EP-4738889-A1 - A HEARING AID UTILIZING A CAMERA SIGNAL

EP4738889A1EP 4738889 A1EP4738889 A1EP 4738889A1EP-4738889-A1

Abstract

A hearing aid is disclosed. The hearing aid comprising an input unit configured to convert a sound in an environment of the hearing aid to an electrical input signal representative of the sound, and a processor configured to obtain a camera signal indicative of the environment, determine, based on the camera signal, a classification of the electrical input signal, and apply, based on the classification, gain and/or attenuation and/or other modification to the electrical input signal for provision of an output signal.

Inventors

RIEMER, LARS

Assignees

Oticon A/s

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20250423

Claims (14)

A hearing aid comprising: an input unit configured to convert a sound in an environment of the hearing aid to an electrical input signal representative of the sound; and a processor configured to: obtain a camera signal indicative of the environment; determine, based on the camera signal, a classification of the electrical input signal; and apply, based on the classification, gain and/or attenuation and/or other modification to the electrical input signal for provision of an output signal.
The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the hearing aid further comprises a camera configured to determine the camera signal based on the environment.
The hearing aid of claim 2, wherein the camera is configured to obtain images at one or more of a slow rate, a fast rate, or a variable rate for provision of the camera signal.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein the cameral signal comprises a plurality of camera signals.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein to determine the classification comprises to determine, by a neural network, the classification.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein to determine the classification comprises to determine of the electrical input signal as a human signal or a non-human signal.
The hearing aid of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to attenuate the non-human signal.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein to determine the classification comprises comparing the camera signal to a saved database.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein the hearing aid is a behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid or an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein the hearing aid is configured to communicate with smart glasses having the camera, and wherein the hearing aid is configured to receive the camera signal from the smart glasses.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, wherein the camera signal comprises a plurality of images, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the classification based on determining whether the plurality of images are indicative of movement.
The hearing aid of any one of the previous claims, further comprising an accelerometer.
A hearing aid system comprising the hearing aid according to any one of the previous claims and a second hearing aid having a second processor configured to obtain a second camera signal indicative of the environment.
A method of operating a hearing aid, the method comprising: receiving a sound from the environment; converting the sound into an electrical input signal representative of the sound; obtaining a camera signal indicative of the environment; and determining, based on the camera signal, a classification of the electrical input signal; and applying, based on the classification, gain and/or attenuation and/or other modification to the electrical input signal for provision of an output signal.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present application relates to the field of hearing aids. SUMMARY A hearing aid: In an aspect of the present application, a hearing aid is provided. The hearing aid includes an input unit. The input unit is configured to convert a sound in an environment of the hearing aid to an electrical input signal representative of the sound. The hearing aid includes a processor. The processor can be configured to obtain a camera signal indicative of the environment. The processor can be configured to determine, based on the camera signal, a classification of the electrical input signal. The processor can be configured to apply, based on the classification, gain and/or attenuation to the electrical input signal for provision of an output signal. In certain examples, the processor can be configured to apply, based on the classification, other modifications to the electrical input signal for provision of an output signal. Previously, putting a camera in a hearing aid was prohibitive in cost, size, power usage, and processing demands. But now (and in the near future), it will be possible. Cost, size and power usage of cameras has gone down thanks to smartphone development. Processing demands can be partly solved by using artificial intelligence for classifying sound sources, and partly by the increasing processing power available to hearing aids. A camera signal can be indicative of the same scene as what a user is seeing, and the placement on/in the ears is very close to the hearing aid user's eyes. This makes a camera signal an excellent choice for getting more information about the environment that the user is listening to. Further the camera signal can provide information about the user's intent and orientation relative to sound sources. By adding a camera signal to the already-captured audio, new possibilities are opened. For example, the camera signal can help classify who a speaker is talking to - hearing aid user or other persons. The camera signal can help classify noise sources - is it "just" noise from a machine that can be ignored, or is it noise that indicates a car is approaching? The camera signal can add fine detail to the sounds - an end-goal could be lip-reading to enhance the speech presented to the user. In certain examples, when a camera is incorporated into the hearing aid, the camera placement also makes it easy to train a neural network, as much video (movie/TV/YouTube...) is shot from a person's perspective. Moreover, the camera signal has audio processing to ensure that speech is easy to understand. Moreover, if the camera signal has captioning, the neural network can even learn what is spoken. The hearing aid may be adapted to provide a frequency dependent gain and/or a level dependent compression and/or a transposition (with or without frequency compression) of one or more frequency ranges to one or more other frequency ranges, e.g. to compensate for a hearing impairment of a user. The hearing aid may comprise a signal processor for enhancing the input signals and providing a processed output signal. The hearing aid may comprise an input unit for providing an electric input signal (e.g., at least one electric input signal, a plurality of electric input signals) representing sound. The input unit may comprise an input transducer, e.g. a microphone, for converting an input sound to an electric input signal. The input unit may comprise a wireless receiver for receiving a wireless signal comprising or representing sound and for providing an electric input signal representing said sound. The input unit can be configured to convert a sound in an environment of the hearing aid to an electrical input signal (e.g., input signal) representative of the sound. The hearing aid includes a processor (e.g., processors, one or more processors). The hearing aid can include a plurality of processors. The processor can be used, for example, to modify the electrical input signal. The processor can be configured to perform further actions as well. In some examples, the processor can be configured to obtain (e.g., receive) a camera signal (e.g., at least one camera signal, optical signal, visual signal) indicative of the environment. The camera signal can include image data. The camera signal can include video data. The camera signal can include data representative of images of the environment. The camera signal can be indicative of a field of view of the environment. The camera signal can be indicative of visible light. The camera signal can be indicative of ultraviolet light. The camera signal can be indicative of infrared light. Using light other than visible light can give otherwise hidden information. It will also make it possible to install e.g. infrared beacons for an extra layer of information (like location (relative or absolute), warning signs, or other). The camera signal can be associated with the electrical input signal. For example, the camera signal and the electrical input signal c