Spectral Control Patents (Class 381/320)
  • Patent number: 6044162
    Abstract: A hearing compensation system comprises an input transducer for converting acoustical information at an input thereof to electrical signals at an output thereof, a differential analog-to-digital converter sampling the electrical signals output from the input transducer at an input thereof and outputting differential signal samples at an output thereof, a digital signal processing circuit having an input connected to the output of the differential analog-to-digital converter and operating on the differential signal samples to form processed differential signal samples at an output thereof, and an output transducer for converting electrical signals at an input thereof to acoustical information at an output thereof, the processed differential signal samples coupled to the input of the output transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2000
    Assignee: Sonic Innovations, Inc.
    Inventors: Carver A. Mead, Douglas M. Chabries, Keith L. Davis
  • Patent number: 6044164
    Abstract: A programmable hearing aid has functional parts provided in the housing, such as a microphone, an amplifier circuit, an earphone, a current source, and a socket with electrical contacts, into which a plug of an external programming unit can be inserted. In addition, the hearing aid comprises an audio signal processing unit, so that during the programming of the hearing aid the audio signal processing unit can be simultaneously adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2000
    Assignee: Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH
    Inventor: Gerhard Ach-Kowalewski
  • Patent number: 6005954
    Abstract: A hearing aid has an input transistor, an amplifier and transmission circuit, an output transducer and a calculating unit that realizes fuzzy logic functions. The calculating unit responds to a tap signal taken at the amplifier and transmission circuit and supplies an event signal that is supplied to the amplifier and transmission circuit and influences an output signal emitted thereby. At least the calculating unit is implemented in digital circuit technology. Such a hearing aid can be manufactured with little development and circuit outlay, operates reliably and enables an optimum matching to the specific requirements of the hearing aid user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH
    Inventor: Oliver Weinfurtner
  • Patent number: 5892832
    Abstract: A method for sound control of audio signals within a defined frequency range in which the gain of the audio signals is varied using a control element and the filter quality factor and/or the mid-frequency of the audio signals are varied simultaneously by the same control element used to control the gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1999
    Assignee: Volkswagen AG
    Inventors: Detlev Beyer, Otto Schonemann
  • Patent number: 5892836
    Abstract: A digital hearing aid having a variable hearing compensating characteristics, comprises a hearing compensating circuit having a transposed transversal filter, an analyzer for frequency-analyzing an input signal, a memory storing a hearing characteristics of a person to be fitted with the hearing aid, and a controller receiving a frequency analysis result of the input signal and the hearing characteristics, for deriving coefficients for the transposed transversal filter to supply the derived coefficients to the transposed transversal filter. Since the transposed transversal filter is used, the S/N ration is improved, and the control of the characteristics of the filter becomes easy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1999
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Ryuuichi Ishige, Reishi Kondo, Yukio Mitome
  • Patent number: 5878146
    Abstract: A hearing aid includes a microphone (1), a signal-transmission unit (2, 3,) for forming or otherwise processing the signal, an output amplifier (4) to which an earphone (10) is connected, and a battery as the power supply. The output amplifier (4) is implemented essentially as a .SIGMA.-.DELTA. amplifier and is connected to a pulse generator (8) which produces a high-frequency pulsed clock signal in the 1 MHz region. A series-connected low-pass filter (15) is also provided. The input signal to the signal converter is a representation, produced by signal processing in the transmission unit, of the low-frequency input signal to the hearing aid, this signal being converted in the signal converter into a binary signal. The output signal (14) thus appears, after passing through the low-pass filter, essentially as an amplified copy of the low-frequency input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: T.o slashed.pholm & Westermann ApS
    Inventor: Henning Haugaard Andersen
  • Patent number: 5867581
    Abstract: According to a hearing aid comprising a voiceless period information detecting means for detecting information about a voiceless period based on sound received by a sound input means, and a control means for changing an amplification factor of an amplifying means or switching on/off output of sound emitted by a sound output means based on the sound received by the sound input means and the information about the voiceless period, output of the hearing aid can be controlled depending on noise included in the sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuaki Obara
  • Patent number: 5848171
    Abstract: A hearing compensation system for the hearing impaired comprises an input transducer for converting acoustical information at an input to electrical signals at an output, an output transducer for converting electrical signals at an input to acoustical information at an output, a plurality of bandpass filters, each bandpass filter having an input connected to the output of said input transducer, a plurality of AGC circuits, each individual AGC circuit associated with a different one of the bandpass filters and having an input connected to the output of its associated bandpass filter and an output connected to the input of the output transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1998
    Assignee: Sonix Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas G. Stockham, Jr., Douglas M. Chabries
  • Patent number: 5838806
    Abstract: In a method for processing data, in particular signal data in a programmable digital hearing aid, first a data memory is searched to locate a stored comparison input value corresponding with a current, incoming input data value E which satisfies a comparison condition. Subsequently the data memory is searched for a stored output value allocated in a predetermined manner now-identified to the stored input data value via a characteristic function. Subsequently the determined comparison output value is emitted as an output value, and the procedure is repeated for further incoming input data values. In a circuit for processing data, particularly signal data, in a programmable hearing aid, the incoming input data value is supplied via a data input/output unit of a processor to a comparison element for determining whether there exists a stored input value corresponding to the current input data value by satisfying a comparison condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ullrich Sigwanz, Fred Zoels