hörhilfegerät kommt der Wahrnehmung der eigenen Stimme durch den Benutzer eine besonders wichtige Rolle zu, da das subjektive Empfinden der eigenen Stimme, wie sie beim Tragen des Hörgeräts wahrgenommen wird, maßgeblich die Akzeptanz eines Hörhilfegeräts durch den Benutzer beeinflusst. Die Wahrnehmung der eigenen Stimme wird hierbei zum einen beeinflusst durch den Signalweg des Hörhilfegeräts, also über eine Aufnahme der Stimme durch das Mikrofonsystem, eine entsprechende Signalverarbeitung des Mikrofonsignals im Hörhilfegerät sowie eine Wiedergabe durch den Lautsprecher oder allgemein den elektro-akustischen Wandler des Hörhilfegeräts, wobei der erzeugte Schall direkt dem Gehör des Benutzers zugeführt wird.For a hearing aid, the user's perception of their own voice plays a particularly important role, since the subjective perception of their own voice, as perceived when wearing the hearing aid, significantly influences the user's acceptance of a hearing aid. The perception of one's own voice is influenced on the one hand by the signal path of the hearing aid device, i.e. via a recording of the voice by the microphone system, a corresponding signal processing of the microphone signal in the hearing aid device and a playback by the loudspeaker or generally the electro-acoustic transducer of the hearing aid device, whereby the sound generated is delivered directly to the user's hearing.

Zum anderen verursacht ein für dieses Zuführen vorgesehener Schallleiter - sei es ein Ohrpassstück eines "Behind-The-Ear"-Instruments (BTE) oder sei es der Ausgang eines "In-The-Ear"- oder "Completely-In-the-Canal"-Instruments (ITE bzw. CIC) - meist einen weitgehenden Verschluss des Gehörgangs, wodurch es bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers zu einem Okklusionseffekt kommen kann. Dieser entsteht vorrangig durch Schallwellen der eigenen Stimme, welche durch Körperschallübertragung vorrangig über den Kieferknochen zum Gehörgang geleitet werden, und aufgrund des Verschlusses des Gehörgangs nicht nach außen entweichen können, wodurch die eigene Stimme beim Sprechen als dumpf klingend empfunden wird.On the other hand, a sound conductor intended for this supply - be it an earpiece of a "Behind-The-Ear" instrument (BTE) or be it the output of an "In-The-Ear" or "Completely-In-the-Canal". "-Instruments (ITE or CIC) - usually largely close the ear canal, which can lead to an occlusion effect when the user speaks. This is primarily caused by sound waves from your own voice, which pass through Structure-borne sound transmission is primarily conducted via the jawbone to the ear canal and cannot escape to the outside due to the closure of the ear canal, which means that one's own voice is perceived as muffled when speaking.

Während Problemen in der Wahrnehmung der eigenen Stimme, welche auf einem Okklusionseffekt basieren, oftmals durch zusätzliche mechanische Belüftungskanäle im Hörhilfegerät oder in jüngerer Zeit auch durch spezielle Algorithmen in der Signalverarbeitung begegnet wird, so wird für die im Signalweg bedingten Probleme im Klang der Stimme meist versucht, mittels einer adaptiven Signalverarbeitung die Wahrnehmung eigenen Stimme für den Benutzer zu verbessern. Viele Hörhilfegeräte arbeiten beispielsweise mit einer automatischen Verstärkungsregelung ("automatic gain control", AGC), deren Verstärkung in den relevanten Frequenzbereichen hierfür bei einer Erkennung einer eigenen Sprachaktivität abgesenkt werden kann. Ebenso können beim Erkennen der Sprachaktivität ein Kompressionsverhältnis, der Schwellwert oder die Ansprechzeiten einer Kompression ("compression ratio", "threshold", "attack/release") angepasst werden. Eine derartige Erkennung der eigenen Sprachaktivität des Benutzers ist hierbei schnell und effizient möglich.While problems in the perception of one's own voice, which are based on an occlusion effect, are often countered by additional mechanical ventilation channels in the hearing aid or, more recently, by special algorithms in signal processing, problems in the sound of the voice caused by the signal path are usually attempted , using adaptive signal processing to improve the user's perception of their own voice. Many hearing aid devices, for example, work with automatic gain control (AGC), the gain of which can be reduced in the relevant frequency ranges when your own speech activity is detected. Likewise, when recognizing speech activity, a compression ratio, the threshold value or the response times of a compression ("compression ratio", "threshold", "attack/release") can be adjusted. Such recognition of the user's own voice activity is possible quickly and efficiently.

Durch derartige Maßnahmen in der Signalverarbeitung wird jedoch zumindest in den betreffenden Frequenzbereichen der gesamte Signalanteil entsprechend beeinflusst, und somit in für eine realistische Sprachwiedergabe wesentlichen Frequenzbereichen die Signalanteile durch Absenken der Verstärkung oder Verändern der Kompressionsparameter verändert. Auch die akustische Wahrnehmung der Umgebung ist hiervon betroffen, was insbesondere in lebhaften Gesprächssituationen mit mehreren Gesprächspartnern als unangenehm empfunden werden kann. Hierdurch kann also das Hörempfinden maßgeblich beeinträchtigt werdenHowever, such measures in signal processing influence the entire signal component accordingly, at least in the relevant frequency ranges, and thus change the signal components in frequency ranges that are essential for realistic speech reproduction by lowering the gain or changing the compression parameters. This also affects the acoustic perception of the environment, which can be perceived as unpleasant, especially in lively conversation situations with several conversation partners. This can significantly affect the sense of hearing

In der DE 10 2005 032 274 A1 sind eine Hörvorrichtung und ein entsprechendes Verfahren zur Eigenstimmendetektion offenbart. Dazu sind ein erstes Mikrofon zur Aufnahme eines Umgebungsschalls und ein zweites Mikrofon zur Aufnahme eines Gehörgangschalls vorgesehen. Aus einem Vergleich der Signale des ersten Mikrofons und des zweiten Mikrofons wird darauf geschlossen, dass der Benutzer des Gehörgeräts spricht bzw. die eigene Stimme präsent ist. Wird das Vorhandensein der eigenen Stimme festgestellt, so wird insbesondere ein Richtmikrofon deaktiviert. Auf diese Weise wird das Richtmikrofon störsicher betrieben, da sich das Richtmikrofon bei Präsenz der eigenen Stimme unerwünscht stets auf die Frontalrichtung ausrichten würde.In the DE 10 2005 032 274 A1 A hearing device and a corresponding method for self-voice detection are disclosed. For this purpose, a first microphone is provided for recording ambient sound and a second microphone for recording ear canal sound. From a comparison of the signals from the first microphone and the second microphone, it is concluded that the user of the hearing aid is speaking or that their own voice is present. If the presence of your own voice is detected, a directional microphone in particular is deactivated. In this way, the directional microphone is operated without interference, since the directional microphone would always be aligned undesirably to the frontal direction if one's own voice was present.

In der DE 10 2011 087 984 A1 wird zur Eigenstimmenerkennung eine Hörvorrichtung vorgeschlagen, die wenigstens zwei unabhängige Analyseeinrichtung umfasst, von denen jede dazu ausgelegt ist, auf der Grundlage eines empfangenen Audiosignals Sprachaktivitätsdaten zu gewinnen, welche von der Sprecheraktivität des Trägers der Hörvorrichtung abhängig sind. Eine Fusionseinrichtung ist dazu ausgelegt, die Sprachaktivitätsdaten der Analyseeinrichtungen zu empfangen und auf Grundlage der Sprachaktivitätsdaten zu erkennen, ob der Träger gerade spricht oder nicht.In the DE 10 2011 087 984 A1 For self-voice recognition, a hearing device is proposed which comprises at least two independent analysis devices, each of which is designed to obtain speech activity data based on a received audio signal, which is dependent on the speaker activity of the wearer of the hearing device. A fusion device is designed to receive the voice activity data from the analysis devices and, based on the voice activity data, to recognize whether the wearer is currently speaking or not.

