KR101845342B1 - Hearing aid fitting method with intelligent adjusting audio band - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for fitting an intelligent audio band-adjustable hearing aid, which enables a wearer of a hearing aid for amplifying an external sound received through a microphone according to output gains and outputting the amplified external sound to a receiver, to perform a simple operation, without help of an audiologist, to adjust an output gain by frequency and by input sound volume, which finely adjusts an output gain according to hearing articulation at each frequency band, and which uses brainwaves in a process of obtaining the wearer′s hearing characteristics to receive the output gain, thereby improving user convenience. The method comprises the following steps of: setting a plurality of stages of hearing levels (S10); obtaining a sound volume of each hearing level by pure tone (S20); obtaining a hearing curve, a correlation graph between the sound volume and hearing (S30); obtaining a compensation curve for compensating the hearing curve to a hearing curve of a person of normal hearing (S40); finely adjusting the compensation curve by pure tone according to hearing articulation at each frequency band (S50); and adjusting an output gain of the hearing aid according to the compensation curve (S60).

Description

{HEARING AID FITTING METHOD WITH INTELLIGENT ADJUSTING AUDIO BAND}

The present invention relates to a hearing aid for amplifying an external sound input through a microphone according to an output gain and outputting the amplified sound to a receiver, and a hearing aid wearer performs a simple operation of pressing a button by itself without the help of a hearing aid, The present invention relates to an intelligent audio band adjusting hearing aid fitting method using an EEG in a process of finely adjusting the output gain according to the listening intention according to frequency bands and obtaining the hearing characteristic of a wearer in order to obtain an output gain.

The hearing aid inputs the external sound through the microphone 11, amplifies the signal by the signal processing unit 12 according to the preset output gain, and outputs the amplified signal to the receiver 13 to clearly hear the external sound of the hearing impaired person or the hearing impaired person It is necessary to perform a fitting operation for testing the auditory auditory perception of the wearer and adjusting the frequency-dependent output gain.

Such a fitting operation is a method of obtaining an output gain by listening to a reference sound per frequency band as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2009-0065749. In addition, Japanese Patent No. 10-1518877 discloses a hearing aid provided with fitting means.

This conventional technique is a method of obtaining an output gain according to a reference sound volume at the moment when the reference sound is heard, and detects only the sound of the reference sound of each frequency.

However, the degree of hearing sensitivity to hearing impaired or hearing impaired audiences deviates significantly from the linearity of hearing impaired persons, and the frequency varies greatly depending on the frequency. Therefore, .

In addition, even when the output gain is obtained for each frequency, when a word or sentence is spoken through a hearing aid, there is a slight variation in the intelligibility of listening per frequency band.

Further, in order to perform precise fitting according to the auditory characteristic with severe frequency-dependent variations, the time required for fitting becomes long, and the error also increases.

KR 10-2009-0065749 A 2009.05.23. KR 10-1518877 B1 2015.05.04.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hearing aid which enables a wearer of a hearing aid to fit an output gain according to frequency and input sound size finely divided without a hearing aid alone, reduce an error while shortening a fitting time, and finely adjust a variation in intelligibility The present invention provides an intelligent audio band adjusting hearing aid fitting method capable of more precise and precise fitting.

In order to attain the above object, the present invention is characterized in that an external sound is inputted through a microphone 11, amplified by a signal processing section 12 according to a preset output gain, and output to a receiver 13, A fitting setting section 14 for causing the hearing aid 10 to output a test sound to the receiver 13, a button to be pressed by the hearing aid wearer, and an output gain (10) for setting a plurality of levels of hearing level in the processor (21), the hearing aid fitting method comprising: a processor (21) for setting an output gain of the signal processor (12) The fitting setting unit 14 sets each pure tone having a different frequency as a test tone and changes the volume of the test tone. When the wearer who listens to the sound of each auditory level in the processor 21, (S20) of acquiring the sound volume of the test sound for each auditory level by repeating the process of obtaining the test sound volume of the test sound for each of the pure sounds. A listening curve acquisition step (S30) of acquiring, in the processor (21), a listening curve (L), which is a graph indicating a correlation between the test sound volume and auditory sense, on a pure tone basis; A correction curve acquiring step (S40) of acquiring, in a processor (21), a calibration curve (C), which is a graph representing a gain for each loudness for correcting the hearing curve (L) to a hearing curve (S) A setting step (S60) of setting, in the fitting setting unit (14), an output gain based on the pure tone correction curve to be used in the signal processing unit (12); .

