Patents by Inventor Nicholas R. Clark

Nicholas R. Clark 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: 11671770
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for server-mediated sound personalization on a plurality of consumer devices. A user hearing test is conducted on one of a plurality of audio output devices. Next, the hearing data of the user's hearing test is outputted to a server and stored on the server's database along with a unique user identifier. Next, a set of DSP parameters for a sound personalization algorithm are calculated from the user's hearing data. The DSP parameter set is then outputted to one of a plurality of audio output devices when the user logs in with their unique identifier on an application on the audio output device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Publication number: 20220377471
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for fitting a sound personalization algorithm using a two-dimensional (2D) graphical fitting interface. A calculated set of initial digital signal processing (DSP) parameters are determined for a given sound personalization algorithm, based on a user hearing profile. The initial DSP parameters are outputted to a 2D graphical fitting interface of an audio personalization application, wherein a first axis represents a level of coloration and a second axis represents a level of compression. A user input specifies a first 2D coordinate selected from a coordinate space presented by the 2D graphical fitting interface. A first set of refined DSP parameters is generated to apply a coloration and/or compression adjustment corresponding to the first 2D coordinate. The given sound personalization algorithm is parameterized with the first set of refined DSP parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2022
    Publication date: November 24, 2022
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Robert Pelzer, Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Patent number: 11496099
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for processing an audio signal. In particular, there is provided a method for determining dynamic gain values to be applied on a digital input signal. The digital signal may be arranged in blocks. The dynamic gain values may be used for attenuating input signal values exceeding a clipping threshold. More particularly, the method comprising, for each signal block, passing backwards over the next signal block and the current signal block to produce a preliminary gain contour from the input signal; and passing forwards over the current signal block to produce a final gain contour for the current signal block based on the preliminary gain contour, wherein the gain contours are produced by applying an instant gain ascent and a smooth gain decay to the gain contours.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Christoph Hohnerlein, Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 11412958
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for user-dependent conditioning of stimuli in tests to elicit user responses to variations of one or more adaptive parameters of a user stimulus signal. The user stimulus signal is generated based on first and second adaptive parameters. The first adaptive parameter is modified to thereby generate a plurality of successive variations in the user stimulus signal, over one or more ranges of values of the second adaptive parameter. In response to modifying the first adaptive parameter, a plurality of user responses from a given user are received. Each user response indicates that one of the plurality of successive variations in the user stimulus signal has occurred. Based on an expected user response curve for the given user and a calculated time interval between successive user responses, an instantaneous rate of change for modifying the first adaptive parameter is adjusted such that the user responses are steered toward a neutral state around the expected user response curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Vinzenz H. Schönfelder, Tina Baumann
  • Patent number: 11330377
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for fitting a sound personalization algorithm using a two-dimensional (2D) graphical fitting interface. A calculated set of initial digital signal processing (DSP) parameters are determined for a given sound personalization algorithm, based on a user hearing profile. The initial DSP parameters are outputted to a 2D graphical fitting interface of an audio personalization application, wherein a first axis represents a level of coloration and a second axis represents a level of compression. A user input specifies a first 2D coordinate selected from a coordinate space presented by the 2D graphical fitting interface. A first set of refined DSP parameters is generated to apply a coloration and/or compression adjustment corresponding to the first 2D coordinate. The given sound personalization algorithm is parameterized with the first set of refined DSP parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Robert Pelzer, Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Patent number: 11323087
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining one or more operation parameters for a dynamic range compression (DRC) system. The method comprises obtaining, as an input, a parameter indicative of a hearing ability of a user, the parameter relating to a first difference in sound intensity between a maskee at a first frequency and a masker at a second frequency, determining a target value for the parameter, and determining the one or more operation parameters such that a second difference in sound intensity after sound intensity modification by the DRC (between sound intensity of the maskee of the masker) corresponds to the target value for the parameter. The operation parameters are determined such that a dependence of the second difference in sound intensity on the sound intensity of the maskee is minimized for a given range of sound intensities of the maskee.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Natalia Delgado
  • Publication number: 20220038062
