Abstract: Improved approaches to assist those having hearing loss are disclosed. One approach pertains to providing on-line hearing loss testing. The on-line hearing loss testing can be self-performed without any specialized equipment. Another approach pertains to on-line sound customization. The sound customization can simulate hearing compensation on-line. As an example, the hearing compensation can be used to simulate hearing aid processing. Still another approach pertains to a recommendation and/or referral procedure.

Abstract: Improved approaches to assist those having hearing loss are disclosed. One approach pertains to providing customization of personal audio systems for a hearing impaired individual. Another approach pertains to designing and producing an audio product that includes components or software that can be customized for hearing impaired individuals. The customization provided by either approach can be performed on-line or off-line.

Abstract: Improved approaches are disclosed to update existing hearing devices by downloading software resources over a network from a remote server to a local client. The software resources are then stored in the existing hearing devices, thereby upgrading the functionality or operation of the existing hearing devices. Accordingly, existing hearing devices are able to be upgraded at convenient locations in a largely automated fashion. The invention is particularly useful for hearing aids or other sound systems for the hearing impaired.

Abstract: Improved approaches to reducing power consumption in hearing aids are disclosed. According to one aspect, hearing aids (namely, one or more components thereof) are able to be operated in different operational modes—at least one of which is a power saving mode. According to another aspect, intelligent switching between the operational modes is performed to reduce power consumption when appropriate.

Abstract: Improved approaches to matching sensitivities of microphones in multi-microphone directional processing systems. These approaches operate to adaptively match microphone sensitivities so that directional noise suppression is robust. As a result, microphone sensitivities remain matched not only over time but also while in actual use. These approaches are particularly useful for hearing aid applications in which directional noise suppression is important.

Abstract: Improved approaches are disclosed to filter and compress sound signals so as to achieve not only speech audibility and intelligibility at low levels but also preserves spectrum contrast at high levels. According to one aspect of the invention, gain amounts for different frequency bands are individually constrained based on signal levels for the frequency bands. Hence, the gain amounts for each of the frequency bands may or may not be constrained depending on the corresponding signal levels. As a result, the most critical information for speech intelligibility, speech clarity, and speech quality can be made available to hearing impaired people over wide range of signal level. The invention is particularly useful for hearing aids or other sound systems for the hearing impaired.

Abstract: Improved approaches to assist those having hearing loss are disclosed. One approach pertains to providing on-line hearing loss testing. The on-line hearing loss testing can be self-performed without any specialized equipment. Another approach pertains to on-line sound customization. The sound customization can simulate hearing compensation on-line. As an example, the hearing compensation can be used to simulate hearing aid processing. Still another approach pertains to a recommendation and/or referral procedure.

Abstract: Improved approaches to control directional processing in multi-microphone processing systems. These approaches operate to control activation/deactivation of directional processing in multi-microphone processing systems. As a result, directional processing can be automatically activated or deactivated based on the amount of interference (e.g., noise) in the listening environment. These approaches are particularly useful for hearing aid applications in which directional noise suppression is important.

Abstract: Improved approaches to adaptively suppress interfering noise in a multi-microphone directional system are disclosed. These approaches operate to adapt the direction null for the multi-microphone directional system in accordance with a dominant noise source.