In the embodiment of the present invention, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) acquires the characteristic change of the wearer's brain waves according to the auditory level when acquiring the sound volume of the pure sound according to the auditory level while outputting the volume of the first pure- Thereafter, it is possible to acquire the loudness of the pure tone according to the auditory level for the remaining pure tones based on the characteristics of the brain waves without pushing the button.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) may include the steps of acquiring the characteristic changes of the brain waves according to the auditory level during the volume adjustment and outputting the broadband test sound or white noise instead of the first pure sound, It is possible to obtain the loudness of the pure tone according to the auditory level based on the characteristics of the EEG.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the step of acquiring the auditory characteristic (S20) stores data on the characteristic change of the brain waves according to the auditory level, and then, when the hearing aid fitting is repeated, the characteristic changes of the brain waves according to the auditory level are not acquired It is possible to use the stored data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) stores the test sound volume for each of the pure tones and the auditory level, and if there is a previously stored value, applies a predetermined forgetting factor A weighted average of the stored value and the currently obtained value may be obtained to replace the previously stored value and used in the listening curve acquisition step S30.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) may be performed by replacing each pure tone with a tone of a frequency band having a predetermined bandwidth around each pure tone as a test tone.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) is performed by adjusting the volume by gradually increasing or decreasing the sound for each pure tone, and pressing each time when listening to the sound volume of the test sound for each auditory level Only one button may be provided to acquire the sound volume at the time of reaching the auditory sense level which is sequentially obtained.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 21 selects the relative auditory sense of the wearer with respect to the output of the frequency band of the broadband test sound as a button, adjusts the relative level of the calorific correction curve C, A tuning step (S50) for causing the setting step (S60) to be performed according to a pure tone recalibration curve (C '); As shown in FIG.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in the tuning step (S50), the broadband test tone may be a speech or a sentence, and the relative auditory sense of the wearer may be a relative clarity of speech per frequency band.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tuning step (S50) can increase the fine adjustment ratio of the correction curve C toward the frequency relatively low at the frequency with a relatively high clarity and toward the frequency relatively low.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tuning step (S50) may allow the wearer to rank the degree of clarity of each frequency band by the button input, thereby adjusting the relative level of the correction curve for each frequency band according to the rank.

According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to perform fitting with a pushing operation of a pushing button which is heard by the wearer himself alone without the help of a hearing aid, and to obtain a sound level of a preset multilevel auditory level for each frequency pure tone, You can fit to gain hearing.

In addition, since the auditory characteristic is obtained by using the characteristic change of the brain waves appearing in each auditory level, the present invention can obtain the listening characteristics for each frequency and the auditory level finely divided and precise fitting is possible.

Further, since the output gain is finely adjusted according to the clarity of the sound of each frequency band of the broadband test tone (or speech), the deviation according to the frequency band is also semi-regulated. Therefore, the present invention accurately reflects the auditory characteristics of the hearing- Fitting can be done.

1 is a block diagram of a hearing aid fitting system for an intelligent audio-band adjustable hearing aid fitting method according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the system shown in Fig. 1. Fig.
3 is a flowchart of a method of intelligent audio band adjustment hearing aid fitting according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a detailed flowchart of the auditory characteristic acquisition step (S20) in the flowchart of FIG. 3;
5 is a detailed flowchart of a tuning step (S50) in the flowchart of FIG.
FIG. 6 illustrates a screen a of the user interface 27, a normal listening curve b, and a listening curve c of a hearing impaired person or a hearing impaired person.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a listening curve (a) for each frequency tone and a sensitivity curve (b) for each auditory level obtained from a hearing impaired person or a hearing impaired person.
Fig. 8 is a diagram for explaining that a listening curve (b) can be obtained by applying a correction curve (b) to a listening curve (a).
Fig. 9 is a graph showing the frequency characteristics of the user interface 27 in the tuning step (S50), the graph (b) before and after the fine adjustment of the correction curve C and the case of enhancing the low- Graph (c) showing the adjustment ratio of the star calibration curve (C).
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a hearing aid fitting system for an intelligent audio band adjusting hearing aid fitting method according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
11 is a detailed flow chart of a step (S20) of acquiring auditory characteristics in the second embodiment of the present invention.
12 is a detailed flowchart of an auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) in the third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system for a method of intelligent audiovisual adjustment hearing aid fitting according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the system shown in FIG.

