WO2009156145A1

WO2009156145A1 - Hearing aid apparatus, and hearing aid method

Info

Publication number: WO2009156145A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/004567
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Thiele
Original assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Priority date: 2008-06-26
Filing date: 2009-06-24
Publication date: 2009-12-30
Also published as: DE102008030404A1

Abstract

An improvement to hearing and even an improvement in the directional sensitivity to sound can be achieved with little complexity, with little risk in the application and possibly with broader usability by virtue of an attempt not being made, by way of example, to “exhaust” the residual hearing capability of the person in question but rather capturing and using audible signals in order to address one and/or more other senses of the person in question, such as the sense of sight, touch, smell or taste, and hence to help the user to achieve an improved hearing result by means of this “circuitous route”. For the purpose of noninvasive but lasting stimulation of a sensory organ other than the auditory sensory organ, it is possible to use a pair of glasses as a basis for stimulating the visual perception as a function of audible signals.

Description

Hearing aid device and method

description

The present invention relates to a hearing aid, such as a hearing aid. a hearing aid for the deaf or hearing impaired.

The perception of sounds in their environment is a major problem for many people with impaired hearing. So far, an attempt has been made to help these people by increasing the "residual hearing ability", ie providing support for existing but damaged hearing organs Hearing aids plugged into the ear canal amplify the audible signals on their way to the eardrum, but in the case of completely inoperable auditory organs, these methods fail.This can be remedied by using implants, although some of these solutions are very helpful Of course, a surgical intervention to implant the implant is also a health risk that should not be underestimated.

Another problem that occurs in hearing aids that individually for a specific auditory canal, such. B. left or right, is that they make the amplification of the acoustic signals so that simultaneously occurring noise sources lead to a poor signal / noise ratio of the auditory payload on the recipient.

DE 103 39 072 A1 describes a visual hearing aid in the form of spectacles, wherein the visual hearing aid is an aid for speech perception for the deaf and hard of hearing people, that stimulates the sound visual canal with a sound visualization, so that the wearer of the glasses the learning of a sound speech perception over the visual channel would be possible. In this case, a representation is favored, according to which the volume is mapped to the brightness and a frequency-to-location assignment is used. On the glasses two powerful microphones are mounted, which are preferably provided on the back of the carrying handle, so that they are as close as possible to the ear canal end when carrying, ie at the natural sound receiving opening of the person. It is also a stereo operation in connection with a spectacle-shaped display described in which the sound from the right and left microphone is processed separately for each eye, ie right for right and left for left.

The US 4,972,486 also describes a pair of glasses, are displayed in the icons that represent automatically recognized phonemes. It also shows that the display can be superimposed on the normal field of view.

DE 35 10 508 A1 describes a tactile hearing aid. Vibrating rings on the wearer's fingers transmit the timing of the audio signal to the skin.

Among the three solutions mentioned above for hearing aid cancellation, the former has the disadvantage that the stereo operation proposed there requires dpm brain: to analyze the visualized sound-speech perception so precisely in real-time that a spatial impression is also created. If it is even possible for the hearing to achieve such an externalization, then this is obviously accompanied by a high effort for the wearer of the glasses, which is likely to quickly tire the wearer, so that a visualized "directional hearing" is scarcely possible or even impossible The latter two solutions do not go into any visualized or tactile "directional hearing" at all. Therefore, it would also be desirable to have a hearing aid scheme that allows or facilitates direction-sensitive "listening".

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a hearing aid which can be used for a wider group of people, can be used with less effort and / or fewer dangers and / or enables a more cost-effective implementation while also facilitating directional sensitivity for sound or made possible in the first place.

This object is achieved by a device according to claim 1, 14 or 15 and a method according to claim 17, 18 or 19.

A finding of the present invention is that a hearing improvement can be achieved with less effort, with less danger in the application and, if applicable, with a broader applicability, if it is not attempting to "eradicate" the residual hearing ability of the person in question or by an implant to address the otherwise useless nerve endings of the auditory sense of perception, but instead acoustic signals are detected and used to address one and / or several other perceptual senses of the person concerned, such as the visual, haptic, olfactory or guild perception, and thus on this "detour" to help the user to an improved hearing.

A further realization of the present invention is that the human brain is able to learn complex facts or to associate associations between the most diverse perceptions, so that the human brain is in particular able to acquire speech information in a different way than via the human brain auditory perception organ. Especially with permanent stimulation of one or more of the other non- auditive perception of the human being as a function of acoustic signals, the brain may be able to extract speech information from this stimulation.

In this context, a further realization of the present invention is that one possibility for the non-invasive but permanent stimulation of a perception organ other than the auditory perceptive organ is to use a pair of spectacles as the basis for the stimulation of visual perception as a function of acoustic signals , The wearing of glasses is accepted in society and a wearer of glasses is therefore not unpleasant. The acousto-dependent stimulation of the visual perception via a pair of spectacles therefore makes possible a permanent application and thus makes it possible, in particular, for the human brain to adapt to the acquisition of language by means of the optical stimulation. The lack of the need for an invasive procedure opens up the possibility of use in a larger group of people and this also without possible side effects or dangers.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the device for detecting the acoustic signal comprises a plurality of acoustic sensors which are offset from one another when projected into the horizontal plane while the user is standing upright, a direction being determined from the output signals of the acoustic sensors the acoustic signal comes from, and this direction is used to vary the stimulation of the other senses depending on the direction, so that the user can conclude from the variation on the direction of the acoustic signal. In this way it is possible for the user to experience the direction of acoustic signals despite hearing loss or even hearing loss. According to a further embodiment, the output signals of a plurality of acoustic sensors are evaluated in order to determine the direction from which the acoustic signal originates, whereby Consequently, a directional filtering is performed depending on the detected direction, for example, to increase the signal / noise ratio of the detected acoustic signal, wherein the corresponding filtered acoustic signal is used to stimulate the other senses of perception. According to an embodiment of the present invention, for example, the optical information is encoded in a color coded in the view of the wearer, which depends on the detected direction, the acoustic sensors are arranged, for example, at the transverse ends of the spectacle frame.

