JP5054477B2 - Hearing aid - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a listener to further comfortably and easily hear voice. <P>SOLUTION: The hearing aid device for outputting voice to be heard by a listener while emphasizing a predetermined section of the voice includes a voice input part which inputs the voice to be heard by the listener; a voice section detection part which detects the voice section to be emphasized and a voice start point from the voice input by the voice input part; a hearing aid voice generation part which controls the speech speed and formant based on the voice start point detected by the voice section detection part to generate a hearing aid voice; and a voice output part which output the hearing aid-controlled voice generated by the hearing aid voice generation part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hearing aid device, and more particularly, to a hearing aid device that makes it easier for listeners to hear sound.

  Conventionally, in order to compensate the hearing ability of a listener such as an elderly person or a person with weak hearing (a hearing-impaired person), a technique for giving a clue to listening has been used. For example, in order to make the utterance start timing conscious, a technique related to speech speed conversion that gives a clue for listening by slowly reproducing the start part of the utterance has been disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a certain silent section appears in output data obtained by decompressing and synthesizing input data at an arbitrary ratio that changes with time, and the duration of this silent section is predetermined. When the threshold value of the input data is exceeded, the decompression time of the output data with respect to this input data is deleted by an arbitrary time within the decompression time, so that the speech speed is converted within the actually spoken time frame. be able to.
Japanese Patent No. 3220043

  However, none of the conventional methods as described above change the amplification factor or the sound characteristics at the timing of listening to the audio signal, and only reproduce the sound collected by the microphone with the amplification factor and sound quality adjusted in advance. Met. Therefore, there has been no method for efficiently improving the hearing aid effect by changing the amplification factor and the sound characteristics at the listening timing of the audio signal and performing only the minimum necessary hearing aid.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hearing aid device that makes it easier for listeners to hear sound more comfortably.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs means for solving the problems having the following characteristics.

The invention described in claim 1 is a hearing aid device that outputs a sound by emphasizing a predetermined section of the sound to be heard by the listener, a sound input unit for inputting the sound to be heard by the listener, and the sound input unit. Hearing aid speech by controlling speech speed and formant with reference to the speech start point detected by the speech segment detection unit and the speech segment detection unit for detecting the speech segment and speech start point to be emphasized from the speech input by and hearing the sound generator for generating a, the hearing aid have a sound output unit for outputting a sound that is hearing controlled generated by the sound generating unit, the voice section detection unit, the two previously upper limit value and the lower limit value A voice power threshold is set, the time axis is moved in the reverse direction based on the time when the voice power input by the voice input unit exceeds the upper limit value, and first falls below the lower limit value. Detecting a time as a voice starting point of time, and detecting from time when below the lower limit to the time when it exceeds the upper limit value as the speech segment.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to make it easier for listeners to hear sound. Specifically, by informing the listener of the timing when the talk starts, it is possible to arouse the attitude to hear the sound, and as a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved. Further, it is possible to efficiently acquire the voice section and the voice start point with the voice power as a reference.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the hearing aid sound generation unit amplifies the sound output at the sound start point to a predetermined amplification factor, and then sets a control function set in advance in the sound section. The amplification factor is lowered correspondingly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, rather than amplifying the voice of the entire voice section detected by the voice section detector, the volume (amplification factor) of the sound is based on the voice start point (the part at the beginning of the speech). By changing, only the minimum necessary hearing aid can be performed, and the hearing aid effect can be improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the hearing aid sound generation unit slows the speech speed output at the sound start point to a predetermined speed, and then sets a control function set in advance in the sound section. Correspondingly, the speech speed is brought close to the normal speed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, only the minimum necessary hearing aid is obtained by changing the speed of the sound based on the voice start point, rather than slowing down the speed of the whole voice section detected by the voice section detector. And the hearing aid effect can be improved.

In the invention described in claim 4 , the hearing aid sound generation unit emphasizes a change in formant frequency of the sound output at the sound start point, and then sets a control function set in advance in the sound section. Correspondingly, the emphasis is reduced.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, instead of slowing down the speed of the entire speech section detected by the speech section detecting unit, the change of the formant frequency is emphasized with reference to the speech start point. A clear feeling can be increased and the hearing aid effect can be improved.