1 and 2, the hearing aid 10 further includes a fitting setting unit 14 and a wireless communication unit 15 in addition to a general hearing aid having a microphone 11, a signal processing unit 12 and a receiver 13 So that hearing aid fitting can be performed in cooperation with the fitting terminal 20, which can be configured, for example, as a spade phone or a PC.

Thus, the hearing aid wearer can press the button provided on the petticoat terminal 20 alone to perform the hearing aid fitting without the help of a hearing aid.

First, the microphone 11, the signal processing unit 12, and the receiver 13, which are general components, will be described.

The microphone 11 picks up external sound and converts it into an electrical signal.

The signal processing unit 12 amplifies the external sound, which is picked up by the microphone 11 and received as an electrical signal, according to an output gain preset for each frequency band, and then outputs the amplified signal to the receiver 13.

For example, the receiver 13 may include a speaker that is inserted into the ear toward the eardrum, may include a vibration element, and amplifies the external sound to enable the wearer of the hearing aid 10 to hear the sound.

The hearing of the hearing impaired or the hearing impaired does not have a linear acoustical power for all frequencies in the audible frequency band and there is a difference in acoustical power per frequency depending on the degree of hearing loss.

Therefore, the hearing test is performed for each frequency band to measure the audibility per frequency band, and the output gain for each frequency band is calculated according to the measured result, and the signal gain is set in the signal processing unit 12.

Conventionally, a method of measuring an input sound volume perceived by a pure tone (an input sound volume that starts to be audible) and calculating an output gain according to the input sound volume has been generally used.

However, the hearing of the hearing impaired or the hearing impaired tend not to obtain a linear auditory sense proportional to the input sound magnitude, and the nonlinearity of the auditory sense of the input sound magnitude tends to be different for the frequency pure sound.

Here, the meaning of the linearity means the hearing characteristic of the hearing-impaired person. Actually, the degree (or loudness) of the physical sound loudness varies depending on the frequency.

The present invention obtains the correlation between the input sound volume and the auditory per frequency sound to obtain a linear auditory feeling on the input sound volume.

According to the added function of the present invention, fine tuning is performed according to differences in listening intelligibility for each frequency band such as a word or a sentence, so that the user can clearly hear speech even when wearing a hearing aid.

According to the added function of the present invention, when the hearing test is performed, the hearing aid wearer does not determine the auditory sense even if the frequency difference between the pure sounds is very narrowly divided and the interval between the hearing levels is very narrow.

The fitting setting unit 14, the wireless communication unit 15 and the fitting terminal 20 mounted on the hearing aid 10 will be described and a hearing aid fitting method using the same will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 .

The wireless communication unit 15 is a component for short-range communication with the fitting terminal 20 and is an element for an electric communication connection with the fitting terminal 20, It is also possible to do.

The fitting setting unit 14 sets the output gain of the signal processing unit 12 in cooperation with the fitting terminal 20 connected through the wireless communication unit 15 and specifically outputs a test sound to the receiver 13 And the function of setting the output gain obtained by the fitting terminal 20 to be used in the signal processing unit 12. [

The test tones include a pure tone having different frequencies, a broadband test tone having a plurality of frequency components, and a frequency band tone of a broadband test tone.

Here, instead of each frequency pure tone, a tone of a frequency band having a predetermined bandwidth around each pure tone may be used as a test tone.

Broadband test tones, for example, are spoken to a word or a sentence, and are used to determine the discrimination power of a speech signal by frequency band.

The fitting setting unit 14 causes the signal processing unit 12 to output the test tone to the receiver 13 as a test tone at a frequency indicated by the fitting terminal 20, When the fitting terminal 20 instructs the output of the broadband test sound, the broadband test sound is sequentially output to the frequency band sounds obtained by filtering by the band-specific filter. Here, the volume variable can be increased by gradually increasing the sound.

1, the fitting terminal 20 includes a wireless communication unit 26 for short range wireless communication, a user interface 27 composed of a touch screen, and a smart Phone.

