Patents by Inventor Homayoun Kamkar Parsi

Homayoun Kamkar Parsi has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11943586
    Abstract: A method for operating a hearing aid which has an auditory canal microphone for capturing sound in the auditory canal of the wearer and an own voice recognition unit for carrying out an adaptive own voice recognition. Sound in the auditory canal is captured by the auditory canal microphone and a signal that corresponds to the sound is output by the auditory canal microphone, and training of the adaptive own voice recognition is controlled only based on the signal output by the auditory canal microphone. A corresponding hearing aid configured to carry out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger, Umut Goekay
  • Publication number: 20240098428
    Abstract: A hearing system includes first and second hearing devices. A first reference signal and a first auxiliary signal are generated for the first hearing device from an ambient sound by a first reference microphone and a first auxiliary microphone, respectively. A first pre-processed signal is generated by direction-sensitive pre-processing the reference and auxiliary signals. The first pre-processed signal shows a maximal attenuation for a generic sound signal originating from an angular range of [+90°, +270°] with respect to a first frontal direction, and a first head-related transfer function for the first hearing device is provided. A second pre-processed signal is generated for the second hearing device by its microphones which is representative of the ambient sound, and a second position-related transfer function is provided for the second hearing device. The pre-processed signals are subjected to a direction-sensitive signal processing task using the first and second head-related transfer functions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2023
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Inventor: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi
  • Patent number: 11929071
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing device system which has a hearing aid and a peripheral device which provides a voice-controlled digital assistant. A microphone signal from the hearing aid is examined for own voice components of the wearer of the hearing aid. If own voice components are detected by the hearing aid the microphone signal is examined for a pre-defined activation command for the digital assistant. If the activation command is recognized, a portion of the microphone signal representing the activation command and a subsequent speech sequence is processed by the hearing aid for a speech recognizer of the digital assistant using an algorithm. The processed portion of the microphone signal is transmitted to the peripheral device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger, Umut Goekay
  • Publication number: 20240080633
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing system that has first and second hearing devices. In the first hearing device, a first reference signal and a first auxiliary signal are generated from an environment sound collected by microphones. A first pre-processed signal is generated by applying a direction-sensitive pre-processing to the first reference and auxiliary signals using first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients. For the microphones, a respective first reference head related transfer function and first auxiliary head related transfer function are provided, and a first head related transfer function is derived from the first reference and first auxiliary pre-processing coefficients and from the first reference and auxiliary head related transfer functions. For the second hearing device a second pre-processed signal is generated using second microphones, and a second position related transfer function is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Martin Bouchard, Hala AS'AD
  • Patent number: 11889268
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing aid system having a hearing instrument. An electro-acoustic input transducer of the hearing instrument generates an input signal from an acoustic signal from the environment, and an output signal is generated from the input signal by a signal processor. An output acoustic signal is generated from the output signal by an electro-acoustic output transducer of the hearing instrument. For at least one sub-process of the signal processing an artificial neural network is used which is implemented in the hearing instrument. A topology of the artificial neural network is defined and/or weights between individual neurons of the artificial neural network are selected according to an operation to be performed in the sub-process and/or according to an ambient situation and/or according to a user input by a user of the hearing aid system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Robert Kasanmascheff
  • Publication number: 20230080855
    Abstract: A hearing aid has at least two input transducers and at least one output transducer. The input transducers generate an input signal from a sound signal from the surroundings. At least two directional signals with different directional characteristics are formed from the input signals and the directional signals are examined for the presence of a useful signal. A first weighting factor is assigned to the directional signal with the largest signal component of the useful signal and a second weighting factor is assigned to the other directional signals. The directional signals are multiplied by the respectively assigned weighting factor, and an output signal is then formed from the multiplication result. The output signal is converted into a sound signal by the output transducer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger, Juliane Borsum, Manuel Busch, Michael Bürger
  • Patent number: 11388528