Die US 2007/098192 A1 nennt ein Verfahren zum Betrieb eines Hörgerätes, bei welchem während einer eigenen Sprachaktivität des Trägers eine Richtcharakteristik der Mikrofone derart eingestellt wird, dass Schallsignale aus dem Nahfeld generell eine erhebliche Abschwächung erfahren, während die Richtwirkung für Schallsignale aus dem Fernfeld möglichst unverändert beibehalten wird. Hierdurch soll erreicht werden, dass das eigene Sprachsignal des Trägers unterdrückt wird, ohne dass davon in einem Gespräch ein Gesprächsbeitrag eines Gegen-übers betroffen wäre.The US 2007/098192 A1 describes a method for operating a hearing aid in which, during the wearer's own speech activity, a directional characteristic of the microphones is adjusted in such a way that sound signals from the near field generally experience a significant attenuation, while the directivity for sound signals from the far field is maintained as unchanged as possible. The aim of this is to ensure that the wearer's own speech signal is suppressed without affecting the other person's contribution to a conversation.

Die EP 2 381 702 A2 lehrt, für ein Hörgerät, in welchem ein Richtkegel zur Verstärkung und Verbesserung des Signal-zu-Rausch-Verhältnisses automatisch auf Stimmaktivitäten ausgerichtet wird, eine derartige Ausrichtung zu unterdrücken oder aufzuheben, wenn die Stimme als die eigene Stimme des Trägers identifiziert wird.The EP 2 381 702 A2 teaches, for a hearing aid in which a directional cone is automatically aligned with vocal activity to amplify and improve the signal-to-noise ratio, to suppress or cancel such alignment when the voice is identified as the wearer's own voice.

In der US 2012/0189147 A1 ist ein Verfahren zum Betrieb eines Hörgerätes genannt, in welchem eine eigene Stimmaktivität des Trägers des Hörgerätes über Abstandsabschätzungen für die Quellen der eingehenden Schallsignale bestimmt wird.In the US 2012/0189147 A1 is a method for operating a hearing aid in which the wearer of the hearing aid's own vocal activity is transmitted Distance estimates for the sources of the incoming sound signals are determined.

Der Erfindung liegt die Aufgabe zugrunde, ein Verfahren anzugeben, welches in einem Hörsystem bei einer Stimmaktivität der Klang eines Aufnahmesignals für die Weiterverarbeitung insbesondere hinsichtlich der Wahrnehmung durch einen Benutzer möglichst einfach und effizient verbessern soll.The invention is based on the object of specifying a method which is intended to improve the sound of a recording signal in a hearing system during vocal activity for further processing as simply and efficiently as possible, particularly with regard to perception by a user.

Die genannte Aufgabe wird erfindungsgemäß gelöst durch ein Verfahren gemäß des Anspruchs 1.The stated object is achieved according to the invention by a method according to claim 1.

Vorteilhafte Ausgestaltungsformen sind Gegenstand der Unteransprüche und der nachfolgenden Beschreibung.Advantageous embodiments are the subject of the subclaims and the following description.

Das Aufnahmesignal ist als dasjenige Signal zu verstehen, in welches das erste Signal des ersten Richtmikrofons, in welches ein Schall aus der Umgebung mit der durch die eingestellte Richtcharakteristik vorgegebenen räumlichen Empfindlichkeit umgewandelt ist, zur weiteren Signalverarbeitung eingeht. Die Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik ist hierbei als diejenige Raumrichtung zu verstehen, in welcher das erste Richtmikrofon in diesem Fall die größte Sensibilität aufweist, das heißt, dass bei einem Schall mit gleichbleibendem Pegel, welcher aus unterschiedlichen Richtungen auf das erste Richtmikrofon auftrifft, bei einem Auftreff aus der Vorzugsrichtung der stärkste Signalpegel im ersten Signal erzeugt wird.The recording signal is to be understood as the signal into which the first signal from the first directional microphone, into which sound from the environment is converted with the spatial sensitivity specified by the set directional characteristic, is received for further signal processing. The preferred direction of the first directional characteristic is here to be understood as the spatial direction in which the first directional microphone in this case has the greatest sensitivity, that is to say that in the case of a sound with a constant level that strikes the first directional microphone from different directions, upon impact The strongest signal level in the first signal is generated from the preferred direction.

Bevorzugt weist die erste Richtcharakteristik eine Achsen- bzw. Spiegelsymmetrie auf, wobei die Vorzugsrichtung auf der Symmetrieachse bzw. in der Symmetrieebene liegt. Die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers ist hierbei durch die Blickrichtung seines Kopfes definiert, welche parallel zur Symmetrieebene des Kopfes verläuft. Bevorzugt kann bei einem ordnungsgemäßen Tragen des Hörgeräts durch den Benutzer die erste Richtcharakteristik in Relation zur Frontalrichtung des Benutzers gesetzt werden. Die erste Richtcharakteristik kann in einem Winkelbereich um die Vorzugsrichtung herum bevorzugt eine monotone Abnahme der Schallempfindlichkeit aufweisen, so dass bei einem Verstellen durch eine Vergrößerung des Winkels zwischen der Vorzugsrichtung und der Frontalrichtung in der Frontalrichtung die Abschwächung der Schallempfindlichkeit erreicht wird.The first directional characteristic preferably has axial or mirror symmetry, with the preferred direction lying on the axis of symmetry or in the plane of symmetry. The frontal direction of the user is defined by the direction of view of his head, which runs parallel to the plane of symmetry of the head. Preferably, when the hearing aid is worn properly by the user, the first directional characteristic can be set in relation to the frontal direction of the user. The first directional characteristic can preferably have a monotonous decrease in sound sensitivity in an angular range around the preferred direction, so that when adjusted by increasing the angle between the preferred direction and the frontal direction in the frontal direction, the attenuation of the sound sensitivity is achieved.

Die Erfindung geht hierbei zunächst von der Überlegung aus, dass jede Regelung oder Korrektur der eigenen Stimme des Benutzers im Aufnahmesignal, welche nur über die AGC oder über eine Anpassung der Parameter für die Kompression erfolgt, auch Auswirkungen auf die Wahrnehmung des Schalls aus der Umgebung hat. Gerade in einer Hörsituation, in welcher der Benutzer ein lebhaftes Gespräch mit einem oder auch mehreren Gesprächspartnern führt, und aufgrund der Interaktion im Gespräch die eigene Stimmaktivität des Benutzers bisweilen auch mit einem durch die Sprache eines der Gesprächspartner gebildeten Nutzsignals zusammenfallen können, hätte dies rasche Wechsel in der Lautstärke und/oder der Dynamik des durch die Sprache des Gesprächspartners gebildeten Nutzsignals zur Folge, sowie auch für den Schall aus der Umgebung.The invention is initially based on the consideration that any regulation or correction of the user's own voice in the recording signal, which is only carried out via the AGC or by adjusting the parameters for the compression, also has an impact on the perception of sound from the environment . Especially in a listening situation in which the user is having a lively conversation with one or more conversation partners, and due to the interaction During a conversation, the user's own vocal activity could sometimes coincide with a useful signal formed by the speech of one of the conversation partners, this would result in rapid changes in the volume and/or dynamics of the useful signal formed by the speech of the conversation partner, as well as for the sound from the surrounding area.