A further realization of the present invention is to have realized that using one or more of the above-mentioned approaches it is also possible to facilitate a directional sensitivity for sound, such as in the case of a police officer, avalanche searcher or the like in one Use, or even to allow, as in the case of a deaf. According to one exemplary embodiment, direction-indicating information is therefore superimposed in the view of a spectacle wearer. The direction determination can, as mentioned above, be made possible by the appropriate arrangement of microphones. The insertion of the direction-indicating information can also be carried out in addition to the insertion of the optical information dependent on the detected acoustic signal. It is also possible for a combination of the insertion of the optical information dependent on the detected acoustic signal into the spectacle wearer's perspective with another stimulation or the stimulation of a sense other than the sense of sight, for example by means of vibrators. These can be arranged on a part of the strap of the spectacles, which touches a head of the spectacle wearer in the vicinity of ears thereof, or on nose contact surfaces of an eyeglass frame of the spectacles. The sense of sight is thus relieved and can focus on the "semantic" hearing, whereas the directional sensitivity over another non-auditory replacement made sense. The latter idea is taken up according to an embodiment in order to make the directional sensitivity generally accessible to the user via the haptic perception sense instead of the auditory sense of perception. According to embodiments, vibrators or other haptic actuators are arranged on earrings or hearing aids for binaural hearing aid and are depending on the detected direction, from which a detected sound signal comes, different driven, such as stronger on the side from which the signal comes, For example, a frequency of a pulse-like drive could be used to indicate an angle relative to the sagittal axis.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

1 shows a schematic representation of a Hörhilfevor- direction according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a hearing aid device according to a further exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 shows a hearing aid device according to another

Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a hearing aid glasses according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary representation of a spectrogram of an acoustic signal;

Figure 6 is an exemplary representation of a temporal intensity curve of an acoustic signal;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic drawing of a field of view of a spectacle wearer with a visual aid inserted Information dependent on detected acoustic signals according to an embodiment;

8 shows a three-panel image of a hearing aid with multiple acoustic sensors according to an embodiment;

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a hearing aid device with a plurality of acoustic sensors according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of a hearing aid device with a plurality of acoustic sensors according to a further exemplary embodiment; and

11a and 11b are schematic drawings of a field of view of a spectacle wearer with information displayed in direction indicating according to various embodiments;

12 shows a schematic illustration of a hearing aid device that is integrated in earrings, according to an exemplary embodiment; and

13 shows a schematic illustration of a hearing aid device which allows directional sensitivity for hearing aids, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows a hearing aid device 10 with a detection device 12 for detecting acoustic signals and a stimulation device 14. The stimulation device 14 is coupled to the detection device 12 in order to receive the detected acoustic signals from the same. In particular, the stimulation device 14 uses the detected acoustic signals Signals to other perception senses 16 as the auditory perception 18 of a user 20 depending on the detected acoustic signals stimulate. In this way, even if their auditory perception 18 is disturbed or even completely inoperative, the person 20 is allowed to "experience" an auditory signal 22 originating from an acoustic source 24, namely via the detour the acoustic detection device 12 and the stimulation device 14, in that the latter converts the acoustic signal 22 detected by the detection device 12 into a stimulation of one or more of the other perception senses 16 in a suitable manner.

In particular, the user's brain 20 may learn speech recognition based on this "detour pacing".

The other sensory senses 16 are different from the auditory perception 18 and include, for example, the visual, haptic, olfactory or gustatory perception of the user 20. For the purposes of optical perception, embodiments which relate to hearing aid goggles are still provided below. In this case, the detection device 12 and the stimulation device 14 can be accommodated in a pair of glasses which the user 20 can wear on a daily basis. In the case of, for example, tactile stimulation of the haptic perception of the user 20, the stimulation device 14 comprises, for example, a piezo-element which is intended to be worn or fastened to the skin of the user. Alternatively, of course, an implantation would be possible. The use of combinations of detours is also conceivable.

As will be further illustrated by the following embodiments, the detection device 12 may include one or more acoustic sensors. The detection device 12 can be connected to the stimulation device 14 in a wired or cordless manner in a communicative manner. In addition to housing the detection device 12 on a pair of eyeglasses of the user 20, it is possible that the detection sung device 12 is carried by the user 20 elsewhere, such as. B. on the ear or in the ear canal itself.

FIG. 2 shows that the detection device 12 can comprise one or more acoustic sensors 12a or 12b and that the stimulation device can optionally also include a processing device 14b in addition to an actuator 14a. In the case of stimulation of the optical perception, the actuator 14a comprises, for example, an LCD, OLED, LED or CCD display, the image of which is imaged onto the retina of the user 20 via suitable optics or which is activated in such a way that it when the user's eye is a-coded to a distant object despite positioning in the lens plane, a sharp image of the optical information, which depends on the detected acoustic signal, results on the user's retina. For example, in the case of stimulating the user's haptic perception, the actuator 14a includes a stylus tip, such as a stylus. B. a piezoelectrically operated probe tip. In the case of the stimulation of the haptic perception of the user but also a laterally varying tactile stimulation of the skin via an array of vibrators is possible, in which case the actuator 14a, for example, consist of a number of Piezoele- elements. Electrical irritation of the skin is also possible.