The invention described in claim 5 includes a tactile stimulation unit that applies tactile stimulation to the listener at the voice start point.

According to the invention described in claim 5 , it is possible to effectively notify the listener of the start of sound.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to make it easier for listeners to hear sound more comfortably. Specifically, by informing the listener of the timing when the talk starts, it is possible to arouse the attitude to hear the sound, and as a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved.

<Outline of the present invention>
The present invention extracts a speech section from the entire speech data, and further changes the volume (amplification factor) and speed of the speech starting point (speech start point) or emphasizes the change in formant frequency. This improves the ease of listening to the listener (user) at the beginning of the conversation.

  In the present invention, the timing of the start of speaking is given by tactile stimulation. This is because, for example, it is known that even elderly people and people with reduced hearing can often hear the content of the story if they are taught the timing of being spoken, such as being struck by their shoulders. Using this phenomenon, the hearing aid device is provided with a function of calling attention to the listener by emphasizing the beginning of the conversation.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the hearing aid also has a function of allowing the listener to detect the timing of the talk, so that the user can listen well without increasing the amplification factor. As a result, since it is not necessary to increase the amplification factor of sound more than necessary, it is less likely that loud sounds are picked up.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a hearing aid device according to the present invention having the above-described features will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Hearing Aid Device (Hearing Aid): Functional Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a hearing aid apparatus according to the present invention. A hearing aid device 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a voice input unit 11, a preamplifier 12, a voice start point detector 13, an amplification factor setting unit 14, an adaptive amplifying unit 15, and a speech speed / formant control function setting. Unit 16, hearing aid sound generation unit 17, and sound output unit 18.

  The voice input unit 11 inputs voice input from the outside. The voice input unit 11 basically collects an acoustic signal by a voice input device such as a microphone. Further, the voice input unit 11 outputs the input voice to the preamplifier unit 12.

  The preamplifier 12 amplifies the audio signal input from the audio input unit 11 to a predetermined size. Further, the preamplifier 12 outputs the amplified audio signal to the audio section detector 13 and the adaptive amplifier 15.

  The voice section detection unit 13 detects a voice section corresponding to the voice and a speech start part (voice start point) from the input voice. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a speech section detection method according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates sound power.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the voice section detection unit 13 sets two types of threshold values, that is, an upper limit value (Th1) and a lower limit value (Th2) of the power to be used as a voice section for an input voice signal. Times T1 to T2 included between the upper limit value and the lower limit value set for the speech waveform 21 obtained by the acoustic analysis on the signal are defined as a speech section.

  Thus, two types of threshold values are set in advance for the sound power. That is, in order to avoid the influence of noise, it is possible to detect a speech section including the time T2 when a threshold value Th1 set in advance with a large acoustic power is exceeded. Specifically, the time axis is moved in the reverse direction from the time T2, and the time T1 that is below the threshold value Th2 for the first time is detected as the voice start point (speech start portion). Thereby, the audio | voice area detection part 13 can obtain | require audio | voice area T1-T2 and the audio | voice start point T1.

  Here, since the hearing aid device is generally used in an environment where noise exists, the setting of this threshold value affects the performance. Therefore, it is preferable to adaptively set the threshold value Th1 and the threshold value Th2 while observing the input signal. Therefore, the speech section detection unit 13 has a function that can arbitrarily change the settings of the threshold Th1 and the threshold Th2. In this case, for example, an external scale or the like may be provided for the reinforcing device 10 to set a threshold value, or it may be set using software incorporated in the device.

  Further, the voice section detection unit 13 may set three or more threshold values, and may select two threshold values from time to time according to the surrounding situation in which sound is collected such as environmental noise. Note that the speech segment detection unit 13 always performs the above-described speech segment detection process when the power of the acoustic signal exceeds the threshold value Th1, and outputs the obtained speech start point information each time.

  Moreover, the speech section detection method in the speech section detection unit 13 is not limited to the above-described method, and the speech section can be detected by observing the presence or absence of speech by, for example, pitch extraction. The voice segment detection unit 13 outputs information (speech start point and voice segment) regarding the detected segment to the amplification factor setting unit 14.

  The amplification factor setting unit 14 controls the amplification factor of the adaptive amplification block based on conditions such as a preset amplification factor each time a speech segment and a voice start point are detected by the speech segment detection unit 13. Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of conditions for controlling the amplification factor. FIG. 3 shows an example in which a waveform is set using a control function set in advance as a reference for performing gain control. In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the amplification factor.

Here, time T <b> 3 shown in FIG. 3 indicates the voice start point detected by the voice section detection unit 13. As shown in the curve waveform 31 obtained by the predetermined function shown in FIG. 3, the amplification factor setting unit 14 uses the sigmoid function f (x) = 1 / (1 + e ^−x ) for the section from time T0 to T3. The curve waveform is obtained, and after time T3, a curve using a quarter cycle of the cosine function or an exp decay function having an appropriate time constant is set.

  Further, the amplification factor setting unit 14 sets, for example, the enhancement amplification factor A1 and the normal amplification factor A2 based on the function as described above. In the example of the curve shown in FIG. 3, any function can be used as long as the control function reaches the emphasis amplification factor A1 at the time T3 of the voice start point, and then gradually decreases monotonically and reaches the normal amplification factor A2. It may be used.

  The amplification factor setting unit 14 sets the control function described above, and outputs information on the set function to the adaptive amplification unit 15 and the speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16.

  The adaptive amplifier 15 amplifies a predetermined voice section of the voice signal input from the preamplifier 12 by adapting to the curve obtained from the gain and control function obtained by the gain setting unit 14. That is, the adaptive amplifying unit 15 amplifies a predetermined voice section with respect to the voice section detected by the voice section detecting unit 13 using the amplification factor and the control function set by the amplification factor setting unit 14.

  Note that a delay in processing occurs due to the amplification factor control processing in the voice section detection unit 13 and the amplification factor setting unit 14 described above, but since this processing is performed within a delay range that cannot be perceived by humans, it can be ignored.

  The speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16 sets a speech speed control function and a formant control function. Here, FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a speech speed control function. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a function for formant control. In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the waveform expansion / contraction rate. In FIG. 5, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates formant control amount. Note that the above-described function is an example, and a curved waveform using another function may be used as long as the function has a similar monotonous decrease.

  Here, time T <b> 4 shown in FIG. 4 indicates the voice start point detected by the waveform section detector 13. As shown in FIG. 4, the speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16 does not perform waveform expansion / contraction until the interval (time T <b> 0 to T <b> 4) up to the time T <b> 4 that is the voice start point, as shown in FIG. 4. Rate 1.0), with reference to time T4 as the voice start point, for example, the voice waveform expansion / contraction rate is set to E1 larger than 1.0, and the expansion / contraction rate gradually approaches 1.0 over time. A predetermined curve waveform 41 is set. For the waveform expansion / contraction rate E1, for example, a predetermined value such as 1.5 or 2.0 is arbitrarily set based on various conditions such as environmental noise and ease of hearing of the listener (user). Can do.

  Also, in FIG. 4, the larger the waveform (the greater the expansion / contraction rate), the slower the speech speed. In addition, as a setting method of the curve waveform 41 after time T4, for example, an exp decay function having a quarter period of a cosine function or an appropriate time constant can be used.

  Further, a time T5 shown in FIG. 5 indicates a voice start point detected by the waveform section detector 13. As shown in FIG. 5, the speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16 has a control function value of 0 until the time period T5 (time T0 to T5), which is the voice start point, as shown in FIG. No control is performed, and after time T5, which is the voice start point, the control amount set corresponding to the value of the control function is S1, and a predetermined curve waveform 51 is set to emphasize the change in formant frequency. To do.

  The control amount S1 can be arbitrarily set based on various conditions such as environmental noise and ease of hearing of the user (listener). As a method for setting the curved waveform 51, for example, an 1/4 decay period of an cosine function, an exp decay function having an appropriate time constant, or the like can be used.

  Further, the function for controlling the amplification factor as shown in FIG. 3, the function for controlling the speech speed as shown in FIG. 4, and the function for formant control as shown in FIG. The same function R (t) can be used.

R (t) = r _e + (r _s −r _e ) × ½ × [cos {π (t−t ₀ ) / T} +1.0]
At this time, in the case of the function shown in FIG. 3 described above, r _e = A2 and r _s = A1, and in the case of the function shown in FIG. 4, r _e = 1.0 and r _s = E1 are set. In the case of the function shown in FIG. 5, by setting r _e = 0 and r _s = S1, one function can efficiently correspond to each function.

  The speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16 outputs the set speech speed control function and formant control function to the hearing aid sound generation unit 17.

  The hearing aid sound generation unit 17 controls the speech speed / formant frequency based on the control functions set by the speech speed / formant control function setting unit 16.

  Here, regarding the control of the speech speed in the hearing aid sound generation unit 17, for example, the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above can be used. Specifically, when the speed at which the listening voice is uttered (speaking speed) is slowed down, the data length of the input voice, the output data length calculated in advance by a conversion function relating to a scaling factor given in advance, A series of processing is performed without causing loss of information, while constantly monitoring the data length of the sound output to the unit in a fixed processing unit.

  Further, the hearing aid sound generation unit 17 is set according to the degree of delay (conversion magnification) expected for the speech speed conversion for the purpose of minimizing the time difference between the video and the sound due to the expansion of the sound. The speech duration of the converted speech is changed to the original speech by appropriately shortening the silent section having a length equal to or greater than the variable threshold and changing the conversion magnification adaptively according to the degree of time difference between the output data length and the input data length. The maximum slow feeling that can be realized within a predetermined time frame is automatically generated while maintaining the utterance time of the voice.

  That is, the hearing aid sound generation unit 17 performs control while comparing the input data length, the target data length calculated by multiplying the input data length by an arbitrary expansion / contraction ratio, and the actual output sound data length. It is possible to prevent audio information from being lost even with a change in magnification.

Also, the time difference between the original voice that changes from moment to moment and the converted voice is monitored, and if the time difference is small, the speech speed conversion magnification is temporarily increased. Change the magnification adaptively, such as temporarily lowering it, and then adaptively change the remaining ratio of the silent interval based on the speech speed conversion magnification and expansion amount, etc. The time difference is eliminated adaptively. For this reason, users can set the conversion magnification, which is a standard for several steps, only once, and adaptively control the speech speed conversion magnification and the silent interval according to the set conditions, and the speech is actually spoken. In the time frame, the effect expected for speech speed conversion can be obtained stably. On the other hand, for formant frequency control, for example, “Toru Tsuki, Nao Kuwahara,” “Voice quality by emphasizing / suppressing formant changes” The method disclosed in "Control", Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Japan, October 1986 can be used.

  Specifically, adjacent phoneme information plays an important role in phoneme perception in continuous speech. Therefore, assuming that the time change of the formant frequency of a certain voice is F (t), the following equation (1) is assumed.

ここで、上述の（１）式において、Ｆ＾（ｔ_０）は、現実の物理量Ｆ（ｔ_０）に前後の情報を加算して得られる仮想的な物理量で、知覚の効果を考慮した特徴量ともいえる。また、上述の（１）式において、ｗ（ｔ）は重み関数であり、Ｔは考慮すべき前後の時間の範囲である。

Here, in the above equation (1), F ^ (t ₀ ) is a virtual physical quantity obtained by adding the preceding and succeeding information to the actual physical quantity F (t ₀ ), and is a feature that takes into account the effect of perception. It can be said that it is a quantity. In the above equation (1), w (t) is a weight function, and T is a range of time before and after consideration.

Described above (1) is in F ^ _{(t 0)} in addition to the physical quantity F _{(t 0)} of the current time _{t 0,} the F _{(t 0)} of time t only before and after the physical quantity F _(t 0 + t) It is shown that the difference of is contributing with the weight according to t. Therefore, the perceptual feature quantity F ^ (t) can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the weight W (t). The following equation (2) is used for the weight function W (t).