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing system which has a hearing instrument worn in an ear. The method includes capturing a sound signal from an environment, processing the captured sound signal in dependence of a set of signal processing parameters, and outputting a processed sound signal to the user. The method further includes analyzing the captured sound signal to recognize own-voice intervals, in which the user speaks, analyzing the captured sound signal for an acoustic feature of the own voice of the user and/or analyzing a signal of a bio sensor. The bio sensor measures at least one non-acoustic vital function of the user and determines, from the acoustic feature and/or the non-acoustic vital function of the user, a measure of an emotional state of the user. A value of a signal processing parameter is adapted, within the own-voice intervals, to change the emotional state if a criterion is fulfilled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Ronny Hannemann, Ulrich Giese, Marko Lugger, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi
  • Publication number: 20220201406
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing aid system having a hearing instrument. An electro-acoustic input transducer of the hearing instrument generates an input signal from an acoustic signal from the environment, and an output signal is generated from the input signal by a signal processor. An output acoustic signal is generated from the output signal by an electro-acoustic output transducer of the hearing instrument. For at least one sub-process of the signal processing an artificial neural network is used which is implemented in the hearing instrument. A topology of the artificial neural network is defined and/or weights between individual neurons of the artificial neural network are selected according to an operation to be performed in the sub-process and/or according to an ambient situation and/or according to a user input by a user of the hearing aid system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Robert Kasanmascheff
  • Publication number: 20220124441
    Abstract: A method for operating a hearing aid which has an auditory canal microphone for capturing sound in the auditory canal of the wearer and an own voice recognition unit for carrying out an adaptive own voice recognition. Sound in the auditory canal is captured by the auditory canal microphone and a signal that corresponds to the sound is output by the auditory canal microphone, and training of the adaptive own voice recognition is controlled only based on the signal output by the auditory canal microphone. A corresponding hearing aid configured to carry out the method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger, Umut Goekay
  • Publication number: 20220122606
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing device system which has a hearing aid and a peripheral device which provides a voice-controlled digital assistant. A microphone signal from the hearing aid is examined for own voice components of the wearer of the hearing aid. If own voice components are detected by the hearing aid the microphone signal is examined for a pre-defined activation command for the digital assistant. If the activation command is recognized, a portion of the microphone signal representing the activation command and a subsequent speech sequence is processed by the hearing aid for a speech recognizer of the digital assistant using an algorithm. The processed portion of the microphone signal is transmitted to the peripheral device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger, Umut Goekay
  • Patent number: 11223916
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing device. The hearing device has a microphone by which ambient sound is picked up and is converted into an input signal that has a wanted component and a noise component. A stationarity of the input signal is determined. A signal-to-noise ratio of the input signal is determined on a basis of a scaling factor. The scaling factor is determined on a basis of the stationarity, namely on a basis of a function that indicates the scaling factor on a basis of the stationarity of the input signal. A corresponding hearing device implements such a method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Jens Hain
  • Patent number: 11206501
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing instrument that is worn in or at the ear of a user. The method includes capturing a sound signal from an environment of the hearing instrument; analyzing the captured sound signal to recognize own-voice intervals, in which the user speaks, and foreign-voice intervals, in which at least one different speaker speaks; and determining, from the recognized own-voice intervals and foreign-voice intervals, at least one turn-taking feature. From the at least one turn-taking feature a measure of the sound perception by the user is derived. Predefined action for improving the sound perception is taken if the measure or the at least one turn-taking feature fulfill a predefined criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Maja Serman, Marko Lugger, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi
  • Patent number: 11153692
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing system that has a first input transducer, a second input transducer and a signal processing device. An activity of a lateral useful signal source in an environment of the hearing system is ascertained by a first input signal being generated via an acoustic signal that impinges on the first input transducer, and a second input signal being generated via the acoustic signal that impinges on the second input transducer. A filtered input signal is generated via a directional notch filter based on the first and second input signals. A measure for attenuation that the directional notch filter causes is ascertained based on the filtered input signal and on the first and/or second input signals. The measure is compared with a reference, and from this comparison, the presence or absence of activity of the lateral useful signal source in the surroundings is inferred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Marko Lugger
  • Patent number: 11122372
    Abstract: A hearing aid device and a method for operating the hearing aid device. The hearing aid device has an acousto-electrical transducer, a signal processing unit, an electro-acoustic transducer and a unit for recognizing a wearer's own voice. The hearing aid device detects and recognizes the wearer's own voice by way of the recognition unit and, when the wearer's own voice has been detected, operates the signal processing unit with a modified signal processing parameter that is modified such that the sound of the wearer's own voice is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Ulrich Giese, Sebastian Pape, Marko Lugger, Homayoun Kamkar Parsi
  • Patent number: 11089410
    Abstract: A method for directional signal processing for a hearing aid. First and second input transducers generate first and second input signals from an ambient acoustic signal. A forward signal and a backward signal are generated from the first and second input signals and a first directional parameter is determined as a linear factor of a linear combination of the forward and backward signals. The first directional signal has a maximum attenuation in a first direction. A correction parameter is ascertained such that a second directional signal has a defined relative attenuation in the first direction. The second directional signal is generated from the forward signal and the backward signal with the first directional parameter and the correction parameter or with the first directional signal and the omnidirectional signal based on the correction parameter. An output signal of the hearing aid is generated based on the second directional signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Eghart Fischer, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Jens Hain
  • Publication number: 20210084416
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing device. The hearing device has a microphone by which ambient sound is picked up and is converted into an input signal that has a wanted component and a noise component. A stationarity of the input signal is determined. A signal-to-noise ratio of the input signal is determined on a basis of a scaling factor. The scaling factor is determined on a basis of the stationarity, namely on a basis of a function that indicates the scaling factor on a basis of the stationarity of the input signal. A corresponding hearing device implements such a method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi, Jens Hain
  • Publication number: 20210044908
    Abstract: A method for directional signal processing for a hearing aid. First and second input transducers generate first and second input signals from an ambient acoustic signal. A forward signal and a backward signal are generated from the first and second input signals and a first directional parameter is determined as a linear factor of a linear combination of the forward and backward signals. The first directional signal has a maximum attenuation in a first direction. A correction parameter is ascertained such that a second directional signal has a defined relative attenuation in the first direction. The second directional signal is generated from the forward signal and the backward signal with the first directional parameter and the correction parameter or with the first directional signal and the omnidirectional signal based on the correction parameter. An output signal of the hearing aid is generated based on the second directional signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: EGHART FISCHER, HOMAYOUN KAMKAR-PARSI, JENS HAIN
  • Patent number: 10904679
    Abstract: A method for enhancing a signal directionality in a hearing instrument wherein first and second signals are generated by first and second input transducers that are spaced apart from one another. A first directional signal is derived from the first input signal and the second input signal by applying a second-to-first relative transfer function with respect to a first target angle to the second input signal. The second-to-first relative transfer function is a relative transfer function from the second input transducer to the first input transducer with respect to the first target angle. Similarly, a second directional signal is derived from the second input signal and the first input signal by applying a first-to-second relative transfer function with respect to a second target angle to the first input signal. An angle-enhanced signal is derived from the first directional signal and the second directional signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hala As'ad, Martin Bouchard, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi
  • Patent number: 10887704
    Abstract: The invention discloses a method for noise reduction in a binaural hearing aid, said binaural hearing aid comprising a first local unit and a second local unit, wherein the method comprises the following steps: generating a first main signal and a first auxiliary signal in the first local unit from an environment sound, and a second main signal in the second local unit from the environment sound, estimating a direction of arrival of a useful sound signal in the environment sound, assigning a first frequency range and a second frequency range, generating a first range beamformer signal in the first frequency range from the first main signal, the first auxiliary signal and the second main signal by imposing at least one spatial condition related to the estimated direction of arrival on the directional characteristic of the first range beamformer signal, generating a second range beamformer signal in the second frequency range from the first main signal and the second main signal by imposing at least one spatial
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hala As'Ad, Martin Bouchard, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi
  • Patent number: 10848879
    Abstract: The invention proposes a method for improving the spatial hearing perception of a binaural hearing aid, said binaural hearing aid comprising a first local unit and a second local unit, wherein in the first local unit, a first input signal is generated from an environment sound by a first input transducer, and a first reference signal is derived from the first input signal, wherein in the second local unit, a second input signal is generated from the environment sound by a second input transducer, and a second reference signal is derived from the second input signal, wherein from the first reference signal and the second reference signal, a first binaural beamformer signal is derived, wherein from the first reference signal and the first binaural beamformer signal, a first coherence parameter is derived, wherein from the first coherence parameter, a first mixing parameter is derived, and wherein the first reference signal and the first binaural beamformer signal are mixed by means of the first mixing parameter
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hala As'Ad, Martin Bouchard, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi