EP-4738890-A1 - VISUALIZATION AND SUGGESTION SYSTEM FOR CUSTOM HEARING DEVICES

EP4738890A1EP 4738890 A1EP4738890 A1EP 4738890A1EP-4738890-A1

Abstract

A method comprises obtaining, by one or more processors of a computing system, ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; for each of a plurality of combinations of one or more types of hearing instruments and one or more feature sets, determining, by the one or more processors, whether the combination is feasible for a shape of the ear of the patient, wherein different feature sets of the one or more feature sets include different combinations of components; and outputting, by the one or more processors, for display, a graphical user interface (GUI) that presents one or more of the combinations that are determined to be feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.

Inventors

BAR EL, Ester
TRIPTO, Eitamar
WEIZMAN, LIOR
SROUR, Majd
OR, Eden
PINHAS, Yossy
BORNSTEIN, Nitzan

Assignees

Starkey Laboratories, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20251030

Claims (15)

A method comprising: obtaining, by one or more processors of a computing system, ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; for each of a plurality of combinations of one or more types of hearing instruments and one or more feature sets, determining, by the one or more processors, whether the combination is feasible for a shape of the ear of the patient, wherein different feature sets of the one or more feature sets include different combinations of components; and outputting, by the one or more processors, for display, a graphical user interface (GUI) that presents one or more of the combinations that are determined to be feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The method of claim 1, wherein specific types of hearing instruments include one or more of an Invisible in the Canal (IIC) hearing instrument, a Completely in the Canal (CIC), an In the Canal (ITC) hearing instrument, or an In the Ear (ITE) hearing instrument.
The method of claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, values of landmarks of the ear, wherein determining whether the combination is feasible comprises determining, by the one or more processors, based on the values of the landmarks of the ear whether a type of hearing instrument of the combination is feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the one or more processors determine whether the combinations are feasible according to an ordered sequence, wherein the combinations are ordered from combinations having the smallest changes from a first combination to combinations having the most changes from the first combination; and/or. wherein the combinations are ordered based on one or more preferences of the patient.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of combinations is a second plurality of combinations, the method further comprising: filtering, by the one or more processors, the second plurality of combinations from a first plurality of combinations based on one or more preferences or requirements of the patient; and preferably, further comprising determining, by the one or more processors, at least one of the requirements based on an audiogram of the patient.
A computing system comprising: a memory configured to store ear modeling data representing a 3-dimensional (3D) impression of an ear surface of an ear of a patient; and one or more processors implemented in circuitry, the one or more processors configured to: for each of a plurality of combinations of one or more types of hearing instruments and one or more feature sets, determine whether the combination is feasible for a shape of the ear of the patient, wherein different feature sets of the one or more feature sets include different combinations of components; and output, for display, a graphical user interface (GUI) that presents one or more of the combinations that are determined to be feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The computing system of claim 6, wherein specific types of hearing instruments include one or more of an Invisible in the Canal (IIC) hearing instrument, a Completely in the Canal (CIC), an In the Canal (ITC) hearing instrument, or an In the Ear (ITE) hearing instrument.
The computing system of claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine values of landmarks of the ear, wherein determining whether the combination is feasible comprises determining, by the one or more processors, based on the values of the landmarks of the ear whether a type of hearing instrument of the combination is feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The computing system of any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the combinations are feasible according to an ordered sequence, wherein the combinations are ordered from combinations having the smallest changes from a first combination to combinations having the most changes from the first combination; and/or. wherein the combinations are ordered based on one or more preferences of the patient.
The computing system of any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the plurality of combinations is a second plurality of combinations, the one or more processors are further configured to: filter the second plurality of combinations from a first plurality of combinations based on one or more preferences or requirements of the patient; and preferably, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine at least one of the requirements based on an audiogram of the patient.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors: obtain ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; for each of a plurality of combinations of one or more types of hearing instruments and one or more feature sets, determine whether the combination is feasible for a shape of the ear of the patient, wherein different feature sets of the one or more feature sets include different combinations of components; and output, for display, a graphical user interface (GUI) that presents one or more of the combinations that are determined to be feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein specific types of hearing instruments include one or more of an Invisible in the Canal (IIC) hearing instrument, a Completely in the Canal (CIC), an In the Canal (ITC) hearing instrument, or an In the Ear (ITE) hearing instrument.
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 or claim 12, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the one or more processors to: determine values of landmarks of the ear, wherein determining whether the combination is feasible comprises determining, by the one or more processors, based on the values of the landmarks of the ear whether a type of hearing instrument of the combination is feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient.
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein execution of the instructions causes the one or more processors to determine whether the combinations are feasible according to an ordered sequence, wherein: the combinations are ordered from combinations having the smallest changes from a first combination to combinations having the most changes from the first combination; and/or. the combinations are ordered based on one or more preferences of the patient.
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the plurality of combinations is a second plurality of combinations, execution of the instructions further causes the one or more processors to: filter the second plurality of combinations from a first plurality of combinations based on one or more preferences or requirements of the patient.

Description

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 63/714,576, filed October 31, 2024, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to hearing instruments. BACKGROUND A hearing instrument is a device designed to be worn on or in a patient's ear. Example types of hearing instruments include hearing aids, earphones, earbuds, telephone earpieces, and other types of devices designed to be worn on or in a patient's ear. Some hearing instrument manufacturers rely on highly skilled operators to design hearing instruments using three-dimensional modeling software. When a hearing instrument is produced, these highly skilled operators and/or audiologists may design outer shells of the hearing instruments and arrangement of components of the hearing instruments. Manual modeling and shaping hearing instruments in this way is time consuming, expensive, and can lead to inconsistencies, e.g., due to variations in operator skill level and techniques. SUMMARY In general, this disclosure describes techniques for triaging ear modeling data prior to manufacturing hearing instruments based on the ear modeling data. In some examples, as part of triaging the ear modeling data, a computing system may determine whether the ear modeling data is adequate to generate a device model of a hearing instrument. Furthermore, in some examples, as part of triaging the ear modeling data, the computing system may determine, based on the ear modeling data, whether a hearing instrument device type is feasible for the patient. Additionally, this disclosure describes techniques in which values of landmarks of an ear of a patient are determined and used. In some examples, the values of the landmarks may be used in the triage process. In one example, this disclosure describes a method comprising: obtaining, by one or more processors implemented in circuitry, ear modeling data representing a 3-dimensional (3D) impression of an ear surface of an ear of a patient; and determining, by the one or more processors, based on the ear modeling data, values of one or more landmarks of the ear, wherein determining the values of the one or more landmarks comprises: predicting, by the one or more processors, an ear aperture plane of the ear; determining, by the one or more processors, a plurality of cross-sectional planes that are aligned with the ear aperture plane; for each of the cross-sectional planes: determining, by the one or more processors, an intersection boundary of the cross-sectional plane representing a line of intersection between the cross-sectional plane and the ear; and determining, by the one or more processors, a centroid of the intersection boundary of the cross-sectional plane; and determining, by the one or more processors, values of the one or more landmarks based on the centroids. In another example, this disclosure describes a method comprising: obtaining, by one or more processors of a computing system, ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; generating, by the one or more processors, based on the ear modeling data, a shell model and one or more component models, the shell model being a model of a shell of a hearing instrument, the component models being models of internal components of the hearing instrument; and determining, by the one or more processors, based on the shell model and the one or more component models, whether there are one or more collisions between the shell model and the one or more component models. In another example, this disclosure describes a method comprising: obtaining, by one or more processors implemented in circuitry, ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; determining, by the one or more processors, based on the ear modeling data, whether the ear modeling data is adequate to generate a device model of a hearing instrument; and outputting, by the one or more processors, an indication of whether the ear modeling data is adequate to generate the device model of the hearing instrument. In another example, this disclosure describes a method comprising: obtaining, by one or more processors of a computing system, ear modeling data representing an impression of an ear of a patient; determining, by the one or more processors, whether a specific type of hearing instrument is feasible given a shape of the ear of the patient; and outputting, by the one or more processors, an indication of whether the specific type of hearing instrument is feasible given the shape of the ear of the patient. The details of one or more aspects of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the techniques described in this disclosure will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example computing system, in accordance with one or more