Die Erfindung macht sich nun den empirisch feststellbaren Umstand zunutze, dass aufgrund der Beugung des Schalls, welcher bei einer Sprachaktivität den Mund verlässt, der Schall der eigenen Stimme, den der Benutzer an einem Ohr wahrnimmt, im Wesentlichen als aus frontaler Richtung kommend wahrgenommen wird. Dies bedeutet, dass aufgrund der Tatsache, dass in den meisten durch ein Gespräch gebildeten Hörsituationen die Blickrichtung und somit die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers auf einen Gesprächspartner hin ausgerichtet ist, die Richtung, aus welcher das durch die Sprachaktivität des Gesprächspartners gegebenen Nutzsignal wahrgenommen wird, mit der Richtung, aus welcher die eigene Sprache beim Sprechen wahrgenommen wird, im Wesentlichen koinzidiert, sofern keine weitere Anpassung der Wahrnehmungsrichtungen vorgenommen wird. Durch ein Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik gegenüber der Frontalrichtung des Benutzers kann somit erreicht werden, dass ein geringerer Anteil der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers in das Aufnahmesignal eingeht. Für ein angenehmes Hörempfinden der eigenen Sprache ist im Signalweg eine Abschwächung im Verhältnis zur Signalverarbeitung anderer Nutzsignale von 6 dB bis 10 dB meist ausreichend. Weist die erste Richtcharakteristik eine monotone Abnahme der Schallempfindlichkeit von der Vorzugsrichtung weg auf, so ist für eine Abschwächung des aufgenommenen Sprachsignals des Benutzers um 6 dB bis 10 dB eine moderate Abweichung der Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik von der Frontalrichtung ausreichend.The invention now makes use of the empirically detectable fact that due to the diffraction of the sound that leaves the mouth during speech activity, the sound of the user's own voice, which the user perceives in one ear, is essentially perceived as coming from the frontal direction. This means that, due to the fact that in most listening situations formed by a conversation, the direction of gaze and thus the frontal direction of the user is directed towards a conversation partner, the direction from which the useful signal given by the speech activity of the conversation partner is perceived, with the Direction from which one's own language is perceived when speaking essentially coincides, provided no further adjustment is made to the directions of perception. By adjusting the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic relative to the frontal direction of the user, it can be achieved that a smaller proportion of the user's own speech is included in the recording signal. For a pleasant hearing experience of one's own speech, an attenuation of 6 dB to 10 dB in the signal path in relation to the signal processing of other useful signals is usually sufficient. If the first directional characteristic has a monotonous decrease in sound sensitivity away from the preferred direction, a moderate deviation of the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic from the frontal direction is sufficient to attenuate the user's recorded speech signal by 6 dB to 10 dB.

Dies hat desweiteren zur Folge, dass Hintergrundgeräusche, welche räumlich keiner klaren Quelle eindeutig zugeordnet werden können, durch die genannte Maßnahme keine wesentliche Abschwächung erfahren, so dass es im weiter zu verarbeitenden Aufnahmesignal durch die Maßnahmen nicht zu unerwünschten Schwankungen im Pegel der Hintergrundgeräusche kommt. In besonderem Maße wird hierbei noch der Umstand ausgenutzt, dass gerade Hintergrundgeräusche in niedrigen Frequenzbändern, welche in erheblichem Maße für die Grundwahrnehmung einer Hörsituation beitragen, aufgrund der niedrigeren Wellenzahlen räumlich weniger gerichtet wahrgenommen werden, und somit von der Verstellung der Vorzugsrichtung der Richtcharakteristik und somit der Richtcharakteristik als solcher noch weniger betroffen sind. Insbesondere gilt dies für den Fall in welchem zur Verstellung der Vorzugsrichtung der Richtcharakteristik die Richtcharakteristik selbst bis auf eine reine räumliche Drehung nicht weiter verändert wird.This also has the consequence that background noises, which cannot be clearly assigned spatially to a clear source, are not significantly attenuated by the measure mentioned, so that the measures do not lead to undesirable fluctuations in the level of the background noise in the recording signal that is to be further processed. In particular This takes advantage of the fact that background noises in low frequency bands, which contribute significantly to the basic perception of a listening situation, are perceived as less spatially directional due to the lower wave numbers, and thus from the adjustment of the preferred direction of the directional characteristic and thus the directional characteristic as such are even less affected. This applies in particular to the case in which, in order to adjust the preferred direction of the directional characteristic, the directional characteristic itself is not changed any further except for a pure spatial rotation.

Erfindungsgemäß wird die Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik in einem Winkel zwischen 5° und 20°, bevorzugt zwischen 5° und 10°, gegenüber der Frontalrichtung des Benutzers verstellt. Zur Veränderung der Ausrichtung der Richtcharakteristik ist ein Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtung im genannten Winkelbereich meist ausreichend, um eine hinreichende Abschwächung des Signalanteils der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers im Aufnahmesignal zu erzielen. Infolge der nur geringfügigen Veränderung der Vorzugsrichtung werden jedoch auch die Wahrnehmung von Hintergrundgeräuschen der Hörsituation, welche eine gewisse Richtungsabhängigkeit aufweisen, wie z.B. Musik aus einem lokalisierbaren Lautsprecher in einer Entfernung von mehreren Metern, nicht wirklich beeinflusst, wodurch für einen Benutzer die Anpassung noch weniger bemerkbar wird.According to the invention, the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20°, preferably between 5° and 10°, relative to the frontal direction of the user. To change the orientation of the directional characteristic, adjusting the preferred direction in the specified angular range is usually sufficient to achieve a sufficient attenuation of the signal component of the user's own language in the recording signal. However, as a result of the only slight change in the preferred direction, the perception of background noise in the listening situation, which has a certain directional dependency, such as music from a localizable loudspeaker at a distance of several meters, is not really influenced, which means that the adjustment is even less noticeable for a user becomes.

Bevorzugt wird das Aufnahmesignal auf eine Hörsituation mit einer gerichteten Hauptschallquelle überwacht, wobei ohne Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers bei Erkennen einer Hörsituation mit einer gerichteten Hauptschallquelle die Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik auf die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers ausgerichtet wird. Unter einer gerichteten Hauptschallquelle ist eine Schallquelle zu verstehen, die im Verhältnis zum Schallpegel anderer Signalanteile eine erhebliche Richtungsabhängigkeit aufweist, und deren Schallpegel in Richtung des Maximums deutlich über dem Pegel anderer Signalanteile unabhängig von ihrer Raumrichtung liegt (beispielsweise eine Lautsprecherbox oder dergleichen). Die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers, welche üblicherweise im Wesentlichen seiner Blickrichtung entspricht, kann dabei durch eine weitere Analyse des Aufnahmesignals ermittelt werden, oder auch durch eine Voreinstellung im Hörgerät bestimmt werden unter der Maßgabe der Ausrichtung des ersten Richtmikrofons bei einem ordnungsgemäßen Tragen des Hörgeräts.Preferably, the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation with a directional main sound source, with the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user without detecting a speech activity of the user when a listening situation with a directional main sound source is detected. A directional main sound source is a sound source that has a significant directional dependence in relation to the sound level of other signal components, and whose sound level in the direction of the maximum is significantly above the level of other signal components regardless of their spatial direction (for example a loudspeaker box or the like). The frontal direction of the user, which usually essentially corresponds to the direction of his gaze, can be determined by further analysis of the recording signal, or also by a presetting in the hearing aid be determined based on the orientation of the first directional microphone when the hearing aid is worn properly.

Wird nun in der Hörsituation eine gerichtete Hauptschallquelle erkannt, ohne dass gleichzeitig eine eigene Sprachaktivität des Benutzers erkannt wird, so wird angenommen, dass für den Benutzer der Schall der Hauptschallquelle das Nutzsignal darstellt, welches daher im Aufnahmesignal besonders gut aufgelöst Eingang finden soll. In diesem Fall wird die akustische Auflösung - also das Signal-zu-Rausch-Verhältnis - durch eine entsprechende Anpassung der Richtcharakteristik durch Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtung zur Hauptschallquelle hin erreicht.If a directional main sound source is recognized in the listening situation without the user's own speech activity being recognized at the same time, it is assumed that the sound from the main sound source represents the useful signal for the user, which should therefore be included in the recording signal with particularly good resolution. In this case, the acoustic resolution - i.e. the signal-to-noise ratio - is achieved by appropriately adjusting the directional characteristic by adjusting the preferred direction towards the main sound source.

Als vorteilhaft erweist es sich hierbei, wenn das Aufnahmesignal auf eine einem Gespräch entsprechende Hörsituation überwacht wird, wobei ohne Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers bei Erkennen einer einem Gespräch entsprechende Hörsituation die Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik auf die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers ausgerichtet wird. Eine einem Gespräch entsprechende Hörsituation, ggf. mit wenig gerichteten Hintergrundgeräuschen, ist ein besonders auftretender Fall für eine Hörsituation mit einer Hauptschallquelle, welche hier durch einen Gesprächspartner gebildet wird. Wird nun zunächst eine solche Hörsituation erkannt, so wird angenommen, dass die Blickrichtung des Benutzers im Fall, dass dieser nicht selbst spricht und somit keine eigene Sprachaktivität erkannt wird, meist in Richtung des gerade aktiven Gesprächspartners geht. Somit kann durch ein Einstellen der Vorzugsrichtung der Richtcharakteristik in Frontalrichtung für das Sprachsignal des Gesprächspartners eine effiziente Verbesserung des Signal-zu-Rausch-Verhältnisses erzielt werden. Dies gilt insbesondere, wenn die Frontalrichtung nicht über eine weitere Analyse des Aufnahmesignals ermittelt wird, sondern anhand der Ausrichtung des ersten Richtmikrofons bei einem ordnungsgemäßen Tragen des Hörgeräts.It proves to be advantageous if the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation corresponding to a conversation, with the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user without detecting a speech activity of the user when a listening situation corresponding to a conversation is detected. A listening situation corresponding to a conversation, possibly with little directed background noise, is a particularly common case for a listening situation with a main sound source, which is here formed by a conversation partner. If such a listening situation is initially recognized, it is assumed that the user's line of sight is usually in the direction of the currently active conversation partner if he or she is not speaking and therefore no own speech activity is recognized. Thus, by setting the preferred direction of the directional characteristic in the frontal direction for the conversation partner's speech signal, an efficient improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved. This applies in particular if the frontal direction is not determined via further analysis of the recording signal, but rather based on the orientation of the first directional microphone when the hearing aid is worn properly.

Erfindungsgemäß umfasst das binaurale Hörsystem ein weiteres Hörgerät, insbesondere Hörhilfegerät, wobei das weitere Hörgerät ein zweites Richtmikrofon umfasst, wobei das zweite Richtmikrofon Schall in ein zweites Signal umwandelt, welches in das Aufnahmesignal eingeht, und wobei bei Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers die Vorzugsrichtung der zweiten Richtcharakteristik gegenüber einer Frontalrichtung des Benutzers derart verstellt wird, dass die zweite Richtcharakteristik in der Frontalrichtung eine Abschwächung erfährt.According to the invention, the binaural hearing system comprises a further hearing aid, in particular a hearing aid, wherein the further hearing aid comprises a second directional microphone, wherein the second directional microphone converts sound into a second signal which is included in the recording signal, and wherein when speech activity is detected of the user, the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted relative to a frontal direction of the user in such a way that the second directional characteristic experiences an attenuation in the frontal direction.

Erfindungsgemäß ist das Hörsystem als ein binaurales Hörsystem ausgebildet, in welchem insbesondere aus dem Aufnahmesignal, in welches das erste Signal des wenigstens einen Hörgeräts und das zweite Signal des weiteren Hörgeräts eingehen, ein Stereo-Wiedergabesignal derart gebildet wird, dass zur Erzeugung eines ersten Wiedergabekanals und eines zweiten Wiedergabekanals Signalanteile sowohl des ersten Signals als auch des zweiten Signals herangezogen werden. Ein erster Wiedergabekanal kann dabei einerseits nur Signalanteile des ersten Signals enthalten, deren Richtcharakteristik anhand der Signalanteile des zweiten Signals mit beeinflusst wird, oder direkt Signalanteile des ersten Signals und des zweiten Signals beinhalten. In einem binauralen Hörsystem wird die eigene Stimme des Benutzers aufgrund der zwischen dem ersten Signal und dem zweiten Signal ausbleibenden Laufzeitdifferenz der Signalanteile der Stimme als aus frontaler Richtung kommend wahrgenommen und entsprechend verstärkt. Für ein binaurales Hörsystem kann das vorgeschlagene Verfahren die Signalanteile der eigenen Stimme des Benutzers im Aufnahmesignal besonders einfach und ohne hohen Aufwand in der Signalverarbeitung reduzieren, wobei keine merklichen Veränderungen im Signalpegel oder in aus der Umgebung aufgenommenen Hintergrundgeräuschen auftreten.According to the invention, the hearing system is designed as a binaural hearing system, in which a stereo playback signal is formed in particular from the recording signal, into which the first signal of the at least one hearing aid and the second signal of the further hearing aid are received, in such a way that to generate a first playback channel and of a second playback channel, signal components of both the first signal and the second signal are used. A first playback channel can, on the one hand, only contain signal components of the first signal, the directional characteristic of which is influenced by the signal components of the second signal, or can directly contain signal components of the first signal and the second signal. In a binaural hearing system, the user's own voice is perceived as coming from the frontal direction due to the lack of transit time difference in the signal components of the voice between the first signal and the second signal and is amplified accordingly. For a binaural hearing system, the proposed method can reduce the signal components of the user's own voice in the recording signal particularly easily and without much effort in signal processing, with no noticeable changes in the signal level or in background noise recorded from the environment.

Erfindungsgemäß wird die Vorzugsrichtung der zweiten Richtcharakteristik in einem Winkel zwischen 5° und 20°, bevorzugt zwischen 5° und 10°, gegenüber der Frontalrichtung des Benutzers verstellt. Zweckmäßigerweise werden hierbei die Vorzugsrichtungen der ersten Richtcharakteristik und der zweiten Richtcharakteristik jeweils im genannten Winkelbereich verstellt. Zur Veränderung der Ausrichtung der Richtcharakteristik ist ein Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtung im genannten Winkelbereich meist ausreichend, um eine hinreichende Abschwächung des Signalanteils der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers im Aufnahmesignal zu erzielen. Infolge der nur geringfügigen Veränderung der Vorzugsrichtung werden jedoch auch die Wahrnehmung von Hintergrundgeräuschen der Hörsituation, welche eine gewisse Richtungsabhängigkeit aufweisen, wie z.B. Musik aus einem lokalisierbaren Lautsprecher in einer Entfernung von mehreren Metern, nicht wirklich beeinflusst, wodurch für einen Benutzer die Anpassung noch weniger bemerkbar wird. Als weiter vorteilhaft erweist es sich, wenn das Aufnahmesignal auf eine einem Gespräch entsprechende Hörsituation überwacht wird, wobei bei Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität eines Gesprächspartners die Vorzugsrichtung der zweiten Richtcharakteristik auf die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers ausgerichtet wird. Zweckmäßigerweise werden hierbei die Vorzugsrichtungen der ersten Richtcharakteristik und der zweiten Richtcharakteristik jeweils auf die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers ausgerichtet. Gerade im Fall eines binauralen Hörsystems mit einem reichen Raumklang kann hierdurch in der genannten Hörsituation mit geringem Aufwand in der Signalverarbeitung eine besonders gute Verständlichkeit des Sprachsignals des Gesprächspartners erzielt werden.According to the invention, the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20°, preferably between 5° and 10°, relative to the frontal direction of the user. The preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are expediently adjusted in the specified angular range. To change the orientation of the directional characteristic, adjusting the preferred direction in the specified angular range is usually sufficient to achieve a sufficient attenuation of the signal component of the user's own language in the recording signal. However, as a result of the only slight change in the preferred direction, the perception of background noise in the listening situation, which has a certain directional dependency, such as music from a localizable loudspeaker at a distance of several meters, is not really influenced, which means that the adjustment is even less noticeable for a user becomes. It proves to be further advantageous if the recording signal is monitored for a listening situation corresponding to a conversation, with the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic being aligned to the frontal direction of the user when a conversation partner's speech activity is detected. The preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are expediently aligned with the frontal direction of the user. Particularly in the case of a binaural hearing system with a rich spatial sound, particularly good intelligibility of the conversation partner's speech signal can be achieved in the hearing situation mentioned with little effort in signal processing.

Erfindungsgemäß werden bei Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers die Vorzugsrichtungen der ersten Richtcharakteristik und der zweiten Richtcharakteristik derart gegenüber der Frontalrichtung des Benutzers verstellt, dass die Vorzugsrichtungen der ersten Richtcharakteristik und der zweiten Richtcharakteristik, ausgehend als Vektoren vom jeweiligen Hörgerät, einander kreuzen. Insbesondere erfolgt das Verstellen hierbei symmetrisch, d.h., dass die Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik und die Vorzugsrichtung der zweiten Richtcharakteristik jeweils um denselben Winkelbetrag bezüglich der Frontalrichtung nach innen bzw. aufeinander zu verstellt werden. Durch ein Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtungen der Richtcharakteristiken aufeinander zu wird der Signalanteil der eigenen Stimme des Benutzers, welcher ins Aufnahmesignal eingeht, über den Abschattungseffekt reduziert, welchen der Kopf bei einem entsprechenden Ausrichten der Richtcharakteristik auf den Schall der Stimme ausübt. Zudem können bei einer Überkreuzung der Richtcharakteristiken plötzliche Einwürfe eines frontal stehenden Gesprächspartners nahezu unbeeinflusst weiterhin erfasst werden.According to the invention, when a voice activity of the user is detected, the preferred directions of the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic are adjusted relative to the frontal direction of the user in such a way that the preferred directions the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic, starting as vectors from the respective hearing aid, cross each other. In particular, the adjustment is carried out symmetrically, that is, the preferred direction of the first directional characteristic and the preferred direction of the second directional characteristic are each adjusted inwards or towards each other by the same angular amount with respect to the frontal direction. By adjusting the preferred directions of the directional characteristics towards each other, the signal component of the user's own voice, which is included in the recording signal, is reduced via the shading effect that the head exerts on the sound of the voice when the directional characteristics are aligned accordingly. In addition, if the directional characteristics cross, sudden interjections from a conversation partner standing at the front can continue to be recorded almost unaffected.

Als weiter vorteilhat erweist es sich, wenn das Aufnahmesignal in eine Mehrzahl an Frequenzbändern zerlegt wird, und bei Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers eine Vorzugsrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik und/oder eine Vorzugsrichtung der zweiten Richtcharakteristik in wenigstens einem Frequenzband gegenüber der Frontalrichtung des Benutzers verstellt wird. Werden bei Erkennen einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers die Richtcharakteristiken nur in denjenigen Frequenzbändern gegenüber der Frontalrichtung verstellt, in welchen entweder ein übermäßiger Signalanteil im Aufnahmesignal durch den Benutzer als besonders unangenehm empfunden wird, oder welche eine besonders hohe Direktionalität im Sprachsignal aufweisen und somit durch ein Verstellen der Richtcharakteristik besonders einfach zu beeinflussen sind, so lassen sich in der Signalverarbeitung der anderen Frequenzbänder Ressourcen einsparen.It proves to be further advantageous if the recording signal is broken down into a plurality of frequency bands, and when a speech activity of the user is detected, a preferred direction of the first directional characteristic and/or a preferred direction of the second directional characteristic is adjusted in at least one frequency band relative to the frontal direction of the user. When the user's voice activity is detected, the directional characteristics only appear in those Frequency bands adjusted relative to the frontal direction, in which either an excessive signal component in the recording signal is perceived by the user as particularly unpleasant, or which have a particularly high directionality in the speech signal and are therefore particularly easy to influence by adjusting the directional characteristic, this can be done in the Signal processing of the other frequency bands save resources.

Die Erfindung nennt weiter ein binaurales Hörsystem mit zwei Hörgeräten, insbesondere Hörhilfegeräten, welche jeweils wenigstens ein Richtmikrofon aufweisen, welches dazu eingerichtet ist, das vorbeschriebene Verfahren durchzuführen. Die für das Verfahren und seine Weiterbildungen angegebenen Vorteile können hierbei sinngemäß auf das binaurale Hörsystem übertragen werden.The invention further mentions a binaural hearing system with two hearing aids, in particular hearing aid devices, each of which has at least one directional microphone, which is set up to carry out the method described above. The advantages stated for the method and its further developments can be transferred analogously to the binaural hearing system.

Nachfolgend wird ein Ausführungsbeispiel der Erfindung anhand einer Zeichnung näher erläutert. Hierbei zeigen jeweils schematisch:

Fig. 1
in einer Draufsicht einen Benutzer eines binauralen Hörsystems in einer Hörsituation mit mehreren Gesprächspartnern,
Fig. 2
in einer Draufsicht die Richtcharakteristiken des binauralen Hörsystems nach Fig. 1 bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers nach einem nicht beanspruchten Beispiel,
Fig. 3
in einer Draufsicht eine erfindungsgemäße Einstellung der Richtcharakteristiken des binauralen Hörsystems nach Fig. 1 bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers, und
Fig. 4
in einem Blockdiagramm den Ablauf eines Verfahrens zur Verbesserung eines Aufnahmesignals in einem binauralen Hörsystem.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to a drawing. Here we show schematically:
Fig. 1
in a top view a user of a binaural hearing system in a listening situation with several conversation partners,
Fig. 2
A top view of the directional characteristics of the binaural hearing system Fig. 1 in the event of a user's voice activity according to an unclaimed example,
Fig. 3
in a top view an inventive setting of the directional characteristics of the binaural hearing system Fig. 1 when the user speaks, and
Fig. 4
in a block diagram the sequence of a method for improving a recording signal in a binaural hearing system.

Einander entsprechende Teile und Größen sind in allen Figuren jeweils mit gleichen Bezugszeichen versehen.Corresponding parts and sizes are provided with the same reference numbers in all figures.

In Fig. 1 ist in einer Draufsicht schematisch ein Benutzer 1 eines binauralen Hörsystems 2 gezeigt, welches zwei als Hörhilfegeräte 4, 5 ausgebildete Hörgeräte 6, 7 umfasst. Das linke Hörgerät 6 weist ein erstes Richtmikrofon 8 mit einer ersten Richtcharakteristik 10 auf, welche symmetrisch bezüglich einer Vorzugsrichtung 12 ist. Das rechte Hörgerät 7 weist ein zweites Richtmikrofon 14 mit einer zweiten Richtcharakteristik 16 auf, welche symmetrisch bezüglich einer Vorzugsrichtung 18 ist. Die Hörsituation 20 des Benutzers 1 des binauralen Hörsystems 2 ist durch ein Gespräch mit Gesprächspartnern 22 bis 26 gegeben.In Fig. 1 A top view shows schematically a user 1 of a binaural hearing system 2, which includes two hearing aids 6, 7 designed as hearing aids 4, 5. The left hearing aid 6 has a first directional microphone 8 with a first directional characteristic 10, which is symmetrical with respect to a preferred direction 12. The right hearing aid 7 has a second directional microphone 14 with a second directional characteristic 16, which is symmetrical with respect to a preferred direction 18. The hearing situation 20 of the user 1 of the binaural hearing system 2 is given by a conversation with conversation partners 22 to 26.

Die momentane Gesprächssituation ist nun derart, dass der Benutzer 1 seine Frontalrichtung 28 (welche gegeben ist durch die Blickrichtung des Kopfes) zum besseren Zuhören auf den Gesprächspartner 22 hin ausrichtet. Ist nun in der vorliegenden Gesprächssituation der Gesprächspartner 22 der Hauptakteur, und liefern dabei die anderen Gesprächspartner 23 bis 26 nur vereinzelt Einwürfe, so werden die Vorzugsrichtung 12 der ersten Richtcharakteristik 10 und die Vorzugsrichtung 18 der zweiten Richtcharakteristik 16 in der Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 ausgerichtet, wodurch für diesen das Sprachsignal des Gesprächspartners 22 über das binaurale Hörsystem 2 besonders gut wahrgenommen werden kann.The current conversation situation is now such that the user 1 aligns his frontal direction 28 (which is given by the direction of vision of the head) towards the conversation partner 22 for better listening. If the interlocutor 22 is the main actor in the present conversation situation, and the other interlocutors 23 to 26 only make occasional objections, the preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 and the preferred direction 18 of the second directional characteristic 16 are aligned in the frontal direction 28 of the user 1 , whereby the speech signal of the conversation partner 22 can be perceived particularly well via the binaural hearing system 2.

Bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers 1 wird der Schall seiner eigenen Sprache in einer Weise um den Kopf herum gebeugt, dass der Schall der eigenen Sprache an jedem Ohr und somit an jedem der beiden Hörgeräte 6, 7 im Wesentlichen aus frontaler Richtung auftrifft. Die frontale Wahrnehmung ist des Weiteren dadurch bedingt, dass der Schall der eigenen Sprache an beiden Ohren ohne einen Laufzeitunterschied ankommt, so dass infolge der symmetrischen Wahrnehmung ein Empfinden eines frontal auftreffenden Schalls entsteht. Dies bedeutet, dass bei einer Ausrichtung der ersten Richtcharakteristik des ersten Richtmikrofons 8 sowie der zweiten Richtcharakteristik 16 des zweiten Richtmikrofons 14 jeweils in Frontalrichtung 28 der Schall der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers 1 in besonderem Maße in das Aufnahmesignal des binauralen Hörsystems 2 eingeht. Durch die Verstärkung in der Signalverarbeitung des binauralen Hörsystems 2 kann dies zu einer unangenehm lauten Wahrnehmung der eigenen Sprache durch den Benutzer führen.When the user 1 is speaking, the sound of his own speech is bent around the head in such a way that the sound of his own speech hits each ear and thus each of the two hearing aids 6, 7 essentially from the frontal direction. Frontal perception is also due to the fact that the sound of one's own speech arrives at both ears without a difference in transit time, so that the symmetrical perception creates the sensation of a sound hitting frontally. This means that when the first directional characteristic of the first directional microphone 8 and the second directional characteristic 16 of the second directional microphone 14 are aligned in the frontal direction 28, the sound of the user 1's own speech is particularly included in the recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2. This can happen due to the amplification in the signal processing of the binaural hearing system 2 lead to an unpleasantly loud perception of the user's own language.

Um eine solche Wahrnehmung zu unterbinden, werden nun die Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 der beiden Richtmikrofone 8, 14 des binauralen Hörsystems 2 gegen die Frontalrichtung 28 verstellt, wenn der Benutzer 1 selbst am Sprechen ist. Dies ist in Fig. 2 dargestellt. Die Vorzugsrichtung 12 der ersten Richtcharakteristik 10 des ersten Richtmikrofons 8 wird bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers 1 bezüglich dessen Frontalrichtung 28 leicht nach außen gekippt. Gleiches gilt für die Vorzugsrichtung 18 der zweiten Richtcharakteristik 16 des zweiten Richtmikrofons 14. Durch das Verstellen der Vorzugsrichtungen 12, 18 von der Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 weg bilden die Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 eine Art Kanal 30 vom Benutzer 1 zum Gesprächspartner 22 hin aus, in welchem die Schallempfindlichkeit des binauralen Hörsystems 2 reduziert ist. Der Schall 32 der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers 1 propagiert dabei zunächst in diesem Kanal 30 und wird durch Beugung zu den Richtmikrofonen 8, 14 hingeführt. Da die Vorzugsrichtungen 12, 18, welche für die Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 jeweils die Richtung mit größter Schallempfindlichkeit darstellen, nun gegenüber der Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 verstellt sind, erfährt der Schall 32 der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers 1 hinsichtlich seines Eingangs in ein Aufnahmesignal des binauralen Hörsystems 2 eine leichte Abschwächung.In order to prevent such a perception, the directional characteristics 10, 16 of the two directional microphones 8, 14 of the binaural hearing system 2 are adjusted against the frontal direction 28 when the user 1 is speaking. This is in Fig. 2 shown. The preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 is tilted slightly outwards with respect to the frontal direction 28 when the user 1 is speaking. The same applies to the preferred direction 18 of the second directional characteristic 16 of the second directional microphone 14. By adjusting the preferred directions 12, 18 away from the frontal direction 28 of the user 1, the directional characteristics 10, 16 form a type of channel 30 from the user 1 to the conversation partner 22, in which the sound sensitivity of the binaural hearing system 2 is reduced. The sound 32 of the user 1's own language initially propagates in this channel 30 and is guided to the directional microphones 8, 14 by diffraction. Since the preferred directions 12, 18, which represent the direction with the greatest sound sensitivity for the directional characteristics 10, 16, are now adjusted relative to the frontal direction 28 of the user 1, the sound 32 of the user 1's own language experiences its input into a recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2 a slight attenuation.

Eine erfindungsgemäße Verstellung der Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 gegenüber der Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 bei einer eigenen Sprachaktivität ist schematisch in einer Draufsicht in Fig. 3 dargestellt. Die erste Richtcharakteristik 10 des ersten Richtmikrofons 8 wird hier nicht nach außen, also von der Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 weg verstellt, sondern vielmehr nach "innen" aufeinander zu, sodass die Vorzugsrichtung 12 der ersten Richtcharakteristik 10 die Frontalrichtung 28 kreuzt. Gleiches gilt für die zweite Richtcharakteristik 16 des zweiten Richtmikrofons 14, welche derart nach "innen" verstellt wird, dass die Vorzugsrichtung 18 der zweiten Richtcharakteristik 16 die Frontalrichtung 28 des Benutzers 1 kreuzt.An inventive adjustment of the directional characteristics 10, 16 relative to the frontal direction 28 of the user 1 during one's own speech activity is shown schematically in a top view in Fig. 3 shown. The first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 is not adjusted outwards, i.e. away from the frontal direction 28 of the user 1, but rather inwards "inwards" towards one another, so that the preferred direction 12 of the first directional characteristic 10 crosses the frontal direction 28. The same applies to the second directional characteristic 16 of the second directional microphone 14, which is adjusted "inwards" in such a way that the preferred direction 18 of the second directional characteristic 16 crosses the frontal direction 28 of the user 1.

Bei einer Sprachaktivität des Benutzers 1 tritt in diesem Fall die Abschwächung des Signalanteils, welcher in ein Aufnahmesignal des binauralen Hörsystems 2 eingeht, vorrangig infolge von Abschattungseffekten durch den Kopf des Benutzers 1 ein. Die Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 werden hierbei so eingestellt, dass die Bereiche mit besonders hoher Schallempfindlichkeit bereits teilweise vom Kopf des Benutzers abgedeckt ("abgeschattet") werden, so dass der frontal auf die Richtmikrofone 8, 14 auftreffende Schall der eigenen Sprache des Benutzers 1 auch hierdurch im Aufnahmesignal eine Abschwächung erfährt. Die hier dargestellte Variante hat zudem den Vorteil, dass der Gesprächspartner 22 von den Richtcharakteristiken 16, 10 der Richtmikrofone 8, 14 noch gut erfasst wird, d.h. dass trotz des Verstellens der Vorzugsrichtungen 12, 18 die Schallempfindlichkeit der Richtmikrofone 8, 14 in einer unmittelbaren Umgebung des Gesprächspartners 22 bei einem üblichen Gesprächsabstand von 0,5 bis 1,5m noch gut genug ist, um etwaige spontane Erwiderungen und/oder Einwürfe des Gesprächspartners 22 mit hinreichend hohem Signalpegel in das Aufnahmesignal des binauralen Hörsystems 2 mit aufzunehmen.In this case, when the user 1 is speaking, the attenuation of the signal component that enters a recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2 occurs primarily as a result of shadowing effects caused by the head of the user 1. The directional characteristics 10, 16 are set so that the areas with particularly high sound sensitivity are already partially covered ("shadowed") by the user's head, so that the sound hitting the directional microphones 8, 14 from the front is also the user's own speech This causes the recording signal to be attenuated. The variant shown here also has the advantage that the conversation partner 22 is still well detected by the directional characteristics 16, 10 of the directional microphones 8, 14, i.e. that despite the adjustment of the preferred directions 12, 18, the sound sensitivity of the directional microphones 8, 14 in an immediate environment of the conversation partner 22 is still good enough at a usual conversation distance of 0.5 to 1.5 m to include any spontaneous replies and/or interjections of the conversation partner 22 with a sufficiently high signal level in the recording signal of the binaural hearing system 2.

In Fig. 4 ist in einem Blockdiagramm der Ablauf eines Verfahrens 40 zur Verbesserung eines Aufnahmesignals 42 in einem binauralen Hörsystem 2 dargestellt. Die beiden Richtmikrofone 8, 14 der Hörgeräte 4, 5 erzeugen aus einem Schall 43 ein erstes Signal 44 bzw. ein zweites Signal 46, welche in das Aufnahmesignal 42 eingehen. Das Aufnahmesignal 42 wird in eine Mehrzahl an Frequenzbändern 48 zerlegt, und anhand der Schallpegel in den Frequenzbändern 48 sowie anhand der Korrelationen in den Signalanteilen der Frequenzbänder 48 auf eine einem Gespräch entsprechende Hörsituation 20 hin überwacht. Wird diese Hörsituation 20 erkannt, so wird in einigen Frequenzbändern 48 eine Überwachung einer Sprachaktivität 50 des Benutzers durchgeführt. Wird eine Sprachaktivität 50 detektiert, so werden in einzelnen Frequenzbändern 48 im Aufnahmesignal, welche besonders hohe Signalanteile der Sprache aufweisen, die erste Richtcharakteristik 10 des ersten Richtmikrofons 8 und die zweite Richtcharakteristik 16 des zweiten Richtmikrofons 14 in der oben beschriebenen Weise gegen die Frontalrichtung des Benutzers verstellt.In Fig. 4 the sequence of a method 40 for improving a recording signal 42 in a binaural hearing system 2 is shown in a block diagram. The two directional microphones 8, 14 of the hearing aids 4, 5 generate a first signal 44 or a second signal 46 from a sound 43, which are included in the recording signal 42. The recording signal 42 is broken down into a plurality of frequency bands 48 and monitored for a listening situation 20 corresponding to a conversation based on the sound levels in the frequency bands 48 and based on the correlations in the signal components of the frequency bands 48. If this hearing situation 20 is recognized, monitoring of the user's speech activity 50 is carried out in some frequency bands 48. If speech activity 50 is detected, then in individual frequency bands 48 in the recording signal, which have particularly high signal components of speech, the first directional characteristic 10 of the first directional microphone 8 and the second directional characteristic 16 of the second directional microphone 14 are directed against the frontal direction of the user in the manner described above adjusted.

Wird keine Sprachaktivität 50 detektiert, so wird für das Gespräch vorausgesetzt, dass der Benutzer seinen Blick zu einem Gesprächspartner 22 richtet, welcher für die gegebene Hörsituation 20 als Hauptschallquelle 52 zu betrachten ist. In diesem Fall werden die Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 in oben erklärter Weise in Frontalrichtung ausgerichtet. Dies kann insbesondere auch in Abhängigkeit einer erkannten Sprachaktivität 54 des Gesprächspartners erfolgen, d.h., ein Verstellen der Richtcharakteristiken 10, 16 in den betreffenden Frequenzbändern zur Frontalrichtung hin erfolgt erst dann, wenn das aus der Richtung des Gesprächspartners 22 stammende Signal einen entsprechend nennenswerten Pegel aufweist, so dass hierdurch eine Sprachaktivität 54 detektiert wird. Das durch die Frequenzbänder 48 gebildete Aufnahmesignal 42 kann nun entsprechend der für das binauralen Hörsystem 2 vorgesehenen Anwendungen weiter bearbeitet werden.If no speech activity 50 is detected, it is assumed for the conversation that the user directs his gaze towards a conversation partner 22, who is to be viewed as the main sound source 52 for the given listening situation 20. In this case, the directional characteristics 10, 16 are aligned in the frontal direction in the manner explained above. In particular, this can also be done depending on a recognized speech activity 54 of the conversation partner, i.e. the directional characteristics 10, 16 in the relevant frequency bands towards the frontal direction are only adjusted when the signal coming from the direction of the conversation partner 22 has a correspondingly appreciable level, so that speech activity 54 is thereby detected. The recording signal 42 formed by the frequency bands 48 can now be further processed in accordance with the applications intended for the binaural hearing system 2.

In einer nicht beanspruchten Variante umfassen die beiden Hörgeräte 6, 7 jeweils ein im Wesentlichen omnidirektionales Einzelmikrofon 55 bzw. 56 (siehe Fig. 4). Die beiden Richtmikrofone 8, 14 sind jeweils durch Zusammenschalten der beiden Einzelmikrofone 55, 56 gebildet (veranschaulicht durch eine strichlierte Verbindungslinie in Fig. 4), wobei sich die erste Richtcharakteristik 10 für das erste Hörgerät 6 und die zweite Richtcharakteristik 16 für das zweite Hörgerät 7 durch eine getrennte Signalverarbeitung der Signale des ersten und des zweiten Einzelmikrofons 55 bzw. 56 ergeben bzw. resultieren.In an unclaimed variant, the two hearing aids 6, 7 each include a substantially omnidirectional individual microphone 55 and 56 (see Fig. 4 ). The two directional microphones 8, 14 are each formed by interconnecting the two individual microphones 55, 56 (illustrated by a dashed connecting line in Fig. 4 ), whereby the first directional characteristic 10 for the first hearing aid 6 and the second directional characteristic 16 for the second hearing aid 7 arise or result from separate signal processing of the signals from the first and second individual microphones 55 and 56, respectively.

Obwohl die Erfindung im Detail durch das bevorzugte Ausführungsbeispiel näher illustriert und beschrieben wurde, ist die Erfindung nicht durch dieses Ausführungsbeispiel eingeschränkt. Der Schutzumfang der Erfindung wird alleine durch die angehängten Ansprüche definiert.Although the invention has been illustrated and described in detail by the preferred embodiment, the invention is not limited by this embodiment. The scope of the invention is defined solely by the appended claims.

BezugszeichenlisteReference symbol list

11
Benutzeruser
22
binaurales Hörsystembinaural hearing system
4, 54, 5
HörhilfegerätHearing aid device
6, 76, 7
Hörgeräthearing aid
88th
erstes Richtmikrofonfirst directional microphone
1010
erste Richtcharakteristikfirst directional characteristic
1212
Vorzugsrichtungpreferred direction
1414
zweites Richtmikrofonsecond directional microphone
1616
zweite Richtcharakteristiksecond directional characteristic
1818
Vorzugsrichtungpreferred direction
2020
Hörsituationlistening situation
22-2622-26
Gesprächspartnerinterlocutor
2828
FrontalrichtungFrontal direction
3030
Kanalchannel
3232
Schall der eigenen Sprache des BenutzersSound of the user's own language
4040
VerfahrenProceedings
4242
AufnahmesignalRecording signal
4343
Schallsound
4444
erstes Signalfirst signal
4646
zweites Signalsecond signal
4848
FrequenzbandFrequency band
5050
Sprachaktivität des BenutzersUser voice activity
5252
HauptschallquelleMain sound source
5454
Sprachaktivität des GesprächspartnersSpeech activity of the interlocutor
5555
EinzelmikrofonSingle microphone
5656
EinzelmikrofonSingle microphone

Claims (5)

  1. Method (40) for enhancing a recording signal (42) in a binaural hearing system (2) with at least a first hearing aid (6), the first hearing aid (6) comprising a first directional microphone (8) having an adjustable first directional characteristic (10) with a preferred direction (12),
    wherein the first directional microphone (8) converts sound into a first signal (44) which is included in the recording signal (42),
    wherein the binaural hearing system (2) comprises a second hearing aid (7) comprising a second directional microphone (14),
    wherein the second directional microphone (14) converts sound into a second signal (46) which is included in the recording signal (42),
    wherein a speech activity (50) of a user (1) of the hearing system (2) is monitored, wherein, when a speech activity (50) of the user (1) is detected, the preferred direction (12) of the first directional characteristic (10) is adjusted relative to a frontal direction (28) of the user (1) in such a way that the sound sensitivity of the first directional microphone (8) is attenuated in the frontal direction (28),
    wherein the preferred direction (12) of the first directional microphone (10) is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20° with respect to the frontal direction (28) of the user (1),
    wherein, when the speech activity (50) of the user (1) is detected, the preferred direction (22) of the second directional characteristic (16) is adjusted relative to a frontal direction (28) of the user (1) in such a way that the second directional characteristic (16) undergoes attenuation in the frontal direction (28), wherein the preferred direction (22) of the second directional characteristic (16) is adjusted at an angle between 5° and 20° relative to the frontal direction (28) of the user (1), and wherein, when the speech activity (50) of the user (1) is detected, the preferred directions (12, 18) of the first directional characteristic (10) and of the second directional characteristic (16) are adjusted with respect to the frontal direction (28) of the user (1) in such a way that the preferred directions (12, 18) of the first directional characteristic (10) and of the second directional characteristic (16) are crossing each other.
  2. The method (40) according to claim 1,
    wherein the recording signal (42) is monitored for a listening situation (20) corresponding to a conversation, and
    wherein, with no speech activity (50) of the user (1) being detected, upon detection of a listening situation (20) corresponding to a conversation, the preferred direction (12) of the first directional characteristic (10) and the preferred direction (18) of the second directional characteristic (16) are aligned with the frontal direction (28) of the user (1).
  3. The method (40) according to claim 2,
    wherein upon detection of a voice activity (54) of a conversation partner (22), the preferred direction (12) of the first directional characteristic (10) and the preferred direction (18) of the second directional characteristic (16) are aligned with the frontal direction (28) of the user (1).
  4. The method (40) according to any one of the preceding claims,
    wherein the recording signal (42) is decomposed into a plurality of frequency bands (48), and
    wherein, upon detection of a speech activity (50) of the user (1), a preferred direction (12) of the first directional characteristic (10) and/or a preferred direction (18) of the second directional characteristic (16) is shifted in at least one frequency band (48) with respect to the frontal direction (28) of the user (1).
  5. A binaural hearing system (1) with two hearing aids (6, 7), each of which comprising a directional microphone (8, 14), wherein the binaural hearing system (1) is configured to perform the method according to any one of the preceding claims.
EP16170741.9A 2015-06-10 2016-05-20 Method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system Active EP3104627B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

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DE102015210652.7A DE102015210652B4 (en) 2015-06-10 2015-06-10 Method for improving a recording signal in a hearing system

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EP3104627B1 true EP3104627B1 (en) 2023-09-13
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DE102018207346B4 (en) * 2018-05-11 2019-11-21 Sivantos Pte. Ltd. Method for operating a hearing device and hearing aid
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DE102019201879B3 (en) 2019-02-13 2020-06-04 Sivantos Pte. Ltd. Method for operating a hearing system and hearing system
DE102019205709B3 (en) 2019-04-18 2020-07-09 Sivantos Pte. Ltd. Method for directional signal processing for a hearing aid
CN110186171B (en) * 2019-05-30 2021-09-10 广东美的制冷设备有限公司 Air conditioner, method of controlling the same, and computer-readable storage medium
DE102020202483A1 (en) * 2020-02-26 2021-08-26 Sivantos Pte. Ltd. Hearing system with at least one hearing instrument worn in or on the user's ear and a method for operating such a hearing system
CN111327984B (en) * 2020-02-27 2022-04-22 北京声加科技有限公司 Earphone auxiliary listening method based on null filtering and ear-worn equipment

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US20180213337A1 (en) 2018-07-26
US10063980B2 (en) 2018-08-28
US20160366523A1 (en) 2016-12-15
CN107708045B (en) 2020-10-09
US10231064B2 (en) 2019-03-12
DE102015210652A1 (en) 2016-12-15
DE102015210652B4 (en) 2019-08-08
EP3104627C0 (en) 2023-09-13
CN107708045A (en) 2018-02-16
EP3104627A1 (en) 2016-12-14

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