Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

EP3038381B1 - Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches - Google Patents

Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP3038381B1
EP3038381B1 EP14199590.2A EP14199590A EP3038381B1 EP 3038381 B1 EP3038381 B1 EP 3038381B1 EP 14199590 A EP14199590 A EP 14199590A EP 3038381 B1 EP3038381 B1 EP 3038381B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
hearing aid
audio signal
sound
hearing
signal
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Active
Application number
EP14199590.2A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP3038381A1 (de
Inventor
Karl-Fredrik Johan Gran
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
GN Hearing AS
Original Assignee
GN Resound AS
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by GN Resound AS filed Critical GN Resound AS
Priority to DK14199590.2T priority Critical patent/DK3038381T3/da
Priority to EP14199590.2A priority patent/EP3038381B1/de
Priority to US14/584,872 priority patent/US9774960B2/en
Priority to PCT/EP2015/080218 priority patent/WO2016102300A1/en
Priority to JP2017533412A priority patent/JP6267834B2/ja
Priority to CN201580070136.2A priority patent/CN107113516B/zh
Publication of EP3038381A1 publication Critical patent/EP3038381A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP3038381B1 publication Critical patent/EP3038381B1/de
Active legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Images

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
    • H04R25/40—Arrangements for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic
    • H04R25/407—Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2225/00—Details of deaf aids covered by H04R25/00, not provided for in any of its subgroups
    • H04R2225/43—Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
    • H04R25/55—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception using an external connection, either wireless or wired
    • H04R25/552—Binaural
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R25/00—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception
    • H04R25/55—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception using an external connection, either wireless or wired
    • H04R25/554—Deaf-aid sets, i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception using an external connection, either wireless or wired using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils

Definitions

  • a new hearing aid is provided with improved reduction of diffuse noise with preserved spatial awareness.
  • Hearing aid users have been reported to have poorer ability to localize sound sources when wearing their hearing aids than without their hearing aids. This represents a serious problem for the mild-to-moderate hearing impaired population.
  • hearing aids typically reproduce sound in such a way that the user perceives sound sources to be localized inside the head. The sound is said to be internalized rather than being externalized.
  • a common complaint for hearing aid users when referring to the "hearing speech in noise problem" is that it is very hard to follow anything that is being said even though the signal to noise ratio (SNR) should be sufficient to provide the required speech intelligibility.
  • SNR signal to noise ratio
  • a significant contributor to this fact is that the hearing aid reproduces an internalized sound field. This adds to the cognitive loading of the hearing aid user and may result in listening fatigue and ultimately that the user removes the hearing aid(s).
  • new hearing aids have been disclosed with improved localization of sound sources, i.e. the new hearing aids preserve information of the directions of respective sound sources in the sound environment with relation to the orientation of the head of the wearer of the hearing aid, see EP 2 750 410 A1 , EP 2 750 411 A1 , and EP 2 750 412 A1 .
  • Improved sound source localization enables hearing aid users to utilize the cocktail party effect, i.e. the user is able to focus the auditory attention on a selected sound source while suppressing all other sounds, e.g. to focus on a single conversation in a noisy room at a party.
  • Directional systems operate to suppress signal energy from all other directions than a target direction. This requires that interfering sound has a directional nature; however, in complex listening situations, such as in a restaurant, the hearing aid user experiences interference from diffuse noise. Diffuse noise is, or approximately is, spatially white, i.e. the signal recorded in the noise field is uncorrelated with any other signal record at a different location. The number of microphones in a hearing aid system is typically not sufficient to efficiently suppress diffuse noise. Therefore, directional systems have limited effect for these types of listening situations.
  • US 2004/0136541 A1 discloses a BTE hearing aid with a microphone disposed outside the ear canal and having a compensation filter for filtering the output signal of the microphone for restoring spatial cues in the signal for improved user capability of localization of a sound source.
  • a new method of increasing a signal to noise ratio of a sound signal received in an environment with diffuse noise comprising converting sound into an audio signal using a microphone system, and filtering the audio signal with a matched filter having a matching transfer function that matches or substantially matches a transfer function of a sound propagation path of the acoustic sound from a sound source to the microphone system, when the microphone system is worn by a user.
  • the transfer function preferably includes the transfer function of the microphone system.
  • a matched filter is said to have a matching transfer function that matches or substantially matches another transfer function when the matching transfer function is equal to, or substantially equal to, a complex conjugate, multiplied by a complex scalar, of the other transfer function, wherein the value of the complex scalar is selected so that the matched filter is a causal filter.
  • the matched filter may have an impulse response that is equal to, or substantially equal to, the time reversed and time shifted impulse response, possibly time shifted to ensure that the matched filter is a causal filter, of a sound propagation path from the sound source to the microphone system, when the microphone system is worn by a user.
  • the matched filter may perform equalisation of the amplitude spectrum of the filtered audio signal to compensate for the changes of the amplitude spectrum caused by the transfer function.
  • the new method may further comprise adding a plurality of filtered audio signals into a sum audio signal for further improvement of the signal to noise ratio.
  • a new hearing aid comprising a first microphone system configured for conversion of sound emitted by a sound source into a first audio signal, a first matched filter configured for filtering the first audio signal into a first filtered audio signal, the first matched filter having a first matching transfer function that matches or substantially matches a first transfer function of a first sound propagation path of the sound propagating from the sound source to the first microphone system providing the first audio signal, when a user wears the hearing aid, and a hearing loss processor configured to provide a hearing loss compensated output signal that compensates for a hearing loss of the user based at least in part on the first filtered audio signal.
  • the hearing aid may further comprise a second microphone system configured for conversion of sound into a second audio signal, and a second matched filter configured for filtering the second audio signal into a second filtered audio signal, the second matched filter having a second matching transfer that matches or substantially matches a second transfer function of a second sound propagation path of the sound propagating from the sound source to the second microphone system providing the second audio signal, when the user wears the hearing aid, a first adder configured for adding the first filtered audio signal and the second filtered audio signal to obtain a sum audio signal, wherein the hearing loss processor is configured to process the sum audio signal to provide the hearing loss compensated output signal.
  • the first matched filter may be connected to an output of a microphone of the first microphone system for filtering the audio signal provided at the output of the microphone into a filtered audio signal.
  • the first matched filter may be connected to a combined output of a plurality of microphones of the first microphone system for filtering the audio signal provided at the combined output of the plurality of microphones into a filtered audio signal.
  • the first matched filter may have an impulse response that is equal to, or substantially equal to, a time reversed and possibly time shifted impulse response, possibly time shifted to ensure that the first matched filter is a causal filter, of a first sound propagation path from the sound source to the first microphone system, when the first microphone system is worn by a user.
  • the first matched filter may perform equalisation of the amplitude spectrum of the first filtered audio signal to compensate for changes of the amplitude spectrum caused by the first transfer function.
  • the second matched filter may be connected to an output of a microphone of the second microphone system for filtering the audio signal provided at the output of the microphone into a filtered audio signal.
  • the second matched filter may be connected to a combined output of a plurality of microphones of the second microphone system for filtering the audio signal provided at the combined output of the plurality of microphones into a filtered audio signal.
  • the second matched filter may have an impulse response that is equal to, or substantially equal to, a time reversed and possibly time shifted impulse response, possibly time shifted to ensure that the second matched filter is a causal filter, of a second sound propagation path from the sound source to the second microphone system, when the second microphone system is worn by a user.
  • the second matched filter may perform equalisation of the amplitude spectrum of the second filtered audio signal to compensate for changes of the amplitude spectrum caused by the second transfer function.
  • the first and second matching transfer functions may substantially equalize a phase of the first filtered audio signal and a phase of the second filtered audio signal, so that the first adder can add the first and second filtered audio signals in-phase.
  • a transfer function of a sound propagation path from the sound source to a microphone system providing an audio signal, when the hearing aid is worn by a user is termed a microphone related transfer function.
  • the microphone related transfer function preferably includes the transfer function of the microphone system.
  • the hearing aid also comprises an output transducer for conversion of the hearing loss compensated output signal to an auditory output signal, such as an acoustic output signal, or an implanted transducer signal, that can be received by the human auditory system.
  • an auditory output signal such as an acoustic output signal, or an implanted transducer signal
  • the new hearing aid may be of any type of hearing aid, such as a BTE, a RIE, an ITE, an ITC, a CIC, etc., hearing aid or combination of these.
  • the new hearing aid may form part of a new binaural hearing aid system using data exchange between the hearing aids to optimize performance.
  • the matched filter operates to improve the SNR of a signal emitted from a sound source in an environment with significant diffuse acoustic noise, e.g. at a gathering with a lot of simultaneous conversation.
  • the microphone related transfer function depends on the direction and distance to the sound source with relation to the user of the hearing aid and the anatomy of the user, due to diffraction around the head, reflections from shoulders, reflections by the pinna and in the ear canal, etc.
  • one or more microphone related transfer functions of selected directions and distances are determined for the individual user and matched or substantially matched by one or more respective matched filters.
  • the microphone related transfer functions like the HRTFs do not change with distance.
  • the listener resides in the far field of a sound source, when the distance to the sound source is larger than 1.5 m.
  • the determined microphone related transfer functions may be the far field microphone related transfer functions of selected directions.
  • Approximate microphone related transfer functions may be used instead of the microphone related transfer functions individually determined for the user. Approximate microphone related transfer functions may be determined using an artificial head, such as a KEMAR head. In this way, approximations to the individual microphone related transfer functions are provided that can be of sufficient accuracy for the hearing aid user to obtain an improved SNR in an environment with diffuse noise.
  • the approximate microphone related transfer functions may also be determined as an average of previously determined microphone related transfer functions for a group of people. This group may be selected to fit certain features of the human for which the individual microphone related transfer functions are to be determined in order to obtain approximate microphone related transfer functions that more closely match the respective corresponding individual microphone related transfer functions. For example, the group may be selected according to age, race, gender, family, ear size, etc., either alone or in any combination.
  • the approximate microphone related transfer functions may also include averages over a number of directions.
  • the approximate microphone related transfer functions may also be microphone related transfer functions previously determined for the patient in question, e.g. during a previous fitting session at an earlier age.
  • the selected directions of the microphone related transfer functions matched or substantially matched by matched filters in the hearing aid preferably include the forward looking direction of the user, but may comprise any direction or a multitude of directions.
  • the hearing aid comprises a plurality of matched filters
  • the hearing aid also comprises an adder configured for adding the filtered audio signals provided at the outputs of the matched filters, into a sum audio signal that is input to the hearing loss processor for processing into the hearing loss compensated output signal.
  • the sound source is located in the assumed direction so that the sound source emits sound that propagates along those propagation paths to the respective microphones, whose transfer functions are matched or substantially matched by the respective matched filters, the matched filters equalize the phase component originating from the propagation of the acoustic wave from the source to the microphone from the recorded signals so that subsequently, the adder adds the filtered signals in-phase to further improve the SNR of the output signal sum. This is due to the fact that the diffuse noise is uncorrelated over both time and space so that the filtering leads to SNR improvement and so does averaging over microphones.
  • Further microphones connected to respective matched filters may be added to the circuitry with further filtered audio signals input to the adder for further improvement of the SNR of the sum audio signal.
  • the adder may form a weighted sum of the signals input to the adder.
  • the first microphone system may comprise a first microphone configured for conversion of sound into the first audio signal
  • the second microphone system may comprise a second microphone configured for conversion of sound into the second audio signal
  • the new hearing aid may form part of a new binaural hearing aid system, comprising a left ear hearing aid and a right ear hearing aid, and wherein one of the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid is the new hearing aid.
  • one of the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid may have at least one matched filter configured to filter an audio signal originating from a microphone of the other one of the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid.
  • the new binaural hearing aid system may comprise a first hearing aid and a second hearing aid, wherein each of the first and second hearing aids comprises a first microphone system configured for conversion of sound emitted by a sound source into a first audio signal, a first matched filter configured for filtering the first audio signal into a first filtered audio signal, the first matched filter having a first matching transfer function that matches or substantially matches a first transfer function of a first sound propagation path of the sound propagating from the sound source to the first microphone system providing the first audio signal, when a user wears the hearing aid, and a hearing loss processor configured to provide a hearing loss compensated output signal that compensates for a hearing loss of the user based at least in part on the first filtered audio signal.
  • each of the first and second hearing aids comprises a first microphone system configured for conversion of sound emitted by a sound source into a first audio signal, a first matched filter configured for filtering the first audio signal into a first filtered audio signal, the first matched filter having a first matching
  • Each of the first and second hearing aids may further comprise a second microphone system configured for conversion of sound into a second audio signal, and a second matched filter configured for filtering the second audio signal into a second filtered audio signal, the second matched filter having a second matching transfer that matches or substantially matches a second transfer function of a second sound propagation path of the sound propagating from the sound source to the second microphone system providing the second audio signal, when the user wears the hearing aid, a first adder configured for adding the first filtered audio signal and the second filtered audio signal to obtain a sum audio signal, wherein the hearing loss processor is configured to process the sum audio signal to provide the hearing loss compensated output signal.
  • the hearing loss processor of one of the first and second hearing aids may have an input that is connected to an output of the first adder of the other one of the first and second hearing aids, and wherein the processor is configured for adding the outputs of the first adders of the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid.
  • the first hearing aid may have a second adder with a first input that is connected to an output of the first adder of the first hearing aid and a second input that is connected to an output of the first adder of the second hearing aid, and an output for provision of a binaural sum of the sum audio signal of the first hearing aid and the sum audio signal of the second hearing aid, and wherein the hearing loss processor is configured to process the binaural sum audio signal to provide the hearing loss compensated output signal.
  • Signals may be communicated wired or wirelessly between the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid as is well-known in the art of hearing aids.
  • n th microphone receives a noisy version of a sound signal, e.g. speech; the user desires to listen to.
  • V n ( ⁇ ) is the corresponding masker signal spectrum.
  • E is the expectancy operator and * denotes complex conjugate.
  • the masker has a Gaussian distribution.
  • conditional probability of measuring s ( ⁇ ) given X( ⁇ ) is proportional to P s ⁇
  • ⁇ is the convolution operator, i.e. f 1 ⁇ f 2 means the convolution of functions f 1 and f 2
  • h n (t) is the inverse Fourier transform of H n ( ⁇ )
  • s n (t) is the n th measured microphone signal
  • the new hearing aid may be a multi-channel hearing aid, in which audio signals to be processed are divided into a plurality of signal components for being processed individually in a plurality of frequency channels, respectively.
  • One of, some of; or, all of the matched filters may also be divided into the plurality of frequency channels; or, may still operate in the entire frequency range of the hearing aid; or, may be divided into other frequency channels, typically fewer frequency channels, than other parts of the hearing aid circuitry are divided into.
  • one of, some of; or, all of the matched filters may operate in respective selected frequency bands.
  • Each of the selected frequency bands may comprise one or more of the frequency channels, or all of the frequency channels.
  • the selected frequency band may be fragmented, i.e. the selected frequency band need not comprise consecutive frequency channels.
  • the plurality of frequency channels may include warped frequency channels, for example all of the frequency channels may be warped frequency channels.
  • the audio signals may be processed for hearing loss compensation in a conventional way.
  • the terms “substantially” and “approximately” account for fluctuations and inaccuracies experienced within the field of electrical engineering and are intended to mean that deviations from absolute are included within the scope of the term or expression so modified. For example, they can refer to deviations that are less than or equal to ⁇ 10%, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 5%, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 2%, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 1 %, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 0.5%, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 0.2%, such as less than or equal to ⁇ 0.1%.
  • Signal processing, including filtering, in the new hearing aid may be performed by dedicated hardware or may be performed in a signal processor, or performed in a combination of dedicated hardware and one or more signal processors.
  • processor As used herein, the terms “processor”, “signal processor”, “controller”, “system”, etc., are intended to refer to CPU-related entities, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution.
  • the term processor may also refer to any integrated circuit that includes some hardware, which may or may not be a CPU-related entity.
  • a processor may include a filter.
  • a "processor”, “signal processor”, “controller”, “system”, etc. may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, a thread of execution, and/or a program.
  • processor designate both an application running on a processor and a hardware processor.
  • processors may reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and one or more "processors”, “signal processors”, “controllers”, “systems”, etc., or any combination hereof, may be localized on one hardware processor, possibly in combination with other hardware circuitry, and/or distributed between two or more hardware processors, possibly in combination with other hardware circuitry.
  • a processor may be any component or any combination of components that is capable of performing signal processing.
  • the signal processor may be an ASIC processor, a FPGA processor, a general purpose processor, a microprocessor, a circuit component, or an integrated circuit.
  • Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a user 100 wearing a BTE hearing aid (only the microphones of the hearing aid are shown) on the user's right ear.
  • the BTE hearing aid 10 has two microphones 12, 24 accommodated in the BTE hearing aid housing in such a way that a line through centres of the microphones extends in parallel with a forward looking direction of the user.
  • the user 100 desires to listen to speaker 110; however, the user and listener 100 and the speaker 110 are surrounded by a number of other people (not shown) also engaged in various conversations.
  • the user 100 is exposed to a diffuse noise field and as a result the hearing impaired user cannot focus the auditory attention on the selected sound source, i.e. the conversation partner 110, while suppressing speech from other talkers and other sounds.
  • Fig. 2 shows a blocked schematic of the BTE hearing aid 10 worn by the user 100 in Fig. 1 .
  • the illustrated BTE hearing aid 10 has a front microphone 12 that converts acoustic sound into a front audio signal 14.
  • the front audio signal 14 is pre-processed in a first pre-processing filter 16 into a pre-processed front audio signal 18.
  • the pre-processing may include, without excluding any form of processing, adaptive and/or static feedback suppression and/or adaptive and/or fixed beamforming and/or pre-filtering.
  • a first matched filter 20 is connected to the output of the first pre-processing filter 16 and operates to filter the pre-processed front audio signal 18 into a front filtered audio signal 22.
  • a sound source 110 see Fig. 1 , resides in the forward looking direction of the user 100 and emits sound to the microphone 12 when worn by the user 100 of the hearing aid 10.
  • the front microphone 12 has the far field microphone related transfer function H 1 ( ⁇ ) of the front looking direction, and the first matched filter 20 has a matching transfer function that is a equal to the complex conjugate of the far field microphone related transfer function H 1 *( ⁇ ) multiplied by the complex scalar e -j ⁇ t to ensure that the impulse response h 1 (T-t) of the first matched filter 20 is causal.
  • the illustrated BTE hearing aid 10 also has a rear microphone 24 that converts acoustic sound into a rear audio signal 26.
  • the rear audio signal 26 is pre-processed in a second pre-processing filter 28 into a pre-processed rear audio signal 30.
  • the pre-processing may include, without excluding any form of processing, adaptive and/or static feedback suppression and/or adaptive and/or fixed beamforming and/or pre-filtering.
  • a second matched filter 32 is connected to the output of the second pre-processing filter 28 and operates to filter the pre-processed rear audio signal 30 into a rear filtered audio signal 34.
  • the rear microphone 24 has the far field microphone related transfer function H 2 ( ⁇ ) of the front looking direction, and the second matched filter 32 has a matching transfer function that is equal or substantially equal to the complex conjugate of the far field microphone related transfer function H 2 *( ⁇ ) multiplied by the complex scalar e -j ⁇ T to ensure that the impulse response h 2 (T-t) of the second matched filter 32 is causal.
  • Other embodiments of the hearing aid 10 may have a number of microphones that is larger than two.
  • the matched filters 20, 32 operate to improve the SNR of the audio signals 14, 26 that originate from a sound source 110 in an environment with significant diffuse acoustic noise, e.g. at a gathering with a lot of simultaneous conversation.
  • the front and rear audio signals 22, 34 are input to an adder 36 that adds the front and rear audio signals 22, 34 into the sum audio signal 38.
  • the matched filters 20, 32 remove the phase from their respective input signals 18, 30 so that subsequently, the adder 36 adds the filtered signals 22, 34 in-phase to further improve the SNR of the sum audio signal 38.
  • the adder 36 may form a weighted sum of the signals 22, 34 input to the adder 36.
  • the sum audio signal 38 is input to a hearing loss processor 40 configured to process the sum audio signal 38 into a hearing loss compensated output signal 42 that is compensated for the hearing loss of the user in a way well-known in the art of hearing aids, possibly in accordance with a number of selectable hearing programmes stored in a memory (not shown) of the hearing aid 10.
  • the hearing loss compensated output signal 42 is input to an output transducer 44 in the form of a receiver 44 for conversion of the hearing loss compensated output signal 42 into an acoustic output signal that is transmitted towards an eardrum of the user 100 wearing the hearing aid 10.
  • the microphone related transfer functions H 1 ( ⁇ ), H 2 ( ⁇ ) of the respective acoustic propagation paths 120, 130 from the sound source 110 in the forward looking direction of the user 100 to the respective microphones 12, 24 are determined for the individual user 100 and matched by the respective matched filters 20, 32.
  • approximate microphone related transfer functions H 1 '( ⁇ ), H 2 '( ⁇ ) may be used instead.
  • H 1 '( ⁇ ), H 2 '( ⁇ ) may be determined using an artificial head, such as a KEMAR head, whereby approximated microphone related transfer functions H 1 '( ⁇ ), H 2 '( ⁇ ) are provided of sufficient accuracy for the hearing aid user 100 to obtain an improved SNR of the sum audio signal 38 in an environment with diffuse noise.
  • the approximate microphone related transfer functions H 1 '( ⁇ ), H 2 '( ⁇ ) may also be determined as an average of previously determined microphone related transfer functions for a group of humans.
  • the group of humans may be selected to fit certain features of the human for which the individual microphone related transfer functions are to be determined in order to obtain approximate microphone related transfer functions that more closely match the respective corresponding individual microphone related transfer functions.
  • the group of humans may be selected according to age, race, gender, family, ear size, etc., either alone or in any combination. Averaging may also be performed over a number of directions.
  • the approximate microphone related transfer functions may also be microphone related transfer functions previously determined for the user in question, e.g. during a previous fitting session at an earlier age.
  • ⁇ is the convolution operator, i.e. f1 ⁇ f2 means the convolution of functions f1 and f2
  • n is a microphone index, i.e.
  • h n (t) is the inverse Fourier transform of H n ( ⁇ )
  • s n (t) is the n th pre-filtered microphone signal 18, 30
  • g t F ⁇ 1 1 h H ⁇ h ⁇ is a filter describing the amplitude equalization across frequency to compensate for the filtering operation.
  • the summation is performed in the adder 36 while multiplication by g(t) is performed by the processor 40.
  • the hearing aid 10 shown in Fig. 2 may be a multi-channel hearing aid in which audio sound signals 14, 26 to be processed are divided into a plurality of frequency channels, and wherein audio signals are processed individually in each of the frequency channels, possibly apart from the matched filters 20, 32 that may still operate in the entire frequency range of the hearing aid 10, or, may be divided into other frequency channels, typically fewer frequency channels than the remaining illustrated circuitry.
  • FIG. 2 may illustrate the circuitry and signal processing in a single frequency channel of the audio signals 14, 26.
  • the illustrated circuitry and signal processing may be duplicated in a plurality of the frequency channels, e.g. in all of the frequency channels.
  • the signal processing illustrated in Fig. 2 may be performed in a selected frequency band.
  • the selected frequency band may comprise one or more of the frequency channels, or all of the frequency channels.
  • the selected frequency band may be fragmented, i.e. the selected frequency band need not comprise consecutive frequency channels.
  • the plurality of frequency channels may include warped frequency channels, for example all of the frequency channels may be warped frequency channels.
  • the audio signals may be processed for hearing loss compensation without matched filtering 20, 32.
  • Fig. 3 schematically illustrates a user 100 wearing a binaural hearing aid system with a left ear BTE hearing aid accommodating microphones 12B, 24B and a right ear BTE hearing aid accommodating microphones 12A, 24A.
  • Signals may be communicated wired or wirelessly between the left ear hearing aid and the right ear hearing aid in a way well-known in the art of signal transmission.
  • each of the left ear BTE hearing aid and the right ear BTE hearing aid of the binaural hearing aid system operates in the same way as the hearing aid 10 with the blocked schematic shown in Fig. 2 apart from the fact that the filtered audio signal of each hearing aid is transmitted to the other hearing aid and added to the filtered audio signal of the other hearing aid as shown in Fig. 4 .
  • Fig. 4 shows a blocked schematic of a binaural hearing aid system 10 comprising a right ear hearing aid 10A and a left ear hearing aid 10B, each of which operates in the same way as the hearing aid 10 shown in Fig. 2 apart from the fact that the sum audio signal 38A, 38B, respectively, of each of the right ear hearing aid 10A and left ear hearing aid 10B, is transmitted to the other hearing aid 10B, 10A and added to the sum audio signal 38B, 38A of the other hearing aid 10B, 10A in the respective processor 40B, 40A.
  • the required wired or wireless interface circuitry is not shown.
  • one or more microphones with pre-filters connected to respective matched filters may be added to the circuitry of the hearing aids 10A, 10B as indicated by the vertical lines of dots, generating filtered output audio signals input to the adder 36A, 36B for further improvement of the SNR of the sum audio signal 38A, 38B.
  • the number of microphones in the right ear hearing aid 10A and the left ear hearing aid 10B is preferably, but need not be, the same.
  • the binaural hearing aid system 10 may comprise four microphones, namely a front microphone 12A, 12B and a rear microphone 24A, 24B, in each of the right ear hearing aid 10A and the left ear hearing aid 10B of the binaural hearing aid system 10.
  • Each of the hearing aids 10A, 10B shown in Fig. 4 may be a multi-channel hearing aid in which audio sound signals 14A, 26A, 14B, 26B to be processed are divided into a plurality of frequency channels, and wherein audio signals are processed individually in each of the frequency channels, possibly apart from the matched filters 20A, 32A, 20B, 32B that may still operate in the entire frequency range of the respective hearing aid 10A, 10B; or, may be divided into other frequency channels, typically fewer frequency channels than the remaining illustrated circuitry.
  • Fig. 4 may illustrate the circuitry and signal processing in a single frequency channel of the audio signals 14A, 26A, 1B, 26B.
  • the illustrated circuitry and signal processing may be duplicated in a plurality of the frequency channels, e.g. in all of the frequency channels.
  • the signal processing illustrated in Fig. 4 may be performed in a selected frequency band.
  • the selected frequency band may comprise one or more of the frequency channels, or all of the frequency channels.
  • the selected frequency band may be fragmented, i.e. the selected frequency band need not comprise consecutive frequency channels.
  • the plurality of frequency channels may include warped frequency channels, for example all of the frequency channels may be warped frequency channels.
  • the audio signals may be processed for hearing loss compensation without matched filtering 20A, 32A, 20B, 32B.
  • circuitry of the right ear hearing aid 10A and left ear hearing aid 10B may be identical as shown in Fig. 4 .
  • the circuit components may be distributed in arbitrary ways between the two hearing aid housings in accordance with design choices well-known in the art of hearing aids.
  • one of the hearing aids 10A may comprise all of the required matched filters 20A, 32A, 20B, 32B, and the processor 40A, while the other one of the hearing aids 10B does not comprise matched filters and a processor.
  • microphone output signals, possibly pre-processed, 18B, 30B are transmitted to the hearing aid comprising the respective matched filters 20B, 32B, and wherein the processor 40A is configured to output the hearing loss compensated output signals 42A, 42B for both ears of the user.
  • the hearing loss compensated output signal 42B for the other ear is then transmitted to the hearing aid 10B without matched filters and input to the output transducer 44B of the hearing aid 10B.
  • the required wired or wireless interface circuitry for signal transfer between the hearing aids 10A, 10B is not shown.
  • Fig. 6 shows a directionality plot 50 of the sum audio signal 38 of the hearing aid 10 shown in Fig. 2 in comparison with a directionality plot 60 of conventional omni-directional processing in the form the directionality 60 of the front microphone audio signal 14. It is noteworthy that the directionalities are very similar and thus, loss of environmental awareness is avoided with the matched filters.
  • the disclosed method can also be used to suppress microphone noise.
  • the term “substantially matches”, or any of other similar terms, such as “substantially equal”, refers to two items that do not vary by more than 10%.
  • a description regarding an impulse response being “substantially equal” to another impulse response refers to the two impulse responses having at least one characteristic that does not vary by more than 10%.
  • a description regarding a matching transfer function of a matched filter that "substantially matches" a transfer function of a sound propagation path refers to the matching transfer function and the transfer function of the sound propagation path having at least one characteristic that does not vary by more than 10%.

Landscapes

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

Claims (14)

  1. Hörgerät (10), umfassend:
    ein erstes Mikrofonsystem (12), das zur Umwandlung von durch eine Schallquelle (110) emittierten Schall in ein erstes Audiosignal (14) konfiguriert ist,
    einen ersten Filter (20), der zum Filtern des ersten Audiosignals (14) in ein erstes gefiltertes Audiosignal (22) konfiguriert ist,
    einen Hörverlustprozessor (40), der konfiguriert ist, um ein Hörverlust-kompensiertes Ausgabesignal (42) bereitzustellen, das zumindest teilweise basierend auf dem ersten gefilterten Audiosignal (22) einen Hörverlust des Benutzers kompensiert,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass
    der erste Filter (20) ein erster Anpassungsfilter (20) ist, der eine erste Anpassungsübertragungsfunktion H1*(ω) hat, die im Wesentlichen gleich einem ersten komplexen Skalar multipliziert mit einer konjugiert komplexen Zahl einer ersten Übertragungsfunktion H1(ω) eines ersten Schallausbreitungswegs (120) von Schall ist, der sich von der Schallquelle (110) zu dem ersten Mikrofonsystem (12) ausbreitet, das erste Audiosignal (14) bereitstellend, wenn ein Benutzer (100) das Hörgerät (10) trägt, wobei der erste komplexe Skalar derart ausgewählt ist, dass der erste Anpassungsfilter (20) ein kausaler Filter ist.
  2. Hörgerät (10) nach Anspruch 1, weiter umfassend:
    ein zweites Mikrofonsystem (24), das zur Umwandlung von Schall in ein zweites Audiosignal (26) konfiguriert ist, und
    einen zweiten Anpassungsfilter (32), der zum Filtern des zweiten Audiosignals (26) in ein zweites gefiltertes Audiosignal (34) konfiguriert ist, wobei der zweite Anpassungsfilter (32) eine zweite Anpassungsübertragungsfunktion H2*(ω) hat, die im Wesentlich gleich einem zweiten komplexen Skalar multipliziert mit einer konjugiert komplexen Zahl einer zweiten Übertragungsfunktion eines zweiten Schallausbreitungswegs (130) von dem Schall ist, der sich von der Schallquelle (110) zu dem zweiten Mikrofonsystem (24) ausbreitet, das zweite Audiosignal (26) bereitstellend, wenn ein Benutzer (100) das Hörgerät (10) trägt, wobei der zweite komplexe Skalar derart ausgewählt ist, dass der zweite Anpassungsfilter ein kausaler Filter ist,
    einen ersten Addierer (36), der konfiguriert ist, um das erste gefilterte Audiosignal (22) und das zweite gefilterte Audiosignal (34) zu addieren, um ein addiertes Audiosignal (38) zu erhalten,
    wobei der Hörverlustprozessor (40) konfiguriert ist, um das addierte Audiosignal (38) zu verarbeiten, um das Hörverlust-kompensierte Ausgabesignal (42) bereitzustellen.
  3. Hörgerät (10) nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, wobei sich die Schallquelle (110) in einer vorausschauenden Richtung des Benutzers befindet.
  4. Hörgerät (10) nach einem der vorherigen Ansprüche, wobei der erste Anpassungsfilter (20) eine Impulsantwort h1(T-t) hat, die im Wesentlichen gleich einer zeitinvertierten und zeitversetzten Impulsantwort h1(t) des ersten Schallausbreitungswegs (120) der Schallausbreitung von der Schallquelle (110) zu dem ersten Mikrofonsystem (12) ist, wenn der Benutzer (100) das Hörgerät (10) trägt.
  5. Hörgerät (10) nach einem der vorherigen Ansprüche, wobei die ersten und zweiten Anpassungsübertragungsfunktionen im Wesentlichen eine Phase des ersten gefilterten Audiosignals (22) und eine Phase des zweiten gefilterten Audiosignals (34) angleichen, so dass der erste Addierer (36) die ersten und zweiten gefilterten Audiosignale (22, 34) in Phase addieren kann.
  6. Hörgerät (10) nach einem der vorherigen Ansprüche, wobei die ersten und zweiten Anpassungsübertragungsfunktionen im Wesentlichen ein Amplitudenspektrum des ersten gefilterten Audiosignals (22) beziehungsweise ein Amplitudenspektrum des zweiten gefilterten Audiosignals (34) an das Amplitudenspektrum des durch die Schallquelle (110) emittierten Schalls angleichen.
  7. Hörgerät (10) nach einem der vorherigen Ansprüche, wobei das Hörgerät (10) ein Mehrkanalhörgerät (10) ist, in dem das erste Audiosignal (14) in eine Vielzahl von Signalkomponenten geteilt wird, um jeweils einzeln in einer Vielzahl von Frequenzkanälen verarbeitet zu werden.
  8. Hörgerät (10) nach Anspruch 7, wobei der erste Anpassungsfilter (20) konfiguriert ist, um ein Filtern in einem ausgewählten Frequenzband durchzuführen.
  9. Hörgerät (10) nach Anspruch 7 oder 8, wobei die Vielzahl von Frequenzkanälen verzerrte Frequenzkanäle umfasst.
  10. Binaurales Hörgerätsystem (10), das ein erstes Hörgerät (10A) und ein zweites Hörgerät (10B) umfasst, wobei das erste Hörgerät (10A) ein Hörgerät nach einem der vorherigen Ansprüche ist.
  11. Binaurales Hörgerätsystem (10) nach Anspruch 10, wobei jedes der ersten und zweiten Hörgeräte (10A, 10B) ein Hörgerät nach einem der Ansprüche 1 - 9 ist.
  12. Binaurales Hörgerätsystem (10) nach Anspruch 11, wobei
    das erste Hörgerät (10A) einen zweiten Addierer mit einem ersten Eingang, der mit einem Ausgang des ersten Addierers des ersten Hörgeräts (10A) verbunden ist, und einem zweiten Eingang, der mit einem Ausgang des ersten Addierers des zweiten Hörgeräts (10B) und einem Ausgang zur Bereitstellung eines binauralen addierten Audiosignals (38A) des addierten Audiosignals des ersten Hörgeräts (10A) und des addierten Audiosignals des zweiten Hörgeräts (10B) verbunden ist, hat,
    wobei der Hörverlustprozessor (40A) konfiguriert ist, um das binaurale addierte Audiosignal (38A) zu verarbeiten, um ein Hörverlust-kompensiertes Ausgabesignal (42A, 42B) bereitzustellen.
  13. Verfahren zum Erhöhen eines Signal-Rausch-Verhältnisses eines in einem Hörgerät (10) in einer Umgebung mit diffusen Geräuschen empfangenen Schallsignals, umfassend:
    Umwandeln eines akustischen Schalls in ein Audiosignal (14) unter Verwendung eines Mikrofonsystems (12) des Hörgeräts (10),
    gekennzeichnet durch
    Filtern des Audiosignals (14) mit einem Anpassungsfilter (20) des Hörgeräts (10), der eine Anpassungsübertragungsfunktion H*(ω) hat, die im Wesentlichen gleich einem ersten komplexen Skalar multipliziert mit einer konjugiert komplexen Zahl einer Übertragungsfunktion H(ω) eines Schallausbreitungswegs (120) des akustischen Schalls von einer Schallquelle (110) zu dem Mikrofonsystem (12) ist, wenn das Mikrofonsystem (12) durch einen Benutzer (100) getragen wird, wobei der erste komplexe Skalar derart ausgewählt wird, dass der erste Anpassungsfilter ein kausaler Filter ist.
  14. Verfahren nach Anspruch 13, weiter umfassend Addieren einer Vielzahl der gefilterten Audiosignale (22, 34), um ein addiertes Audiosignal (38) für eine Verbesserung des Signal-Rausch-Verhältnisses zu erhalten, wobei eines der gefilterten Audiosignale (22) aus der Handlung des Filterns des Audiosignals resultiert.
EP14199590.2A 2014-12-22 2014-12-22 Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches Active EP3038381B1 (de)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DK14199590.2T DK3038381T3 (da) 2014-12-22 2014-12-22 Lytning i diffus støj
EP14199590.2A EP3038381B1 (de) 2014-12-22 2014-12-22 Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches
US14/584,872 US9774960B2 (en) 2014-12-22 2014-12-29 Diffuse noise listening
PCT/EP2015/080218 WO2016102300A1 (en) 2014-12-22 2015-12-17 Diffuse noise listening
JP2017533412A JP6267834B2 (ja) 2014-12-22 2015-12-17 拡散性雑音聴取
CN201580070136.2A CN107113516B (zh) 2014-12-22 2015-12-17 扩散噪声收听

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP14199590.2A EP3038381B1 (de) 2014-12-22 2014-12-22 Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3038381A1 EP3038381A1 (de) 2016-06-29
EP3038381B1 true EP3038381B1 (de) 2017-08-09

Family

ID=52282481

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP14199590.2A Active EP3038381B1 (de) 2014-12-22 2014-12-22 Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP3038381B1 (de)
DK (1) DK3038381T3 (de)

Family Cites Families (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE10249416B4 (de) * 2002-10-23 2009-07-30 Siemens Audiologische Technik Gmbh Verfahren zum Einstellen und zum Betrieb eines Hörhilfegerätes sowie Hörhilfegerät
US8670583B2 (en) * 2009-01-22 2014-03-11 Panasonic Corporation Hearing aid system
EP2611218B1 (de) * 2011-12-29 2015-03-11 GN Resound A/S Hörgerät mit verbesserter Ortung
DK2750410T3 (en) 2012-12-28 2018-12-10 Gn Hearing As Hearing aid with improved location
EP2750412B1 (de) 2012-12-28 2016-06-29 GN Resound A/S Verbesserte Lokalisierung mit Feedback
DK2750411T3 (en) 2012-12-28 2015-11-02 Gn Resound As Hearing aid with improved location
US10425747B2 (en) * 2013-05-23 2019-09-24 Gn Hearing A/S Hearing aid with spatial signal enhancement

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
None *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DK3038381T3 (da) 2017-11-20
EP3038381A1 (de) 2016-06-29

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US10181328B2 (en) Hearing system
Marquardt et al. Theoretical analysis of linearly constrained multi-channel Wiener filtering algorithms for combined noise reduction and binaural cue preservation in binaural hearing aids
US9100762B2 (en) Hearing aid with improved localization
EP2611218B1 (de) Hörgerät mit verbesserter Ortung
EP3468228B1 (de) Binaurales hörsystem mit lokalisierung von schallquellen
US9432778B2 (en) Hearing aid with improved localization of a monaural signal source
EP3794844B1 (de) Adaptive binaurale strahlformung mit erhaltung der räumlichen signalgebung in hörhilfevorrichtungen
Cornelis et al. Speech intelligibility improvements with hearing aids using bilateral and binaural adaptive multichannel Wiener filtering based noise reduction
JP2019531659A (ja) バイノーラル補聴器システムおよびバイノーラル補聴器システムの動作方法
US20140185846A1 (en) Hearing aid with improved localization
US9774960B2 (en) Diffuse noise listening
JP6518286B2 (ja) 両耳用聴覚システムの動作方法
Derleth et al. Binaural signal processing in hearing aids
EP2928213B1 (de) Hörgerät mit verbesserter Lokalisierung einer monauralen Signalquelle
Jespersen et al. Increasing the effectiveness of hearing aid directional microphones
EP2806660B1 (de) Hörgerät mit verbesserter Ortung
EP3038381B1 (de) Anhören eines diffusen Geräusches
EP2750412B1 (de) Verbesserte Lokalisierung mit Feedback
EP2750410B1 (de) Hörgerät mit verbesserter Lokalisation
EP3148217B1 (de) Verfahren zum betrieb eines binauralen hörsystems
JP6479211B2 (ja) 聴音装置
Le Goff et al. Modeling horizontal localization of complex sounds in the impaired and aided impaired auditory system
Wu et al. Hearing aid system with 3D sound localization
Valentin et al. Development of a real-time EOG-based acoustical beamformer algorithm for binaural hearing devices
EP3886463B1 (de) Verfahren an einem hörgerät

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

AK Designated contracting states

Kind code of ref document: A1

Designated state(s): AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

AX Request for extension of the european patent

Extension state: BA ME

17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 20161214

RBV Designated contracting states (corrected)

Designated state(s): AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

GRAP Despatch of communication of intention to grant a patent

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR1

INTG Intention to grant announced

Effective date: 20170404

GRAS Grant fee paid

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR3

GRAA (expected) grant

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009210

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: GRAN, KARL-FREDRIK JOHAN

AK Designated contracting states

Kind code of ref document: B1

Designated state(s): AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: GB

Ref legal event code: FG4D

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: CH

Ref legal event code: EP

Ref country code: AT

Ref legal event code: REF

Ref document number: 918027

Country of ref document: AT

Kind code of ref document: T

Effective date: 20170815

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: IE

Ref legal event code: FG4D

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: R096

Ref document number: 602014012809

Country of ref document: DE

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DK

Ref legal event code: T3

Effective date: 20171113

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: NL

Ref legal event code: MP

Effective date: 20170809

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: FR

Ref legal event code: PLFP

Year of fee payment: 4

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: LT

Ref legal event code: MG4D

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: AT

Ref legal event code: MK05

Ref document number: 918027

Country of ref document: AT

Kind code of ref document: T

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: LT

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: SE

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: AT

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: NL

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: FI

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: NO

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20171109

Ref country code: HR

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

RAP2 Party data changed (patent owner data changed or rights of a patent transferred)

Owner name: GN HEARING A/S

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: BG

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20171109

Ref country code: PL

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: IS

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20171209

Ref country code: GR

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20171110

Ref country code: ES

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: RS

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: LV

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: CZ

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: RO

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: R097

Ref document number: 602014012809

Country of ref document: DE

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: EE

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: SM

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: IT

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: SK

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PLBE No opposition filed within time limit

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009261

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: NO OPPOSITION FILED WITHIN TIME LIMIT

26N No opposition filed

Effective date: 20180511

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: SI

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: IE

Ref legal event code: MM4A

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: MT

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20171222

Ref country code: LU

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20171222

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: BE

Ref legal event code: MM

Effective date: 20171231

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: IE

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20171222

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: BE

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20171231

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: MC

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

Ref country code: HU

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT; INVALID AB INITIO

Effective date: 20141222

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: CY

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: MK

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: TR

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: PT

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: AL

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO SUBMIT A TRANSLATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OR TO PAY THE FEE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME-LIMIT

Effective date: 20170809

PGFP Annual fee paid to national office [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: GB

Payment date: 20211221

Year of fee payment: 8

Ref country code: DK

Payment date: 20211217

Year of fee payment: 8

Ref country code: FR

Payment date: 20211215

Year of fee payment: 8

PGFP Annual fee paid to national office [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: CH

Payment date: 20211217

Year of fee payment: 8

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DK

Ref legal event code: EBP

Effective date: 20221231

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: CH

Ref legal event code: PL

GBPC Gb: european patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 20221222

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: LI

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20221231

Ref country code: GB

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20221222

Ref country code: CH

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20221231

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: FR

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20221231

PG25 Lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: DK

Free format text: LAPSE BECAUSE OF NON-PAYMENT OF DUE FEES

Effective date: 20221231

PGFP Annual fee paid to national office [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo]

Ref country code: DE

Payment date: 20231218

Year of fee payment: 10