According to the present invention, an application to be executed by the processor 21 includes a level setting unit 22 for setting a plurality of levels of auditory levels, a pure tone of different frequencies as test tones, A sound amount of the test sound for each auditory level according to the auditory sense of the wearer input through the user interface 27 after instructing the fitting setting unit 14 to output the sound, A gain acquiring section 23 for acquiring a gain curve for each of the pure sounds, a gain curve obtaining section 23 for obtaining a gain curve for each of the pure tones, (24), and a broadband test tone (speech in the embodiment of the present invention) for each frequency band to the fitting setting unit 14 The relative level of the correction curve for each pure tone is adjusted and adjusted based on the user's perception (the degree of clarity in the embodiment of the present invention) inputted by the user interface 27 via the fitting band setting unit 14 to the processor 21 so as to set the output gain to be used in the signal processing unit 12 as a functional block.

Here, the auditory sense level of the level setting section 22 may be, for example, a level that starts to be heard, a level of a size suitable for listening, a level that is inconvenient to listen to, Level or the wearer may designate each level.

Of course, the frequency of each pure tone used as a test tone and each output frequency band for the broadband test sound must be pre-established between the fitting setting unit 14 and the processor 21, and the hearing aid wearer must pre- The hearing aid 10 notifies the user of the sound volume at the auditory level of the user and notifies the user interface 27 of the volume of the sound volume. Should be able to.

The processor 21 sequentially operates the level setting unit 22, the auditory sense acquiring unit 23, the gain acquiring unit 24 and the tuning unit 25, and the fitting setting unit 14, The intelligent audio band adjusting hearing aid fitting method according to the present invention will be described in detail.

Referring to FIG. 3, the hearing aid fitting method according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes an auditory level setting step S10, an auditory characteristic acquiring step S20, a listening curve acquiring step S30, An acquisition step S40, a tuning step S50, and a setting step S60.

The auditory level setting step S10 is a step of previously setting a plurality of levels of auditory sense levels in the processor 21, and according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Fig. 5 (a) The listening level 1, which is the level of the listening level, and the listening level 2, which is the level of the level that is uncomfortable to listen to. However, the level may be further subdivided. For example, a "level that can be listened to loudly " between the auditory level 0 and auditory level 1, and as another example, Lt; / RTI >

Such a plurality of levels of hearing level may be selected by the wearer of the hearing aid 10 or may be previously designated in advance.

The step of acquiring the auditory characteristic (S20) is a step of acquiring the sound volume (i.e., the sound volume output to the receiver) of the wearer's ear at each set auditory level for each of the different frequencies, The user can listen to each of the pure tones varying in volume with time by instructing the fitting setting unit 14 to output a pure tone of a test tone as a test tone and outputting a variable tone, The sound volume of the test sound heard at the auditory level is obtained for each stage of each auditory level and for each of the pure sounds.

According to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) repeatedly performs a pure sound output operation of sequentially outputting different frequency pure tones (S21, S24, S25) When the pure tone is output, the volume is gradually increased (S22). As the volume gradually increases, the volume of the sound when the volume reaches the auditory level of each step is obtained (S23).

 Referring to the screen of the user interface 27 shown in FIG. 6 (a), it is possible to output different frequency pure tones 1 on the screen in a predetermined order, or to allow the user to select the desired tones while viewing the screen, While the button 2 for each auditory level that can be pressed is implemented in the user interface 27 and the volume is gradually increased with respect to each of the pure tones, The user presses the corresponding button 2 at the moment when he / she hears. As described above, the process of acquiring the loudness of the pure tone output at the time of pressing the button 2 is repeated for each loudness level of each stage, so that the loudness of the pure tone per loudness level can be obtained for each pure tone.

Data on the test tone volume of each test tone obtained by the pure tone and the auditory level are stored in a data storage (not shown), and then, when the hearing aid fitting operation is performed again, data corresponding to a predetermined forgetting factor The weighted average value is obtained by applying the weighted value to the previously stored value and the currently obtained value, and the updated weighted average value is stored to replace the previously stored value, and in the next step, the listening curve acquisition step S30 To be used (S26).

Hearing may vary by 5 to 10 db per day, but hearing aids do not feel these hearing changes significantly.

However, hearing impaired people or people with hearing loss feel hearing changes in the morning every morning, so it is better to do hearing aid fittings every morning.

In such a case, if the hearing aid fitting is performed every morning, the daily deviation of the test sound volume of each of the pure tone and the auditory level acquired is also largely increased, so it is preferable to reduce the sudden change due to such daily deviation.

If the data of the test tone volume for each of the pure tones and the auditory level is not stored, the acquired data is first stored, and then, when performing the hearing aid fitting, the test tone volume for each of the pure tones and the auditory level Therefore, the weighted average of the previously stored value and the currently obtained value is obtained and used as illustrated in Equation 1 below.