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for processing an audio signal. In particular, there is provided a method for determining dynamic gain values to be applied on a digital input signal. The digital signal may be arranged in blocks. The dynamic gain values may be used for attenuating input signal values exceeding a clipping threshold. More particularly, the method comprising, for each signal block, passing backwards over the next signal block and the current signal block to produce a preliminary gain contour from the input signal; and passing forwards over the current signal block to produce a final gain contour for the current signal block based on the preliminary gain contour, wherein the gain contours are produced by applying an instant gain ascent and a smooth gain decay to the gain contours.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2020
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Christoph Hohnerlein, Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 11224360
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for evaluating hearing health of a given user. An input audio signal is transformed into the frequency domain and a first and second hearing profile are applied to the input audio sample. The first hearing profile represents a healthy hearing standard and the second hearing profile is the given user's hearing profile. Using the hearing profiles, first and second perceptually relevant information (PRI) values are generated for the input audio sample. The first and second PRI values are analyzed against each other to generate a PRI index value for the given user, where the PRI index value is a hearing health index value for the given user. The given user's hearing profile may additionally be applied to differently processed audio samples to evaluate the amount of perceptual rescue offered by various digital signal processing algorithms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Guido Knook, Nicholas R. Clark
  • Publication number: 20210409877
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for server-mediated sound personalization on a plurality of consumer devices. A user hearing test is conducted on one of a plurality of audio output devices. Next, the hearing data of the user's hearing test is outputted to a server and stored on the server's database along with a unique user identifier. Next, a set of DSP parameters for a sound personalization algorithm are calculated from the user's hearing data. The DSP parameter set is then outputted to one of a plurality of audio output devices when the user logs in with their unique identifier on an application on the audio output device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Patent number: 11134867
    Abstract: Method for estimating a pure tone hearing threshold or a pure tone audiogram of a person with a non-calibrated audio-system, comprising the steps of performing a supra-threshold test at least over a portion of the audible frequency spectrum, wherein the audible frequency spectrum ranges particularly from 16 Hz to 20.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Vinzenz H. Schönfelder
  • Patent number: 11134315
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for processing media content. The method comprises receiving a definition of a user specific media corpus, the media corpus comprising a plurality of media files; ranking candidate media segments generated from the media corpus according to one or more signal characteristics derived from the candidate media segments; processing the media signals of a subset of the ranked candidate media segments with different signal processings; presenting the differently processed media signals to a user for a user preference judgement; and determining a preferred signal processing based on user responses to the presentations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 11122374
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for server-mediated sound personalization on a plurality of consumer devices. A user hearing test is conducted on one of a plurality of audio output devices. Next, the hearing data of the user's hearing test is outputted to a server and stored on the server's database along with a unique user identifier. Next, a set of DSP parameters for a sound personalization algorithm are calculated from the user's hearing data. The DSP parameter set is then outputted to one of a plurality of audio output devices when the user logs in with their unique identifier on an application on the audio output device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Publication number: 20210275060
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for user-dependent conditioning of stimuli in tests to elicit user responses to variations of one or more adaptive parameters of a user stimulus signal. The user stimulus signal is generated based on first and second adaptive parameters. The first adaptive parameter is modified to thereby generate a plurality of successive variations in the user stimulus signal, over one or more ranges of values of the second adaptive parameter. In response to modifying the first adaptive parameter, a plurality of user responses from a given user are received. Each user response indicates that one of the plurality of successive variations in the user stimulus signal has occurred. Based on an expected user response curve for the given user and a calculated time interval between successive user responses, an instantaneous rate of change for modifying the first adaptive parameter is adjusted such that the user responses are steered toward a neutral state around the expected user response curve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2021
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. CLARK, Vinzenz H. SCHÖNFELDER, Tina BAUMANN
  • Publication number: 20210274297
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for fitting a sound personalization algorithm using a two-dimensional (2D) graphical fitting interface. A calculated set of initial digital signal processing (DSP) parameters are determined for a given sound personalization algorithm, based on a user hearing profile. The initial DSP parameters are outputted to a 2D graphical fitting interface of an audio personalization application, wherein a first axis represents a level of coloration and a second axis represents a level of compression. A user input specifies a first 2D coordinate selected from a coordinate space presented by the 2D graphical fitting interface. A first set of refined DSP parameters is generated to apply a coloration and/or compression adjustment corresponding to the first 2D coordinate. The given sound personalization algorithm is parameterized with the first set of refined DSP parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Publication date: September 2, 2021
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Robert Pelzer, Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Patent number: 11062717
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for replay on an audio device. An audio signal is spectrally decomposed into a plurality of subband signals using band pass filters. Each of the subband signals are provided to a respective modulator and subsequently, from the modulator output, provided to a respective first processing path that includes a first dynamic range compressor, DRC. Each subband signal is feedforward compressed by the respective first DRC to obtain a feedforward-compressed subband signal, wherein the first DRC is slowed relative to an instantaneous DRC. Subsequently, each feedforward-compressed subband signal is provided to a second processing path that includes a second DRC, wherein the feedforward-compressed subband signal is compressed by the respective second DRC and outputted to the respective modulator. Modulation of the subband signals is then performed in dependence on the output of the second processing path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Publication number: 20210194449
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining one or more operation parameters for a dynamic range compression (DRC) system. The method comprises obtaining, as an input, a parameter indicative of a hearing ability of a user, the parameter relating to a first difference in sound intensity between a maskee at a first frequency and a masker at a second frequency, determining a target value for the parameter, and determining the one or more operation parameters such that a second difference in sound intensity after sound intensity modification by the DRC (between sound intensity of the maskee of the masker) corresponds to the target value for the parameter. The operation parameters are determined such that a dependence of the second difference in sound intensity on the sound intensity of the maskee is minimized for a given range of sound intensities of the maskee.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Natalia Delgado
  • Patent number: 10993049
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for modifying an audio signal using custom psychoacoustic models. A user's hearing profile is first obtained. Subsequently, an audio processing function is parameterized so as to optimize the user's perceptually relevant information. The method for calculating the user's perceptually relevant information comprises first processing audio signal samples using the parameterized processing function and then transforming samples of the processed audio signals into the frequency domain. Next, masking and hearing thresholds are obtained from the user's hearing profile and applied to the transformed audio sample, wherein the user's perceived data is calculated. Once perceptually relevant information is optimized, the resulting parameters are transferred to the audio processing function and an output audio signal is processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 10991375
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for replay on an audio device. An audio signal is spectrally decomposed into a plurality of subband signals using and pass filters. Each of the subband signals are provided to a respective modulator and subsequently, from the modulator output, provided to a respective first processing path that includes a first dynamic range compressor, DRC. Each subband signal is feedforward compressed by the respective first DRC to obtain a feedforward-compressed subband signal, wherein the first DRC is slowed relative to an instantaneous DRC. Subsequently, each feedforward-compressed subband signal is provided to a second processing path that includes a second DRC, wherein the feedforward-compressed subband signal is compressed by the respective second DRC and outputted to the respective modulator. Modulation of the subband signals is then performed in dependence on the output of the second processing path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 10966033
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for modifying an audio signal using custom psychoacoustic models. A user's hearing profile is first obtained. Subsequently, an audio processing function is parameterized so as to optimize the user's perceptually relevant information. The method for calculating the user's perceptually relevant information comprises first processing audio signal samples using the parameterized processing function and then transforming samples of the processed audio signals into the frequency domain. Next, masking and hearing thresholds are obtained from the user's hearing profile and applied to the transformed audio sample, wherein the user's perceived data is calculated. Once perceptually relevant information is optimized, the resulting parameters are transferred to the audio processing function and an output audio signal is processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies Gmbh
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Publication number: 20210051422
    Abstract: Systems and methods for processing an audio signal are provided for server-mediated sound personalization on a plurality of consumer devices. A user hearing test is conducted on one of a plurality of audio output devices. Next, the hearing data of the user's hearing test is outputted to a server and stored on the server's database along with a unique user identifier. Next, a set of DSP parameters for a sound personalization algorithm are calculated from the user's hearing data. The DSP parameter set is then outputted to one of a plurality of audio output devices when the user logs in with their unique identifier on an application on the audio output device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Applicant: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch