Abstract: A hearing instrument system includes a hearing instrument having an input transducer receiving signals characteristic of acoustic events and converting the signals into input signals, an output transducer outputting output signals derived from input signals, a controller processing input signals and generating output signals, a housing for the input transducer and controller, and an LED connected to the controller to output and receive optical signals, The controller derives information from an optical signal received by the LED and uses the information to continue hearing instrument operation. A third-party device forms a box-shaped charger having a charging interior for the hearing instrument. The third-party device transmits a charging light signal into the charging interior. The controller takes charging light signal reception to indicate the hearing instrument being in the charging interior and deactivates signal processing, sound output and/or sound capture or switches off the hearing instrument.

Abstract: The invention is based on the idea of providing a method for high-resolution, waveform-preserving digitization of analog signals, wherein conventional scalar logarithmic quantization is transferred to multi-dimensional spherical coordinates, and the advantages resulting from this, e.g., a constant signal/noise ratio over an extremely high dynamic range with very low loss with respect to the rate-distortion theory. In order to make use of the statistical dependencies present in the source signal for an additional gain in the signal/noise ratio, the differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) is combined with spherical logarithmic quantization. The resulting method achieves an effective data reduction with a high long-term and short-term signal/noise ratio with an extremely small signal delay.

Abstract: The invention is based on the idea of providing a method for high-resolution, waveform-preserving digitization of analog signals, wherein conventional scalar logarithmic quantization is transferred to multi-dimensional spherical coordinates, and the advantages resulting from this, e.g., a constant signal/noise ratio over an extremely high dynamic range with very low loss with respect to the rate-distortion theory. In order to make use of the statistical dependencies present in the source signal for an additional gain in the signal/noise ratio, the differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) is combined with spherical logarithmic quantization. The resulting method achieves an effective data reduction with a high long-term and short-term signal/noise ratio with an extremely small signal delay.