FIG. 2 shows by way of example also the possibility that both the output signal of each acoustic sensor 12a or 12b and the input signal or control signal of the actuator 14a are digital. For example, the acoustic sensor 12a is configured to sample the acoustic signal 22 at a frequency f and a bit depth t per audio sample so that the output of the acoustic sensor 12a has a data rate Ri = f ^• t uncompressed. Conversely, for example, the actuator 14a is designed so that it allows a maximum number of actuator adjustment options per unit time, so that he total with a maximum uncompressed data rate R _{2 is} controllable. For example, according to an embodiment, it may be that the two data rates are the same. However, the data rates can also be different. In particular, according to one exemplary embodiment, the data rate R _{2 is,} for example, more than 10 percent of the data rate Ri.

As also shown in FIG. 2, a processing device 14b can be arranged between the actuator 14a and the detection device 12. By way of example, this processing device 14b can be a spectrally weighting filter which, for example, weakens less important acoustic frequencies. Accordingly, the actuator 14a may be adjusted with a control signal corresponding to the temporal intensity profile of the acoustic signal 22 or a filtered version thereof. In particular, the processing device 14b can be designed such that the mapping of possible sensor output signals of the sensor or sensors 12 to the maximum number of actuator setting options is surjective.

However, rather than a simple filter, the processing means 14b may also be arranged to convert the amount of information contained in the acoustic signal 22 into a more compact signal based on semantic analysis. One possibility for this is shown for example in FIG. There, the processing means comprises a feature extractor 30, a database 32, and optionally a processor 34. The feature extractor 34 is adapted to extract features from the incoming detected acoustic signal, and to extract characteristics from a table 36 in FIG to look up the database 32 which has entries 38 which associate features 40 with information 42. For example, the features 40 may be phonemes, in which case the information 42 associated with the lookup table 36 may be the corresponding phoneme indices. In this In this case, another look-up table could be provided to look up the sequence of phonemes thus obtained in a further look-up table which assigns phoneme sequences a sequence of words in alphanumeric representation. However, since the acoustic signal does not necessarily always have to be a voice signal, it may also be that the feature extractor 30 forms a fingerprint from the detected acoustic signal, such as a piece of music or an alarm signal, for example using the Look up fingerprint in the look-up table, and by this look up information 42 about it indicating what kind of audio signal it is, such as siren, etc., or what piece of music is the acoustic signal. The optionally downstream processor 34 may be provided to appropriately translate the information 42 obtained by the lookup into the stimulation of the non-auditory sense of perception. In this respect, the processor 34 may comprise, for example, a graphics processor which, for example, fades in an alphanumeric character which has been read from the database 32 onto the retina of the hearing impaired person.

Having described in the foregoing embodiment examples that were not limited to the type of sense of perception stimulated alternatively to the auditory sense of perception, the embodiments described below, which are described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 10, relate first to a hearing aid that includes a pair of glasses, wherein acoustic signals are converted into a stimulation of the visual perception of the wearer of the spectacle. However, some of the aspects touched upon in these embodiments are equally applicable to embodiments in which, instead of stimulating the visual perception, stimulation of another to the Auditory perception alternative sense of perception is stimulated.

FIG. 4 shows a hearing aid device which has a pair of spectacles 50, an acoustic detection device 52 with, for example, a plurality of acoustic sensors 52a, 52b and 52c and an insertion device 54. The acoustic sensors 52a-52c are distributed over the glasses 50 on the same. The insertion device 54 is designed so that it is capable, upon accommodation of an eye of the user (not shown) through the spectacle lenses 56 of the spectacles 50 on a sharp plane 58 behind the spectacle lenses 56 for the user's eye optical information 60, which suitably depends on the detected acoustic signal detected by the acoustic sensors 52a-52c. FIG. 4 shows by way of example that the optical information 60 can be a temporal intensity profile of the acoustic signal, this and alternative exemplary embodiments being explained in more detail below. To determine the optical information 60, the fader 54 uses the detected acoustic signal.

The hearing aid glasses according to FIG. 4 make it possible to perceive acoustic signals 22 with the help of the eye. By way of example, the insertion device optically displays the acoustic signal 22, as recorded by the device 52 or the acoustic sensors 52a-52c, on an inner side of the lenses 56, for example with the aid of an intensity over time Signal, as explained with reference to FIG. In particular, for example, the acoustic sensors 52a-52c record an acoustic signal and pass it on to the insertion device, which then reproduces the signal in a manner that makes sense for the recipient or wearer of the spectacles 50 on the inside of the spectacles 50. In FIG. 4, this is exemplary for a time-over-intensity signal for the German-language sentence "The Free Encyclopedia" shown.

For example, spectacles such as those described on the website www. lumos-optical.com is described.

Before describing further details regarding possible embodiments of the type of optical information displayed to the wearer by the hearing aid of FIG. 4, it is to be understood that many of the various possible variations described above with reference to FIGS also apply to the embodiment of Figure 4 apply. For example, it is possible that instead of the three acoustic sensors, only one acoustic sensor, such as only the centrally located acoustic sensor 52b is used, or alternatively only two acoustic sensors, such as the acoustic sensors 52a and 52c located at the lateral ends of the spectacle frame , The acoustic sensors 52a-52c may be wired or wirelessly coupled to the fader 54. The insertion device 54 can be completely accommodated in the spectacles 50 or only partially. For example, the fader 54 includes a display such as an optic which images the image of the display sharply on the retina of the wearer. Alternatively, the fade-in device 54 may have a display which, for example in the non-active state, is transparent or optically transparent and is arranged in the spectacle lens plane. For example, the fader 54 includes a display on one of the major sides of the lenses 56, the display being suitably driven to display a crisp image of the optical information that depends on the detected acoustic signals. As described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the fader 54 may optionally include a processing device, a look-up table and / or have a processor, the latter also being able to be arranged outside the glasses in order to be worn by the user elsewhere. In the case of a processor, it may be configured to execute software that implements the functionality described herein. The software may be stored in an associated memory, optionally together with data such as the aforementioned look-up tables or reference references mentioned below, which memory may also be located in or external to the goggle and also rewritable, write-once and can only be formed readable.

For the representation of the acoustic signals by the insertion device 54, there are various possibilities, for which embodiments are presented below. One possible presentation would be the use of speech recognition, such as by means of speech recognition software, in the fade-in device 54, with the aid of which words obtained by speech analysis are projected onto the spectacles or imaged onto the retina of the spectacle wearer, which reflect the content of the acoustic signal.

A further possibility of the optical representation of the acoustic signal 22 in an optical manner is the fading in of a time-excessity representation by the fader 54, FIG. 5 showing an example of such a time-over-intensity depiction or temporal information. is shown intensity course. From the temporal representation of the intensity profile of the acoustic signal, the brain of the spectacle wearer is able to recognize by a learning process different linguistic patterns in the acoustic signals and finally to form them into words and sentences. In this depiction, the brain of the user or of the spectacle wearer would thus learn to recognize words on the basis of the illustrated temporal intensity representation, just as one would a new language learns. FIG. 5 shows, for example, the temporal intensity profile diagram for four consecutively spoken articulated words / delusion /, / course /, / tooth / and / Lahn /, wherein it can clearly be seen that the individual temporal intensity progressions despite the Distinguish similarity of phonemes clearly. Thus, Figure 5 illustrates that similar sounding words can be distinguished in this approach. An advantage of the temporal intensity profile representation according to FIG. 5 is therefore also that the spectacle wearer could perceive sounds other than words, such as a bang or a horn. This meant for the hearing impaired persons who use glasses according to Figure 4, a higher level of safety in dangerous situations.

Another example of a representation, which is superimposed by the insertion device 54 into the view of the spectacle wearer depending on the detected acoustic signals, is shown in FIG. According to FIG. 6, for example, a frequency-over-time representation of the acoustic signal is superimposed on the user's view, wherein, for example, the degree of shading or the color at a specific position of the spectrogram reflects the intensity of the signal. The advantage of using the spectrogram over the temporal intensity profile representation according to FIG. 5 is that the information density is higher, so that the recipient may be provided with a more accurate decoding of the semantic content of the acoustic signal than by merely displaying the temporal intensity profile according to FIG 5.

6 shows by way of example the spectrogram for the German sentence "Das gute Boot." As can be seen, one axis corresponds to the time axis, in FIG. 6 namely the horizontal axis, and a vertical axis corresponds to one spectral axis. Preferably, the insertion device fades the visual representation of the detected acoustic signal into the view of the spectacle wearer in such a way that the smallest possible influence on the visual field of the spectacle wearer is ensured. For example, one could arrange the optical information signal in the field of view at the bottom, as indicated in FIG. 7, which shows an exemplary field of view limited by the spectacle frame in which a field 70 is located in the lower section, into which the fader 54 fades in the optical information. which represent the acoustic signal detected by the detector 52. As mentioned above, the fader 54, for example, inserts alpha-numeric characters into the field 70 representing the content of the acoustic signal or a temporal intensity profile of the acoustic signal as in FIG. 5 or a spectrogram of the acoustic signal as in FIG static with an intermittent abrupt change of content in the field 70, or the optical fader 54 fades in the visual representation of the detected acoustic signal scrolling from one side of the panel 70 so that the optical representation disappears at the opposite end of the panel 70, wherein the scrolling speed may be in accordance with the normal progression of time.

The fade-in device 54 could be designed to display optical information obtained continuously from the detected audio signal in the field 70. Alternatively, the fader 54 could be configured to allow the user to switch between a fade-in mode of FIG. 7 and a standard goggle mode in which the field of view is not affected by the field 70 and the fade-in of the optical information is inhibited, for example by manual actuation of a corresponding input device on the spectacles, such as a button or the like (not shown). shows) . Alternatively, the fader 54 could be configured to automatically switch between such a normal and fade mode, for example by analyzing the detected acoustic signal itself. Further, a fade-in mode other than that shown in FIG. 7 would also be possible. For example, the optical information representing the content of the acoustic signal may be superimposed so as to occupy the entire field of view of the spectacle wearer, in which case the spectacle wearer sees nothing during the fade-in mode except for the optical representation of the acoustic Signals, but for example, manually switch to normal glasses mode, if he just wants.

With the hearing aid glasses according to Figure 4 could be any sounds of nature, road traffic and other potentially dangerous environments perceived and thus banned as a danger. However, the device of Figure 4 could also be used, for example, to facilitate the learning of languages. For this purpose, the insertion device 54 is for example able to be operated in a slightly modified operating mode. In this operating mode, the fade-in device fades, for example, an optical representation of a previously detected word, such as 7th, e-. the word articulated to a mother, until the child or spectacle wearer has said the word in a sufficiently precise manner, such as in terms of form and intensity. With such an operating or learning mode, the user could learn language despite possible hearing damage or hearing impairment. This also meant that a hearing-impaired child, for example, could attend a completely normal school and thus not have to go to a deaf-mute school, since with such spectacles as shown in Figure 4, it would neither be deaf nor remain silent, since the child can enter into a reflexive language interaction with the environment. te, in a simpler way than with sign language.

A just-indicated learning mode could for example be configured as follows. The insertion device 54 could be designed to visually represent acoustic signals detected in the normal operating mode in one of the manners described above. In particular, it could be designed to use one of the time-resolved representations according to, for example, FIGS. 5 and 6 in order to optically convert the acoustic signals. By a suitable input device (not shown), such as a button on the eyeglass frame or by a voice input option by means of the detection device 52, which in this case also acts as part of the input device, the fader 54 could then be converted into a learning mode, in which the same acoustically utterances of the user next to or in a superimposed manner with pre-stored optical representations visually displays, so that the user can recognize deviations between the pre-stored representation and the visual representation of what he voiced or spoken by his eye. The pre-stored optical representation may have been obtained in a recording mode in which the fader 54 is for example displaceable in a similar manner as in the Lprnipodus. However, a one-time default storage of such reference representations could also be provided. In the case of the optical representation according to FIG. 6, a temporal reference intensity profile could thus be displayed, for example in the view of the user during the learning mode, for example above or below the currently recorded temporal intensity profile. The temporal alignment of the two representations could be realized by the fader 54 by correlation of the two intensity profiles, in which, for example, it selects the temporal relative position which leads to the best correlation. Alternatively, the superimposition device 54 superimposes the two intensity profiles and For example, highlights the differences in color or otherwise. In this way, the user can tell if he spoke too loudly or indistinctly. In order to guide the user through the learning mode, it may be provided that the fade-in device 54 firstly displays a word to be repeated in alpha-numeric characters and then the visual representation of the user's speech as just described simultaneously with the previously stored reference display displays. In this case, the fade-in device 54 provides, for example, a number of repetitions of the retransmission, before proceeding to the next word in this way. In a slightly modified learning mode, it would also be possible for the fader 54 to provide the user with various visual representations of different acoustic signals that the user may be making For example, the fade-in device 54 successively fades in different semantic but not word-wise articulated signals, such as signal horns, horns, sirens or other characteristic unspoken audio signals, or words optically, which the user is to recognize, the user assuming his guess or The fade-in device 54 could then fade in the correctness or incorrectness of the conjecture subsequently into the user's view, for example by suspending it in accordance with FIG s semantic content of the user answered and compared with the actually displayed in the optical representation of the word or signal. Of course, in the manner just outlined, a user could also first learn "optical hearing" by having the spectator sequentially fade the user into pre-stored representations of words that the user should then recognize, similar to vocabulary learning. In the manner just described, the user could thus be helped by means of a software running on the hearing aid to learn how to handle the hearing glasses. In several pedagogically meaningful steps such a learning process could be realized, which instructs the user to learn words, to learn to estimate the volume and detect danger signals in, for example, background noise.

As already described above with reference to FIG. 4, it is possible for more than one acoustic sensor to be arranged along the spectacles. In FIG. 8 this is illustrated, for example, in the case of two acoustic sensors which are arranged along the spectacle frame 80 made of spectacle frame 82 and brackets 84 at the lateral ends of the spectacle frame 82 and indicated by the reference symbol 86. Of course, the acoustic sensors 86 could also be arranged differently than shown in FIG. However, the acoustic sensors 86 are preferably arranged as shown so that they are offset when projected into the horizontal plane of the spectacle wearer - in the case of standing upright - as can be seen from the top view of the three-panel image of FIG. 8 below. In particular, it is preferable if the acoustic sensors 86 are arranged offset in this projection along or on the transverse axis 88 to each other, so that acoustic signals originating from a direction 90, which are inclined to the sagittal axis 92 to the acoustic sensors 86 meet with different phase offset.

It should be noted that as an alternative to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 8, the acoustic sensors 86 could also be arranged in the region of the ends of the brackets 84, which face away from the spectacle frame 82 and thus are closer to the ears of the spectacle wearer , For direction detection in this case could benefit from the concealment of the sound source facing away from or be pulled by the button shadowed ear. On the other hand, the obscuration also means an increased effort for direction detection, since the occlusion in the direction detection must be taken into account in any case. The mounting on the spectacle frame shown in FIG. 8 can therefore be a simplification in terms of the necessary computing power for direction detection, which can provide cost advantages and / or power consumption advantages, so that a battery discharge time can be longer.

For example, Figure 9 shows one way in which the output signals of several acoustic sensors could be exploited. According to FIG. 9, the insertion device 54 comprises a direction detector 100 and a processing device 102. Both are connected to the acoustic sensors 86. The direction detector 100 is configured to determine from the output signals of the acoustic sensors 86 the direction 90 from which originates the acoustic signal that the acoustic sensors detect 86, wherein the processing device 102 uses the determined direction to an actuator 104, such as the aforementioned display, depending on the determined direction to drive. In particular, this means that the processing device 102 displays, for example, the color-coded optical information with a color that depends on the direction that the direction detector 100 has detected. In this way, the spectacle wearer obtains information about where or from which direction the acoustic signal originates, which is described by the visual information which the insertion device 54 inserts into the view of the spectacle wearer. The insertion of a specially provided character for indicating the direction from which the detected audio signal originates, such as the loudest portion, such as by means of an arrow or a color-coded background color in the information indicating the detected optical signal is also possible. For example, Fig. IIa shows an exemplary embodiment for a fade in a field of view of the spectacle wearer, after which the detected direction is indicated by an arrow 140, which is superimposed in the user's view and points in the direction from which the detected acoustic sound, such as eg the loudest contribution comes. In Fig. IIa is indicated by way of example that the arrow 140 points in the direction of a door 142, which sees the spectacle wearer. 11a further indicates that, according to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3, the acoustic signal may possibly have been analyzed semantically in order to detect which type or type of noise is involved. For example, a distinction is made between rippling, crackling, whistling, etc. noises. The detected type of noise can be indicated by a corresponding symbol 144 and / or by a corresponding inscription 146 of the arrow 140, as illustrated in FIG. IIa illustratively for both cases. Fig. IIb shows yet another alternative, according to which the direction of the spectacle wearer against the detected direction is not indicated by an arrow, but by highlighting or marking an object or a point in the view of the wearer, from or from the acoustic Signal comes. For example, Fig. IIb illustratively shows a case where the eyeglass wearer sees in front of him a meadow 150 followed by bushes 152, a bush 154 being indicated by a mark 156, such as a border or flashing portion of the field of view corresponding to the bush 156 is highlighted to indicate that the acoustic signal or noise detected by the acoustic sensors originates from this direction. FIG. 11b again shows by way of example that the type of the noise could be indicated by a symbol 158, here by way of example a crackling noise.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b further make it clear that spectacles according to, for example, FIG. 8 with acoustic sensors 86 can also be used to support a wearer of glasses. to facilitate a directional sensitivity for sound or to enable it only without passing on the sound information for further analysis visually to the wearer. In other words, according to one exemplary embodiment, the spectacle wearer does not necessarily have to be given the option of speech perception. In many cases, an indication of a direction from which a particular sound comes is helpful. This applies to the deaf or the deaf as well as to people who are used in dangerous, life-threatening or similar situations, such as police officers, avalanche searchers, rescue workers or the like. The additional semantic indication of the type of sound is also optional, but it helps the user, who may perhaps, although he may hear, need his concentration for other things than for distinguishing different sounds.

The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 9 thus shows that it is possible to detect a phase shift of the acoustic signal with a plurality of acoustic sensors mounted on a pair of glasses and thus to effect direction coding of incoming acoustic signals in such a way that, for example, blue acoustic signals arriving from the front , acoustic signals arriving from behind could be coded with red, acoustic signals arriving from the left with green and acoustic signals arriving from the right could be coded with yellow, whereby the recipient or spectacle wearer would always know from which direction the noises are coming from Visual field are represented.

FIG. 10 shows by way of example a further alternative and / or additional possibility as to how it would be possible to benefit from the use of a plurality of acoustic sensors 86. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the fader 54 may include a direction detector 110, a directional filter 112, and optionally a processing unit. direction 114 have. Directional detector 110 and directional filter 112 are coupled to the outputs of the acoustic sensors 86, the directional detector 110 detecting the direction from which the acoustic signal originates, while the directional filter 112 filtering the output signals of the acoustic sensors 86 so that the signal / Noise ratio of the acoustic signal originating from the detected direction, is increased or even optimized, based on this signal, an actuator 116 of the Einblendein- direction 54, such as a display could optionally be controlled by means of the optional processing device 114. In this way, a selective noise filtering could be carried out, for example, would have advantages in the case of a troubled school class or a pub. The direction-dependent, variable noise amplification implemented by the directional filter 112 could, for example, better understand a teacher or generally a counterpart despite background noise from the recipient or spectacle wearer.

The embodiments described above provide, for example, for deaf-mutes a hitherto unprecedented possibility of hearing and speech. With the above embodiments, hearing-impaired people could virtually lead a normal life, which proves the educational and integrative element of the above exemplary embodiments. Moreover, embodiments illustrated above are also superior to the hearing-amplifying methods described in the introduction to the description for people with limited hearing, since complications that may arise due to an implant are not given in most embodiments mentioned above. In road traffic and in other dangerous situations, the above-described exemplary embodiments mostly enable a considerable reduction of the potential danger. In background noise situations, the embodiments described with respect to FIGS. 8 to 10 provide for example, the possibility of selective noise filtering as described above.

Thus, the above embodiments show a manner in which acoustic signals, such as e.g. Loud, words or sounds, are translated into visual, giving rise to the advantages mentioned above.

Of course, for the sake of completeness, it is pointed out that the possibility of using a plurality of acoustic sensors is of course not limited to the exemplary embodiment with spectacles, against which background the use of a plurality of acoustic sensors has been described in FIGS. 8 to 10. Rather, it is of course possible to have the acoustic sensors not attached to glasses offset from each other by the user of the hearing aid wear, but it would also be possible, for example, that the user carries several acoustic sensors in any other way, such as earrings at the ear or the like. Accordingly, directional stimulation, as described in Figure 9, is not limited to the stimulation of visual perception, but may of course also be applied to the stimulation of other non-auditory perceptions, such as vibrations via an earring. For example, the stimulation of haptic perception at different skin sites could be performed, depending on the direction in which the acoustic signal originated. Two earrings, each with an acoustic detection device, could for example be coupled to one another via a wireless interface, so that the direction-dependent processing according to FIGS. 9 and / or 10 would be made possible in connection with the acousto-dependent irritation of the ear lobes. For example, FIG. 12 shows an embodiment whereby two earrings 160a and 160b for the right and left ears 162a and 162b, respectively, of an earring carrier 164 could each be provided with an acoustic sensor 86 for the directional detection described above to enable. Further, each of the earrings 160a and 160b could be provided with a haptic actuator, such as a vibrator 166a and 166b, respectively, which are capable of haptically stimulating the ear 162a or 162b or at least the earlobe. The stimulation could be dependent on the detected direction. The ear facing away from the sound source (not shown) could, for example, be haptically stimulated with a lower level than the ear facing the sound source. In addition, for example, a frequency of pulsed excitation of the hidden and / or uncovered ear could be used to indicate to the earring carrier 164 a relative angle to the sagittal axis below which the noise arrives.

Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 12, FIG. 13 shows that hearing aids 180a and 180b, respectively, for the binaural hearing aid simulation of the auditory nerve to be worn on the left and right ears 182a and 182b of a user 184 may each be provided with an acoustic sensor 86 - and in addition with haptic actuators, such as Vibrators, 186a and 186b, respectively. The user, whose damaged auditory nerve is binaurally excited via the hearing aids 180a and 180b, is very unlikely to have directional sensitivity to sound via this horn excitation. By means of the actuators 186a, 186b, however, the user 184 could be shown the direction of the currently existing noise or of the acoustic signal currently present, namely in circumvention of the auditory nerve.

Although no explicit reference has been made to FIGS. 12 and 13, it should be mentioned once again that a corresponding processing device or a corresponding direction detector, as described above, can be integrated in the earrings or hearing devices, as can the acoustic sensors and the haptic actuators. The hearing aids may be in-the-ear, behind-the-ear or implantable hearing aids. In this connection, it should also be pointed out that the above spectacle embodiments could optionally be coupled with a device which stimulates haptic human perception as a function of the detected acoustic signals. This is illustrated by way of example in Fig. 8, which illustrates that possibly at that part of the bracket 84 of the glasses, which touches the head of the wearer in the vicinity of the ears of the same vibrators or other haptic perception of the spectacle wearer stimulating facilities arranged can be controlled depending on the acoustic signal detected by the acoustic sensors. Such devices can also be arranged on nose support surfaces of the spectacle frame, as shown by reference numerals 122a and 122b. Such devices 120a-122b arranged on the inside of the spectacle frame, such as vibration pads, could also be controlled in another way as a function of the detected acoustic signal than the optical insertion device. For example, as mentioned above, while the optical display should allow the wearer to "hear", only very loud noises that exceed a certain loudness threshold are evaluated to trigger the vibrators. or at a distance from the noise source to the recipient, for example to warn the recipient of dangers, such as in cars on the road, or to allow participation in normal physical education, for example, the processing means 54 evaluates the phase shift of the incoming Signals from the noise source and / or loudness of the incoming signals to obtain a measure of the speed and / or a distance to the recipient or just a measure of the volume r loudness threshold and / or dropping below a minimum distance and / or exceeding a speed limit Then, the devices 120a-122b could warn the reciever, in fact, depending on the direction, as shown in FIG. Of course, a pair of glasses as a hearing aid with only one of the devices 120a-122b, so only a haptic perception excitation without optical fade would be an aid to a wearer of glasses and thus represents a possible embodiment.

But not only the directionality is transferable to the other, not on the optical detour related embodiments. Although the prior learning modes have been described in the background of the hearing glasses, such learning modes are also somewhat modified in their transferability to the other embodiments with stimulation of a different age sense than the visual one.

It should also be noted that in the foregoing with reference to Figures 4 and 8, two eyeglass frames have been shown in which the frame adjacent the eyeglass frame has stirrups, but other examples of eyeglasses other than the eyeglass shape shown are also possible. can also distinguish by the fact that the glasses is designed as a pinch or as a monocle or glasses with the lenses only partially or not at all comprehensive spectacle frame.

To attach the acoustic sensors to or housing the blinding device in the glasses should be noted that there are no restrictions on the type of attachment or placement. Attachments by means of adhesive are just as possible as a casting with the material of the spectacle frame.

It should be noted that, depending on the circumstances, the scheme according to the invention can also be implemented in software. The implementation can be carried out on a digital storage medium, in particular a floppy disk or a CD with electronically readable control signals. gene, which can cooperate with a programmable computer system so that the corresponding method is performed. In general, the invention thus also consists in a computer program product with program code stored on a machine-readable carrier for carrying out the method according to the invention when the computer program product runs on a computer. In other words, the invention can thus be realized as a computer program with a program code for carrying out the method when the computer program runs on a computer.

Claims

claims

1. Hearing aid with

a pair of glasses (50);

a detection device (52) for detecting an acoustic signal, which has a plurality of acoustic sensors, which are arranged offset to each other on the glasses when projected in the horizontal plane; and

a fade-in device (54) attached to the spectacles (50) or integrated therein for fading in optical information which depends on the detected acoustic signal into a view of a wearer of the spectacles,

wherein the fade-in means (54) is adapted to determine, based on output signals from the plurality of acoustic sensors, a direction from which the detected acoustic signal originated, and to drive an actuator depending on the direction to indicate the direction to the user.

2. Hearing aid according to claim I, wherein the actuator is an indicator of the insertion device (54), via which the optical information is superimposed in the view of the wearer, or a device for stimulating a haptic human perception of the wearer.

3. Hearing aid device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the means (54) for fading is adapted to display the optical information depending on the direction, so that the wearer receives information about which direction the acoustic signal originates from the optical information tion or a specially provided sign to indicate the direction in the view of the wearer.

The hearing aid device according to claim 3, wherein the fade-in means (54) is adapted to display, as the designated character, an arrow, a color-coded background color, a circle segment or a mark of an object or a point in the view of the wearer of the spectacle or from which the acoustic signal originates, to be faded into the view of the spectacle wearer.

5. Hearing aid device according to claim 3, wherein the means (54) for fading is adapted to display the optical information in color coded with a color that depends on the direction.

6. Hearing aid device according to claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises vibrators (120a-122b) which touches on a part of a bracket (84) of the glasses which touches a head of the wearer in the vicinity of ears thereof or on nose pads of a Spectacle frame of the glasses are arranged.

7. Hearing aid device according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the plurality of acoustic sensors having two a- acoustic sensors which are arranged at lateral ends of a spectacle frame (82) of a spectacle frame (80) of the spectacles, which next to the spectacle frame (82 ) Has brackets (84).

The hearing aid according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a look-up table (36) associating information (42) to acoustic features (40), wherein the means (54) is adapted to blend in from the detected acoustic signal or to extract more acoustic features Base the one or more extracted acoustic features in the look-up table (36) and perform fade-in of the optical information dependent on the associated information (42).

9. Hearing aid according to one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the means (54) is designed for fade,

to show the optical information in written form,

perform speech recognition on the detected acoustic signal to deduce a word from the detected acoustic signal and to display the word as at least a portion of the optical information;

as at least a part of the optical information to display a temporal intensity profile of the detected a- acoustic signal, or

as at least a part of the optical information to display a spectrogram of the detected acoustic signal.

10. Hearing aid according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the means (54) is designed for fading to hide in a Einblendbmodus the optical information in the view of the wearer that the wearer can see both through the glasses and the optical information sees, or

so that the spectacle wearer can not see through the glasses, but instead sees the optical information, and in a spectacle mode, the exposure of the optical information to allow the wearer to see through the glasses,

wherein the means (54) for fading is adapted to switch between the spectacle mode and the fade-in mode depending on an input of the spectacle wearer or on the detected acoustic signal.

11. Hearing aid device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the means (54) for fading is designed to perform a direction-dependent filtering of the detected acoustic signal in such a way that improves the signal / noise ratio of the detected acoustic signal, and the fade based on the filtered signal.

12. Hearing aid device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the fade-in device (54) is switchable to a learning mode, in which the fading device displays the optical information simultaneously with pre-stored optical information, so that the wearer of the glasses can compare the different optical information ,

13. Hearing aid device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the fade-in device (54) is switchable to a learning mode, in which the fade-in device (54) fades in advance stored optical information in the view of the wearer of the glasses, a reaction of the wearer of the glasses on the Fade in the pre-stored optical information recorded and depending on the detected reaction the spectacle wearer fades a signal in his view that indicates a correctness or incorrectness of the reaction.

14. Hearing aid with

a pair of glasses (50);

detection means (52) for detecting an acoustic signal comprising a plurality of acoustic sensors arranged offset to each other on the glasses when projected in the horizontal plane; and

a fade-in device (54) attached to or integrated in the eyeglass (50) for determining a direction from which the detected acoustic signal originates, based on output signals of the plurality of acoustic sensors and fading in a sign indicating the direction in FIG a view of the spectacle wearer.

15. Hearing aid with

a device for detecting an acoustic signal in a user's environment comprising a plurality of acoustic sensors and arranged to be carried by the user so as to be staggered when the user stands upright when projected in the horizontal plane; and

means for determining a direction from which the detected acoustic signal originates based on output signals of the plurality of acoustic sensors and stimulating a haptic perception of the user depending on the direction.

16. A hearing aid device according to claim 15, wherein the means for detecting and the means for detecting in earrings or hearing aids are integrated to be worn on the ears of the user.

17. hearing aid method with

Detecting an acoustic signal by means of a plurality of acoustic sensors, which are arranged on a pair of spectacles offset from one another when projected in the horizontal plane;

Fading optical information, which depends on the detected acoustic signal, into a view of a wearer of the spectacles by means of a fade-in device (54) attached to the spectacles (50) or incorporated in the same;

Determining, based on output signals of the plurality of acoustic sensors, a direction from which the detected acoustic signal originated; and

Driving an actuator depending on the direction to indicate the direction to the user.

18. hearing aid method with

Detecting an acoustic signal by means of a plurality of acoustic sensors, which are arranged on a pair of spectacles offset from one another when projected in the horizontal plane; and

Determining a direction from which the detected acoustic signal originates based on output signals of the plurality of acoustic sensors; and

Showing a sign indicating the direction in a view of the wearer.

19. hearing aid method with Detecting an acoustic signal in a user's environment by means of a plurality of acoustic sensors carried by the user so as to be staggered when the user stands upright when projected in the horizontal plane; and

Stimulate a haptic perception of the user depending on the direction.

20. Computer program with a program code for carrying out the method according to one of claims 17 to 19, when the computer program runs on a computer