KR101386277B1 - Method and apparatus for real-time frequency reshaper for treatment of tinnitus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a real-time frequency reshaper device and method for tinnitus treatment.
The real-time frequency reshaper device and method for the treatment of tinnitus according to the present invention is a real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment connected between the playback device and the output device, which can play a variety of music, the music signal of the playback device An input connector unit for receiving an input; A physical controller such as a button or dial for receiving a user's command, the operation unit capable of selecting or changing a tinnitus frequency and a bandwidth of the user; A reshaper unit for reshaping the music signal input through the input connector unit into a music signal for tinnitus treatment; Control the music signal input in real time from the input connector unit to the reshaper unit, and controls the music signal reshape from the reshaper unit to be output to the playback device through the output connector unit, tinnitus frequency selected by the operation unit And a control unit for controlling a bandwidth to be applied by the reshaper unit and an output connector unit for outputting the music signal converted by the reshaper unit to an output device.

Description

Real-time frequency reshaper device and method for tinnitus treatment {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REAL-TIME FREQUENCY RESHAPER FOR TREATMENT OF TINNITUS}

The present invention relates to a real-time frequency reshaper device and method for the treatment of tinnitus, and more specifically, installed between the playback device and the output device reshaping the music output from the playback device to the music signal for tinnitus treatment in real time (Reshaping) The present invention relates to a real-time frequency reshaper device and method for tinnitus treatment that can completely erase the tinnitus region frequency and emphasize the lateral frequency region.

Tinnitus is a disease mainly caused by hearing loss, which is caused by the cerebrum to compensate for the lack of normal stimulation to the brain due to hearing loss. Maintaining the environment is of utmost importance.

Tinnitus patients account for about 10% of the total population (approximately 5 million) and about 30% of the elderly population, but there are no established treatments, but tinnitus retraining therapy consisting of acoustic and counseling is the most widely used clinically. Therefore, no professional treatment device has been developed.

In order to solve this problem, the Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-0958570 (May 10, 2010, registration) is introduced to "the tinnitus treatment device for Lee Myung Jae training therapy."
However, masking sounds or music that simply supplements the sound in the hearing loss area does not improve tinnitus (Does enriched acoustic environment in humans abolish chronic tinnitus clinically and electrophysiologically? A double blind placebo controlled study.Vanneste et al., 2013), and recent studies have shown that a method of removing the sounds in the tinnitus frequency range from music to avoid stimulation in this region and to enhance lateral suppression from the surrounding frequency range is effective.

In addition, the tinnitus treatment unit for the tinnitus retraining therapy is because the tinnitus patient must continuously listen to the noise of a wide frequency used for tinnitus retraining, tinnitus patients feel bored, the compliance to the noise is not properly performed tinnitus treatment However, in order to generate noise suitable for treatment conditions, it is cumbersome to receive regular diagnosis with an expert and regularly update treatment conditions stored in memory.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to install a music between the playback device and the output device, the music for tinnitus treatment to completely erase the sound of this area and to emphasize the lateral frequency area in order to avoid stimulation of the tinnitus frequency region of the various music output from the playback device By providing a real-time reshaping as a signal, to provide a real-time frequency reshaper device and method that can receive more effective tinnitus treatment.

A real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention is a playback device capable of playing a variety of music, and a real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment connected between the output device, the music of the playback device An input connector unit for receiving a signal; A physical controller such as a button or dial for receiving a user's command, the operation unit capable of selecting or changing a tinnitus frequency and a bandwidth of the user; A reshaper unit for reshaping the music signal input through the input connector unit into a music signal for tinnitus treatment; Control the music signal input in real time from the input connector unit to the reshaper unit, and controls the music signal reshape from the reshaper unit to be output to the playback device through the output connector unit, tinnitus frequency selected by the operation unit And a control unit for controlling a bandwidth to be applied by the reshaper unit and an output connector unit for outputting the music signal converted by the reshaper unit to an output device.

The reshaper unit sets a center tinnitus frequency from the input music signal using the tinnitus frequency and the bandwidth set by the operation unit, and removes the region removed from the center tinnitus frequency by the bandwidth, and both sides of the removal region are highlighted. A divider dividing the first and second highlight regions; And a removing unit for removing the removing area divided by the filter through a filter, and an emphasizing unit for amplifying the first and second highlight areas divided by the splitting unit, and turning on and off alternately at regular intervals. It features.

The filter for removing the removal region in the splitter has a bandstop characteristic, and the filter for amplifying the highlighted region has a bandpass characteristic of at least one amplification degree.

The input connector unit may include an AD converter for converting an analog signal output from the playback device into a digital signal.

The output connector unit may include a DA converter for converting the digital signal converted by the reshaper unit into an analog signal.

Real-time frequency reshaping method for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: the input connector unit receives a real-time music signal from the playback device, the AD converter of the input connector unit converts the analog music signal into a digital music signal; Transmitting, by the control unit, the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth set by the operation unit to the reshaper unit; The division unit of the reshaper unit sets a center tinnitus frequency in the transmitted digital music signal, and divides it into a region to be removed from the center tinnitus frequency by a bandwidth, and a first and second emphasis region where both sides of the region are highlighted. ; Removing the reshaper unit by removing a removal region divided by the dividing unit through a filter; The emphasis of the reshaper portion amplifies the first emphasis region and the second emphasis region divided by the splitter, and turns on and off alternately at regular intervals, and the output connector unit transmits the music signal reshaped by the reshaper portion. And converting the digital music signal into an analog music signal through a DA converter and outputting the digital music signal to a playback device.

Thereby, the real-time frequency reshaper device and method for tinnitus treatment according to the present invention is installed between the playback device and the output device to minimize the stimulation of the tinnitus frequency region and to emphasize the lateral frequency region in real time as a music signal for tinnitus treatment By reshaping and reshaping into the music signal for tinnitus treatment, by providing a variety of reshaping music to tinnitus patients, tinnitus patients can receive tinnitus treatment without boring, variable tinnitus frequency can be set through the control panel, experts Music is not received from the tinnitus treatment, there is an effect that can reduce the treatment cost.

1 is a block diagram of a real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention
2 is a block diagram showing a reshaper unit of a real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention
Figure 3 is an exemplary view for explaining the operation of the reshaper unit of the real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention
4 is a flow chart of a real-time frequency reshaping method for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a real-time frequency reshaper for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The real-time frequency reshaper device 1 for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention (5) MP3, cassette, CD player, audio, PC, smartphone, Table PC, Mobile terminals, etc.) and output devices 6 (speakers, earphones, headphones, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 1, the real-time frequency reshaper device 1 for treating tinnitus includes an input connector unit 10, an operation unit 20, a reshaper unit 30, a control unit 40, and an output connector unit 50. It consists of.

The input connector unit 10 is connected to the playback device 5 to receive a music signal of the playback device.

The manipulation unit 20 is a physical controller such as a button or a dial for receiving a user's command, and may select or change the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth of the tinnitus patient.

The tinnitus patient can set the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth appropriately according to their characteristics through the operation unit 20, and when more effective frequency characteristics are announced for tinnitus treatment in the future, the frequency is set through the control unit 20 to treat the tinnitus patient. Can be performed.

The reshaper unit 30 reshapes the music signal input through the input connector unit 10 into a music signal for tinnitus treatment.

The controller 40 controls the music signal input in real time from the input connector unit 10 to be transmitted to the converter 30, and the music signal reshaped from the reshaper unit 30 is output to the output connector unit 50. It is controlled to be output to the playback device through, and controls so that the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth selected in the operation unit 20 can be applied in the reshaper unit 30.

The output connector unit 50 is connected to the output device 6 to output the music signal converted by the reshaper unit 30 to the output device 6.

The input connector unit 10 includes an analog to digital conversion (AD) 11 for converting an analog signal output from the playback device 5 into a digital signal.

The output connector unit 50 includes a DA converter 51 for converting the digital signal converted by the reshaper unit 40 into an analog signal.

Thereby, the real-time frequency reshaper device 1 for the treatment of tinnitus is connected between the playback device 5 and the output device 6 to treat music of various genres reproduced by the playback device 5. Real-time reshaping can be provided to Lee Myung patients.

In addition, it is possible to select or change the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth suitable for tinnitus patient through the operation unit 20, a number of tinnitus patients can use one reshaper device (1) is economically advantageous.

In addition, while the tinnitus patient listens to the reshaped music, even if the tinnitus frequency changes, the tinnitus frequency may be reset through the operation unit 20 to continue tinnitus treatment.

2 and 3, the reshaper unit 30 includes a divider 31, a remover 32, and an emphasis unit 33.

The division unit 31 sets a center tinnitus frequency from the input music signal using a tinnitus frequency and a bandwidth set by the manipulation unit 20, and removes the region A that is removed by a bandwidth from the center tinnitus frequency. The periphery of both sides of the area A is divided into first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2.

The removal unit 32 removes the removal area A divided by the division unit 31 through a filter.

The filter is a BandStop filter.

The emphasis unit 33 amplifies the first emphasis area B1 and the second emphasis area B2 divided by the division part 31 through a bandpass filter having an amplification degree of 1 or more, and alternates them at regular intervals. On-Off.

Here, 'turning on and off' means that when amplifying the first emphasis area B1, the second emphasis area is removed (Off), and when the second emphasis area B2 is amplified (On), 1 It means to remove the highlighted area (Off).

The predetermined period may be preset or adjusted through user setting.

Referring to FIG. 3, the operation of the reshaper unit 30 will be described in detail as follows.

The divider 31 configures an analysis frame of the input music signal in units of 1024 samples, and calculates a frequency spectrum by discrete transforming the received music signal.

For example, the divider 31 may perform a Fourier transform such as a fast fourier transform (FFT) to transform the frequency domain.

In this case, the division unit 31 may use the tinnitus frequency and the bandwidth selected or changed through the manipulation unit 20, and remove the region A as much as the bandwidth d around the tinnitus frequency f in the frequency spectrum. The first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2 are positioned at both sides of the removal area A, respectively.

The bandwidths of the first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2 are limited to d to d / 2 of the bandwidth d selected by the manipulation unit 20.

The bandwidth can be preset or manipulated.

The removal unit 32 replaces the amplitude value of the spectrum corresponding to the removal area with '0' so as to replace the area corresponding to the removal area A with 0 decibels (dB).

The emphasis unit 33 converts the amplitude values of the spectrum of the corresponding areas to G and C decibels (dB) so that the areas corresponding to the first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2 are amplified by G and C decibels (dB), respectively. Replace with the appropriate value.

The reason why the magnitudes of the G and C decibels are different is that when the amplification degree of the left and right bands is the same, clipping occurs due to energy mismatch of the left and right bands, so that the amplification degree of the left and right bands is different.

The amplification levels (G, C decibels) can be preset or adjusted.

Thereafter, the reshaper unit 30 performs an inverse discrete transform (inverse FFT) using the amplitude of the shaped (removed and emphasized) spectrum and the original phase (e) to obtain a signal in the time domain.

The reshaper unit 30 obtains a signal in units of frames by applying a window corresponding to the frame length to the generated signal, obtains a time domain signal by overlapping 50% with the previous frame, and outputs an output connector. Transfer to section 50.

In one embodiment, the reshaper unit 30 may apply a Von Hann window, a Hamming window, a rectangular window.

In the process of amplifying the first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2, the emphasis unit 33 turns on and off the first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2 at regular time intervals. By emphasizing the area around the tinnitus frequency, lateral suppression can enhance the suppression of the excitable region causing tinnitus.

Referring to Figure 4 describes the real-time frequency reshaping method for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the real-time frequency reshaping method for tinnitus treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention, the input connector unit 10 receives a music signal from the playback device 5 in real time, and the AD converter 11 of the input connector unit 10 The analog music signal is converted into a digital music signal (S100).

The control unit 40 transmits the tinnitus frequency and bandwidth set by the operation unit 20 to the reshaper unit 30 (S110).

The divider 31 of the reshaper unit 30 sets a center tinnitus frequency in the transmitted digital music signal, and removes the band A from the center tinnitus frequency by a bandwidth, and both sides of the remove region A. In operation S120, the first and second emphasis areas B1 and B2 are highlighted.

Thereafter, the removal unit 32 of the reshaper unit 30 removes the removal area A divided by the division unit 31 through a filter (S130), and the emphasis unit 33 divides the division unit 31. In step S140, the first and second highlighted areas B1 and B2 divided in the amplified region are amplified and alternately turned on and off at regular intervals (S140).

By alternately turning on and off the first highlighted region B1 and the second highlighted region B2 at regular intervals, the tinnitus is suppressed by lateral suppression of peripheral regions (first and second highlighted regions) of the central tinnitus frequency region (removal region). Inhibition of the excitatory regions that generate the

The output connector unit 50 receives the reshaped music signal from the reshaper unit 30, converts the digital music signal into an analog music signal through the DA converter 51, and outputs the analog music signal to the playback device (S150). .

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

5: playback device
6: output device
10: input connector
20:
30: reshaper part
40:
50: output connector

Claims (6)

In the playback device that can play a variety of music, and the real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment connected between the output device,
An input connector unit for receiving a music signal of the playback device; A physical controller such as a button or dial for receiving a user's command, the operation unit capable of selecting or changing a tinnitus frequency and a bandwidth of the user; A reshaper unit for reshaping the music signal input through the input connector unit into a music signal for tinnitus treatment; Control the music signal input in real time from the input connector unit to the reshaper unit, and controls the music signal reshape from the reshaper unit to be output to the playback device through the output connector unit, tinnitus frequency selected by the operation unit And an output connector unit for controlling a bandwidth to be applied by the reshaper unit and an output connector unit for outputting a music signal converted by the reshaper unit to an output device.
The input connector unit includes an AD converter for converting an analog signal output from the playback device into a digital signal,
The reshaper unit sets a center tinnitus frequency from the input music signal using the tinnitus frequency and the bandwidth set by the operation unit, and removes the region removed from the center tinnitus frequency by the bandwidth, and both sides of the removal region are highlighted. A divider dividing the first and second highlight regions; A removing part for removing the removing area divided by the filter through a filter, and an emphasis part for amplifying the first and second highlight areas divided by the splitting part, and turning on and off alternately at regular intervals.
The filter for removing the removal region in the division has a band stop (BandStop) characteristics, the filter for amplifying the highlighted region has a characteristic of a band pass (A BandPass) of 1 or more amplification degree, real-time for tinnitus treatment Frequency reshaper device.
delete delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The output connector unit includes a DA converter for converting the digital signal converted in the reshaper unit into an analog signal, real-time frequency reshaper device for tinnitus treatment.
An input connector unit receiving a music signal from a playback device in real time and converting an analog music signal into a digital music signal by an AD converter of the input connector unit (S100);
Transmitting, by the control unit, the tinnitus frequency and the bandwidth set by the operation unit to the reshaper unit (S110);
The division unit of the reshaper unit sets a center tinnitus frequency in the transmitted digital music signal, and divides it into a region to be removed from the center tinnitus frequency by a bandwidth, and a first and second emphasis region where both sides of the region are highlighted. (S120);
Removing the reshaper part by removing a removal area divided by the divider through a filter (S130);
Amplifying the reshaper portion by amplifying the first and second highlighted regions divided by the divider and turning on and off alternately at regular intervals (S140);
The output connector unit receives the reshaped music signal from the reshaper unit, converts the digital music signal into an analog music signal through the DA converter, and outputs the analog music signal to the playback apparatus (S150).
Real-time frequency reshaping method for tinnitus treatment comprising a.

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