은 n 주파수 순음 및 l 청감레벨 테스트음 소리크기의 이전 저장값이고,

은 n 주파수 순음 및 l 청감레벨 테스트음 소리크기의 현재 획득한 값이고,

은 망각인자 β에 따라 가중하여 얻는 n 주파수 순음 및 l 청감레벨 테스트음 소리크기의 가중평균 값이다.In Equation (1), the index n is the order of the frequency pure tones, and the index l is the order of the auditory level. And,

Lt; / RTI > is the previous stored value of n frequency tone and l auditory level test tone volume,

Is the currently obtained value of the n-frequency pure tone and l auditory level test tone volume,

Is the weighted average value of the n frequency tone and l auditory level test sound volume weighted according to the forgetting factor beta.

The listening curve acquisition step S30 acquires the listening curves L and S, which are graphs showing the correlation between the sound volume and the auditory sense, on a pure tone basis, based on the sound volume of the pure tone per auditory level acquired by the processor 21. [

The listening curves L and S acquired at this time differ as shown in the listening curve S and the hearing-impaired (or hearing-impaired) listening curve L shown in Figs. 6B and 6C. The auditory normal listening curve S is a graph in which the auditory level that is sensed by the increase in the sound volume input to the eardrum also linearly increases, but the hearing-impaired audible curve L does not appear as a linear graph. That is, the hearing-impaired person and the hearing-impaired person have a different sound volume at the same hearing level.

Of course, auditory sense is subjectively judged, and there is also a variation among auditory normal persons, and it can not be obtained as a graph that is proportional to each pure tone. Also, there is a difference depending on the frequency. However, I will escape.

In other words, the listening curves L-1, L-2, and L-3 of the hearing-impaired hearing-impaired individuals shown in FIG. 7 (a) The input sound volume acquired for the auditory level of each stage also shows a significant variation in frequency.

Accordingly, the listening curves (L: L-1, L-2, L-3) of the hearing impaired person are obtained for different frequency pure tones.

On the other hand, since the listening curves (L: L-1, L-2, L-3) of the hearing-impaired by each of the pure noises are obtained on the basis of the input sound volume obtained for each predetermined auditory level, Or estimates a smooth curve near the auditory level in a linear manner. Of course, as the level of hearing is subdivided, a listening curve close to the hearing of the wearer will be obtained.

The calibration curve acquisition step S40 acquires a calibration curve C, which is a graph indicating an output gain (amplification degree) for each sound volume for correcting the listening curve L to the listening curve S of the auditory normal.

That is, the correction curve C is a graph showing the relationship between the magnitude of the input sound collected by the microphone 11 and the magnitude of the output sound to be output to the receiver 13, and shows the output gain (amplification degree) of each input sound size.

8, when the listening curve L for a certain tone is obtained as shown in FIG. 8 (a), the difference from the audible normal listening curve S for the pure tone illustrated in FIG. 8 (c) Accordingly, a correction curve C that shows the output gain for each input sound size necessary for obtaining the auditory characteristics of the auditory normal listening curve S can be obtained.

Of course, the normal listening curve S should be set in advance for each frequency band to be used, so that it can be used in the correction curve acquiring step S40.

The tuning step S50 is a step of finely adjusting the correction curve C for each frequency tone according to a frequency-dependent deviation that can be shown when a broadband test sound is played.

5, the processor 21 obtains the calibration curve C for each of the pure tones, and then instructs the fitting setting section 14 to output the broadband test tone to the broadband test tones (Speech signal in the example) are filtered by a plurality of filters having different bands (low-pass and high-pass filters in the embodiment of the present invention) to obtain signals of different frequency bands, and then the signals in the repeated loops S51, S53 and S54 (Step S52). At the same time, the hearing aid wearer selects a relatively audible perception (relative clarity of speech per frequency band in the embodiment of the present invention) per frequency band (S55).

The processor 21 adjusts the level of the calibration curve C for each of the frequency bands in accordance with the audibility per frequency band.

The level adjustment of the correction curve is to increase or decrease the output gain for each input sound size by the same ratio to adjust the graph up or down on the coordinates of FIG. 8 (b).

9, a low-frequency speech and a high-frequency speech are generated by dividing the speech 3 with respect to a specific frequency by selecting the speech 3 composed of words or sentences, And causes the button 5 to select which band of speech is clearly heard by the wearer.

Then, it is determined whether to strengthen the bass sound or the treble sound according to the selection by the button 5, and finely adjust the listening curve for each of the pure tones belonging to the determined band.

FIG. 9 (b) shows a re-correction curve C 'obtained after level-up adjustment of a positive tone correction curve C. According to this, the output gain is generally adjusted upward.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the button 4 for manually adjusting the fine adjustment ratio according to the relative clearness is provided, so that the level of the listening curve can be adjusted according to the hearing of the wearer.

Here, as shown in Fig. 9 (C), it is preferable that the adjustment ratio of the correction curve C per frequency tone is gradually increased toward a frequency with a relatively low level of intelligibility at a frequency with a relatively high level of intelligibility.

That is, if the clarity of the low frequency sound is relatively low compared to the high frequency, the upward adjustment ratio of each pure tone to the correction curve C gradually increases from the high frequency pure tone to the low frequency pure tone and the clarity of the high frequency sound is relatively The lowering ratio of each pure tone to the correction curve C gradually increases from the low-frequency pure tone to the high-frequency pure tone.

Here, the relative intelligibility of speech signals per frequency band can be determined by placing the hearing aid wearer in a ranking order. However, since the intelligibility is determined by the wearer's subjective opinion, a method of ranking the intelligibility degree by the objective statistical method may be considered.

For example, by repeating the word test process of outputting the correct answers and wrong answers to the user interface and selecting the sounds to be heard, the more accurate the answers, the more the intelligibility can be evaluated.

(1) Punch (2) Pinch (3) Deduction (4) Chop (5), which is a word that can be heard in a similar way to ' And the word test process to make the word "address" displayed on the screen to be repeated is repeated for different words to rank intelligibility according to the correct answer ratio or the incorrect answer ratio.

On the other hand, it is possible to select which one of the bass and treble sounds is relatively inaudible for the speech of each band to be output, and to strengthen the selected sound at the same time, discriminating among the listening curves of the same band .

As described above, the processor 21, which has obtained the relative level-adjusted pure-tone recalibration curve C 'according to the relative listening clearness for the frequency bands, calculates the output gain by the pure- To the fitting setting unit 14 of the microphone 10 and to use it in the signal processing unit 12 (S60).

However, if possible, if you want to fit precisely to the hearing power of the deaf, you should make the frequency difference between the pure tones used for fitting as small as possible. However, as the frequency difference between the pure tones is reduced, the number of frequency tones is increased, so that the fitting time is long and it becomes very troublesome for the hearing aid wearer.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the characteristic changes of the brain waves appearing for each of the auditory levels set in advance by using the fitting system including the EEG 30 are acquired once and stored in the database, and the sound of the pure- When the size is obtained, the listening moment of the pure tone according to the auditory level is automatically detected as the characteristic change time point of the EEG so that the hearing aid wearer may not separately input through the user interface 27 shown in FIG. 6 (a).

According to the fitting system shown in FIG. 10, the fitting system for the intelligent audio band adjusting hearing aid fitting method according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes an electroencephalograph 30 for measuring an EEG when performing a fitting operation .

At this time, the brain wave measuring device 30 includes a wireless communication unit 15 for transmitting the detected EEG waves to the fitting terminal 20 in real time, and the fitting terminal 20 performs the auditory characteristic acquiring step S20 11 in cooperation with the electroencephalogram measurer 30 in the flowchart of FIG.

According to the flowchart shown in Fig. 11, the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) of the second embodiment of the present invention confirms whether data representing a characteristic change of an EEG according to the auditory level is stored (S21) (S22-1, S22) that acquires a characteristic change of an EEG according to the auditory level, in parallel with the operation of acquiring the sound magnitude per auditory level while outputting the pure sound of the first order among the different frequency pure tones to be sequentially output (S24, S25, S26, S27, and S28) for each auditory level are performed from the second sequential number after performing the steps S22, S22, S22, (S24, S25, S26, S27, and S28) for each auditory level from the first sequential number.

The EEPROM acquisition steps S22-1, S22-2, S22-3, S22-4, and S22-5 are performed when communication with the brain-wave measuring device 30 is to be performed (S22-1) (S22-2), the sound volume of the pure tone per level of the auditory sense is changed to the point of time when the button is pressed according to the auditory sense of the wearer At each acquisition (S22-3), characteristic changes are acquired from the wearer's brain waves and stored (S22-4). In step S22-5, the initial sequence numbers of the sound level acquisition steps S24, S25, S26, S27, and S28 are set in the second order.

Thus, when listening to the first pure tone of the loudness level per auditory level, characteristic changes of the wearer's brain waves can be obtained for each auditory level.

Of course, we also get the loudness per auditory level for the first pure tone.

At this time, the characteristic changes of the brain waves according to the obtained hearing level are stored in a database, and when the hearing aid fitting is repeated, the EEG acquisition step (S22-1, S22-2, S22-3, S22-4, (S24, S25, S26, S27, and S28) from the first order to the auditory level using the stored data.

The steps S24, S25, S26, S27 and S28 for obtaining the sound level for each auditory level may include repeating loops S26 and S27 for sequentially outputting the pure sounds according to the order, (S24), the time at which the sound level of each auditory level is output is monitored by the brain waves received from the brain-wave measuring instrument 30, so as to find out when the characteristic change of the brain-wave made into the data base appears And obtains the sound size outputted at the time point (S25).

In the same manner as in the first embodiment, test sound volume for each of the pure tones and the auditory level is stored. If there is a previously stored value, a previously stored forgetting factor is applied to the previous stored value, To obtain a weighted average of the values to replace the previously stored values and to use them in the listening curve acquisition step S30.

Thus, the processor 21 can obtain the sound volume by the auditory sense level even if the user does not press the button all at once when the hearing aid wearer listens to the sound of the auditory level set in advance. That is, only the first pure tone is output while the user interface is used to inform the user of the point of listening to the sound of each auditory level by pressing the button, and if the second pure tone is rested without pressing the button, it automatically operates.

In addition, the hearing-impaired person or the hearing impaired person may frequently perform fitting according to the hearing which fluctuates according to daily or time lapse. According to the present invention, since the characteristic change of the brain waves according to the hearing level is obtained once, .

Therefore, compared to the conventional fitting method in which the fitting operation is skipped by the hassle, the fitting can be easily performed in accordance with the hearing ability at the time of necessity of fitting each time I will.

FIG. 12 is a detailed flow chart of the step of acquiring an auditory characteristic (S20) modified in the third embodiment of the present invention, in which a first pure tone is not used in obtaining a characteristic change of an EEG according to an auditory level, (white noise) is used as a test tone. Of course, the white noise can be a programmable white noise.

That is, every time when the wide-range test sound or white noise is output by volume adjustment (S22-1) and each time point of listening to the sound volume of the pure sound per auditory level is informed by the user's pressing of the margin (S22-2 ) And obtains characteristic changes from the wearer's brain waves and stores them (S22-3).

Thereafter, repeated loops (S23, S26, S27) for sequentially outputting different frequency pure tones are performed starting from the first tones of the sequential numbers, and during the outputting of the respective tones by adjusting the volume (S24) (S26). The test tone volume of each acquired pure tone and auditory level is stored. If there is a previously stored value, a previously stored forgetting factor is applied to the previous stored value And obtains a weighted average of the currently obtained values to replace the previously stored values and to use them in the listening curve acquisition step S30.

By acquiring and storing data on the characteristic change of the EEG for each auditory level once, it is possible to obtain the characteristic change of the EEG according to the auditory level without performing the process of obtaining the characteristic change of the EEG according to the auditory level, Perform the process of obtaining the test sound volume of the star immediately.

By using the broadband sound or white noise to acquire the characteristic change of the EEG according to the auditory level, it is possible to obtain a characteristic change of the EEG using different specific frequency It is possible to obtain the characteristic change of the EEG according to the accurate auditory level.

In the meantime, although the fitting terminal 20 is used in the description of the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 21 built in the fitting terminal 20 is built in the hearing aid 10, The fitting terminal 20 may not be used.

On the other hand, only one button is pressed at the moment of listening to the sound of the auditory level, and the sound is gradually raised for each pure tone, or the sound is gradually lowered and thrust, Level, or by sequentially reaching from the highest level to the lowest level of auditory level, so that the button can be depressed only when each auditory level is reached.

The use of such a button not only prevents the mis-input occurring when using multiple buttons, but also permits manipulation even when the eyes are closed. In particular, when using an EEG, By minimizing the change of the EEG, characteristic changes of the EEG by the hearing level can be obtained more accurately.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, . ≪ / RTI > Accordingly, such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.

10: Hearing aid
11: microphone 12: signal processor 13: receiver
14: fitting setting unit 15: wireless communication unit
20: Fitting terminal
21: processor 22: level setting unit
23: auditory sense acquiring unit 24: gain acquiring unit
25: tuning section 26: radio communication section
27: User Interface
30: Electroencephalograph
S: Auditory normal listening curve
L: Hearing impaired (or hearing impaired) listening curve
C: Calibration curve
C ': Recalibration curve adjusted according to speech intelligibility

Claims (11)

The hearing aid 10 which inputs the external sound through the microphone 11 and amplifies it by the signal processing unit 12 according to the preset output gain and then outputs it to the receiver 13 so that the wearer can hear it, A fitting setting section 14 for causing a test sound to be outputted to the receiver 13, a button to be pressed by the hearing aid wearer, and a processor 21 for obtaining the output gain according to the auditory sense of the wearer with respect to the test sound, (12), the method comprising the steps of:
An auditory level setting step (S10) of setting, at the processor (21), a plurality of levels of auditory level;
The fitting setting unit 14 sets each pure tone having a different frequency as a test tone and changes the volume of the test tone. When the wearer who listens to the sound of each auditory level in the processor 21, (S20) of acquiring the sound volume of the test sound for each auditory level by repeating the process of obtaining the test sound volume of the test sound for each of the pure sounds.
A listening curve acquisition step (S30) of acquiring, in the processor (21), a listening curve (L), which is a graph indicating a correlation between the test sound volume and auditory sense, on a pure tone basis;
A correction curve acquiring step (S40) of acquiring, in a processor (21), a calibration curve (C), which is a graph representing a gain for each loudness for correcting the hearing curve (L) to a hearing curve (S)
A setting step (S60) of setting, in the fitting setting unit (14), an output gain based on the pure tone correction curve to be used in the signal processing unit (12);
, ≪ / RTI &
In the processor 21, the relative level of the calibration curve C per tone is selected by selecting the relative auditory sense of the wearer with respect to the output of the broadband test sound frequency band, and the relative level is adjusted, A tuning step (S50) of causing the setting step (S60) to be performed in accordance with the control signal (C ');
Wherein the hearing aid fitting method further comprises: The method according to claim 1,
The auditory characteristic acquiring step S20 acquires the characteristic change of the wearer's brain waves according to the auditory level when acquiring the sound volume of the pure sound according to the auditory level while outputting the volume of the first pure-
And acquiring the loudness of the pure tone according to the auditory level for the remaining pure tones based on the characteristics of the brain waves without pressing the button. 3. The method of claim 2,
In the step of acquiring the auditory characteristic (S20), a characteristic change of an EEG according to an auditory level is obtained during volume output of a broadband test sound or white noise in place of the first pure sound,
A method for fitting a hearing aid to obtain a loudness of a pure tone according to an auditory level for each of the pure tones based on a characteristic of an EEG. 3. The method of claim 2,
In the step of obtaining the auditory characteristic (S20), data on a characteristic change of an EEG according to an auditory level is stored, and then, when the hearing aid fitting is repeated, the stored data is used without acquiring a characteristic change of the EEG according to the auditory level Hearing aid fitting method. The method according to claim 1,
The auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) stores the test sound volume for each pure tone and auditory level. If there is a previously stored value, a previously memorized forgetting factor is applied to the previously stored value, To obtain a weighted average of the values to replace the previously stored values and to use the values in the listening curve acquisition step (S30). The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the auditory characteristic acquiring step (S20) can use a tone of a frequency band having a predetermined bandwidth around each pure tone as a test tone instead of each pure tone. The method according to claim 1,
In the step of acquiring the auditory characteristic (S20), the volume is adjusted and output in such a manner that the sound gradually increases or decreases gradually with respect to each pure tone, and only one button is pressed each time the auditory level of the test sound is audited for each auditory level, A method for fitting a hearing aid, the method comprising: delete 8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
In the tuning step (S50), the broadband test tone is a speech or a sentence, and the relative hearing of the wearer is a relative clarity of speech per frequency band. 10. The method of claim 9,
The tuning step (S50) increases the fine adjustment ratio of the correction curve (C) toward a relatively low frequency with a relatively high degree of clarity and a relatively low frequency with a relatively low degree of clarity. 10. The method of claim 9,
In the tuning step S50, the wearer performs a ranking with respect to the intelligibility of each frequency band, and adjusts the relative level of the correction curve for each frequency band according to the ranking.

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