ここで、上述した（２）式において、αは重みを増減する係数である。なお、自然音声の第１及び第２ホルマント周波数の軌跡に、α＝７．３、Ｔ＝０．１５（ｓｅｃ）として、上述した（１）式を代入した場合に、個々の母音のクラス内のまとまりがよくなると共にクラス間の距離が大きくなり、物理特性上では母音の中性化がある程度回復されることが観察されている。

Here, in the above-described equation (2), α is a coefficient for increasing or decreasing the weight. In addition, when α = 7.3 and T = 0.15 (sec) are substituted into the trajectories of the first and second formant frequencies of natural speech and the above-described equation (1) is substituted, It has been observed that the neutralization of vowels is restored to some extent in terms of physical characteristics, as the unity improves and the distance between classes increases.

  Therefore, the hearing aid sound generation unit 17 uses a value obtained from the formant frequency control function as α in the above equation (2). Thereby, the feature amount can be controlled and voice quality control can be performed.

  In addition, the hearing aid sound generation unit 17 outputs the sound set as described above to the sound output unit 18. The sound output unit 18 amplifies the entire sound obtained from the hearing aid sound generation unit 17 with a predetermined amplification factor, and then outputs the sound subjected to hearing aid control. In addition, as the audio | voice output part 18, an earphone etc. are applicable, for example.

  Thereby, it is possible to make it easier for the listener to hear the sound more comfortably. Specifically, by informing the listener of the start timing of the talk by controlling the volume and speed of the voice, it is possible to arouse the preparedness for listening to the sound, and as a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved.

<Other embodiments>
In addition to the method described above, for example, a means for stimulating a tactile sensation is provided as a method for encouraging the listener to listen to sound. As a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved. Here, the above processing contents will be described as another embodiment with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example for explaining another embodiment. In FIG. 6, the same name and the same number are assigned to a configuration that performs processing substantially similar to that of the hearing aid device 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 described above, and description thereof is omitted here.

  The hearing aid device 60 shown in FIG. 6 includes a voice input unit 11, a preamplifier 12, a voice start point detector 61, an amplification factor setting unit 14, an adaptive amplifier 15, and a speech speed / formant control function setting. Unit 16, hearing aid sound generation unit 17, sound output unit 18, and tactile stimulation unit 62.

  Here, the audio section detection unit 61 and the tactile stimulation unit 62, which are the main differences from the hearing aid device 10 shown in FIG. 1 described above, will be described. The audio section detection unit 61 uses the voice start point detected by the above method. And the voice section information are output to the amplification factor setting unit 14, and an instruction control signal for instructing the listener to touch the tactile sense is output to the tactile stimulation unit 62.

  The voice section detection unit 61 generates a control signal in which the intensity and time of the stimulus are adjusted according to the length of the voice section and the like, and outputs the control signal to the tactile stimulation unit 62. For example, when the voice interval is short, the strength of the stimulus is increased and the time is shortened, and when the voice interval is long, a control signal instructing to increase the time is generated.

  The tactile stimulation unit 62 can give vibration by existing means disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-45790. Specifically, a magnetic circuit is configured by a permanent magnet attached to a coil and a coil support base via a damper, and the magnetic circuit including the magnet itself is directly used as a vibrator, so that the vibration corresponding to a small and wide frequency band can be obtained. By providing the transmission device, it can be used as a vibration calling device by pressing it against a required part of the user's body and using bone vibration or the like. Therefore, when the tactile stimulation unit 62 acquires the instruction control signal from the voice section detection unit 61, the tactile stimulation unit 62 gives a signal to the listener based on the control described above.

  The tactile stimulation unit 62 is not limited to the above-described method, and for example, a method such as passing a weak current through the housing of the earphone can be used. As a result, the tactile stimulation unit 62 applies a current based on the instruction content of the instruction control signal, thereby stimulating the listener and making it easier to hear the sound more comfortably. Specifically, by informing the listener of the timing at which the talk starts by stimulating tactile sensation, it is possible to arouse the attitude to hear the sound, and as a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved.

  In addition, the tactile stimulation unit 62, at the timing of the voice start point detected by the voice section detection unit 61, when a warning sound such as a siren or a crossing signal is received at a preset volume or higher. Attention can be made by means of volume amplification or tactile stimulation.

  According to the above-described embodiment, a warning can be clearly given to the listener, and safety can be improved. Thereby, even if it does not adjust a sound volume and a sound speed more than necessary, a listener can hear well by giving a stimulus.

  As other embodiments, for example, the two embodiments can be applied in combination, such as controlling the speech speed and further stimulating the sense of touch. Further, the above-described embodiment is merely an example of the present invention, and any method may be used for the processing in each block as long as the same object can be achieved.

  In addition, the above-described hearing aid device can be applied to a TV, a personal computer, and the like in addition to a hearing aid installed in the ear, and a hearing aid technique can be applied when providing content such as a program to a viewer.

  In addition, when provided by the above-described hearing aid device, a television, a personal computer, or the like, a program capable of executing the above-described hearing aid method is generated, and the hearing aid device itself or a personal computer (a personal computer that controls each software in the hearing aid device is also available). Etc.) can be implemented as an application to implement a hearing aid program or the like.

  Further, when the above-described functions are provided by a television, a personal computer, or the like, the process corresponding to the tactile stimulation unit 62 may be a visual stimulus such as a lamp or a flash image in a video.

<Hearing aid program>
Here, the hearing aids 10 and 60 described above include a volatile storage medium such as a CPU and a RAM, a non-volatile recording medium such as a ROM, an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, and a pointing device, a display means for displaying content, And a computer having an interface for communicating with the outside.

  In addition, the voice input unit 11, the preamplifier 12, the voice start point detectors 13 and 61, the amplification factor setting unit 14, the adaptive amplification unit 15, and the speech speed / formant control function setting unit included in the hearing aid devices 10 and 60. 16, each function in the hearing aid sound generation unit 17, the sound output unit 18, and the tactile stimulation unit 62 is realized by causing the CPU to execute a program describing these functions. These programs can also be stored and distributed in a recording medium such as a magnetic disk (floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), semiconductor memory, or the like.

  That is, it is possible to realize the hearing aid processing by generating an execution program (hearing aid program) for causing the computer to execute the processing in each configuration described above and installing the program in, for example, a general-purpose personal computer or server. it can.

<Hardware configuration>
Here, an example of a hardware configuration of an executable computer in the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration capable of realizing the hearing aid processing in the present invention.

  7 includes an input device 71, an output device 72, a drive device 73, an auxiliary storage device 74, a memory device 75, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 76 for performing various controls, and a network connection device. 77, which are connected to each other by a system bus B.

  The input device 71 includes a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse operated by a user (listener, viewer, etc.), a voice input device such as a microphone, and the like. Input an operation signal.

  The output device 72 has a display for displaying various windows and data necessary for operating the computer main body for performing processing in the present invention, a speaker for outputting sound, and the like, and is programmed by a control program of the CPU 76. It is possible to display or voice output the execution progress and results of the.

  In the present invention, the execution program installed in the computer main body is provided by a recording medium 78 such as a CD-ROM. The recording medium 78 on which the program is recorded can be set in the drive device 73, and the execution program included in the recording medium 78 is installed from the recording medium 78 to the auxiliary storage device 74 via the drive device 73.

  The auxiliary storage device 74 is a storage means such as a hard disk, and can store an execution program according to the present invention, a control program provided in a computer, etc., and perform input / output as necessary.

  The memory device 75 stores an execution program or the like read from the auxiliary storage device 74 by the CPU 76. The memory device 75 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like.

  The CPU 76 controls processing of the entire computer, such as various operations and input / output of data with each hardware component, based on a control program such as OS (Operating System) and an execution program stored in the memory device 75. Each processing can be realized. Further, the CPU 76 can acquire various types of information necessary during execution of the program from the auxiliary storage device 74, and the CPU 76 can also store processing results and the like.

  The network connection device 77 obtains an execution program from another terminal connected to the communication network by connecting to a communication network or the like, or an execution result obtained by executing the program or an execution in the present invention The program itself can be provided to other terminals.

  With the hardware configuration as described above, it is possible to efficiently realize hearing aid processing at low cost without requiring a special device configuration. In addition, by installing the program, hearing aid processing can be easily realized.

<Hearing aid program>
Next, a hearing aid processing procedure by the execution program (hearing aid program) in the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a hearing aid processing procedure in the present invention. FIG. 8 shows an example in which tactile stimulation processing is also performed. In FIG. 8, first, voice is input (S01), and preamplification is performed at a preset amplification factor (S02). Next, the voice start point / voice section is detected by the above-described method (S03), a function for setting the amplification factor at the detected voice start point / voice section is set (S04), and the curve of the set control function is set. The voice in the voice section is amplified in accordance with the waveform (S05).

  Next, the speech speed / formant control function is set (S06), and the speech speed / formant control is performed according to the set function (S07). Further, the user's sense of touch is stimulated (S08), and then the hearing-controlled sound is output based on the speech speed and formant controlled in the process of S07 (S09). Note that the process of S08 can be omitted.

  Thereby, it is possible to make it easier for the listener to hear the sound more comfortably. Further, by installing the execution program in the computer, it is possible to easily realize the hearing aid process.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to make it easier for listeners to hear sound. Specifically, by informing the listener of the timing when the talk starts, it is possible to arouse the attitude to hear the sound, and as a result, the hearing aid effect can be improved.

  In other words, it is possible to identify the beginning of the speech by detecting the voice section, increase the amplification factor of that portion, and then gradually lower the amplification factor to make the listener aware of the beginning of the speech. .

  In addition, by using a tactile stimulus, it becomes possible to make the user start to speak more reliably. Furthermore, listening at the beginning of speaking can be improved by slowing down the speaking speed at the beginning of speaking or by emphasizing changes in formant frequency.

  Therefore, the problem of the conventional hearing aid, that is, the loud sound feels loud and the small sound is difficult to hear is improved. As a result, hearing ability of hearing aid users is improved, and communication between the elderly and the hearing impaired is promoted.

  Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications, within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims, It can be changed.

It is a figure which shows the example of 1 structure of the hearing aid apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the detection method of the audio | voice area in this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the conditions for controlling an amplification factor. It is a figure which shows an example of the function for speech speed control. It is a figure which shows an example of the function for formant control. It is a figure which shows the example of 1 structure for demonstrating other embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions which can implement | achieve the hearing aid process in this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the hearing aid process sequence in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10,60 Hearing aid 11 Audio | voice input part 12 Preamplifier 13, 61 Voice start point detection part 14 Amplification factor setting part 15 Adaptive amplification part 16 Speech speed / formant control function setting part 17 Hearing aid voice generation part 18 Voice output part 21 Audio waveform 31, 41, 51 Curve waveform 62 Tactile stimulation unit 71 Input device 72 Output device 73 Drive device 74 Auxiliary storage device 75 Memory device 76 CPU
77 Network connection device 78 Recording medium

Claims (5)

In a hearing aid device that outputs a sound by emphasizing a predetermined section of the sound to be heard by the listener,
An audio input unit for inputting audio to be heard by the listener;
A voice section detecting section for detecting a voice section and a voice start point to be emphasized from the voice input by the voice input section;
With reference to the voice start point detected by the voice section detection unit, a hearing aid sound generation unit that generates a hearing aid sound by controlling speech speed and formant;
Have a sound output unit for outputting a sound that is hearing controlled generated by the hearing sound generating unit,
The voice section detection unit sets in advance a threshold value of power of two voices, an upper limit value and a lower limit value, and uses the time when the voice power input by the voice input unit exceeds the upper limit value as a reference time. The axis is moved in the reverse direction, and the time when it first falls below the lower limit value is detected as the voice start point, and the time from when the lower limit value is exceeded to the time when the upper limit value is exceeded is used as the voice. A hearing aid characterized by detecting as a section . The hearing aid sound generation unit
The sound output by the speech start point and amplified to a predetermined amplification factor, then according to claim 1, characterized in that reducing the gain in correspondence with the preset control functions in the speech segment Hearing aids. The hearing aid sound generation unit
The speech speed output at the voice start point is lowered to a predetermined speed, and thereafter, the speech speed is made close to the normal speed in correspondence with a control function set in advance in the voice section. The hearing aid device according to 1 or 2 . The hearing aid sound generation unit
Emphasizing the change in the formant frequency of the speech to be output by the speech start point, claims 1 to 3 thereafter is characterized by reducing the emphasis in association with the preset control functions in the speech segment The hearing aid device according to any one of the above. A hearing instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it has a tactile stimulation unit to stimulate tactile to the listener by the speech start point.

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