US-12621615-B2 - Sound processing device, sound processing method, and hearing aid device

US12621615B2US 12621615 B2US12621615 B2US 12621615B2US-12621615-B2

Abstract

A sound processing device that performs sound processing mainly for a hearing aid device is to be provided. The sound processing device includes: an information estimation unit that estimates control information, on the basis of hearing threshold information regarding a hearing threshold at each frequency, and input sound information; and a signal processing unit that processes an input sound signal, on the basis of the estimated control information. The hearing threshold information is a threshold measurement result obtained by measuring the hearing threshold of the user of the sound processing device at each frequency. The information estimation unit estimates information regarding an acceptable delay amount or noise canceling characteristics in the signal processing unit.

Inventors

Osamu Nakamura
Kenichi Makino
Kyosuke Matsumoto
Shinpei Tsuchiya

Assignees

Sony Group Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220131
Priority Date: 20210712

Claims (19)

1 . A sound processing device comprising: an information estimation unit that estimates control information, on a basis of hearing threshold information regarding a hearing threshold at each frequency, and input sound information; and a signal processing unit that processes an input sound signal, on a basis of the estimated control information, wherein the information estimation unit estimates the control information, further on a basis of configuration information about the sound processing device, and the configuration information includes at least one of a type of an earpiece of the sound processing device, a wearing method, and characteristics information about a housing of the sound processing device.
2 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the hearing threshold information includes at least one of a threshold measurement result obtained by measuring the hearing threshold of a user of the sound processing device at each frequency, or information about a sound pressure level of a measurement signal to be used in a hearing acuity measurement function at each frequency.
3 . The sound processing devices according to claim 2 , wherein the information estimation unit calculates a first sound pressure level from gain information calculated from a result of the measurement according to a predetermined formula, and a band-specific sound pressure level of an input sound to the sound processing device, calculates a second sound pressure level from acoustic characteristics based on the band-specific sound pressure level and configuration information about the sound processing device, and determines the control information that is one of an acceptable delay amount in the signal processing unit, or noise canceling characteristics information regarding a noise canceling process to be performed in the signal processing unit, on a basis of a difference between the first sound pressure level and the second sound pressure level.
4 . The sound processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the information estimation unit calculates a first sound pressure level from frequency information and sound pressure level information about the measurement signal, and a band-specific sound pressure level of an input sound to the sound processing device, calculates a second sound pressure level from acoustic characteristics based on the band-specific sound pressure level and configuration information about the sound processing device, calculates a noise canceling intensity necessary for hearing acuity measurement, from a difference between the first sound pressure level and the second sound pressure level, and determines the control information that is noise canceling characteristics related to a noise canceling process to be performed in the signal processing unit, on a basis of the necessary noise canceling intensity.
5 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the input sound information includes an input sound to the sound processing device that outputs a sound signal that is output from the signal processing unit.
6 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the information estimation unit estimates at least one of information regarding an acceptable delay amount in the signal processing unit, or noise canceling characteristics information regarding a noise canceling process that is performed in the signal processing unit.
7 . The sound processing device according to claim 6 , wherein the noise canceling characteristics information includes at least one of a noise canceling characteristics curve or a noise canceling intensity.
8 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the information estimation unit estimates the control information, using a trained model that has been trained beforehand, with at least hearing acuity information about a user and the input sound information being explanatory variables, the control information being an objective variable.
9 . The sound processing device according to claim 8 , wherein the signal processing unit processes an input sound signal to the sound processing device, and the information estimation unit estimates the control information, using the trained model that has been trained with the configuration information about the sound processing device as a condition.
10 . The sound processing device according to claim 8 , wherein the trained model includes a first trained model and a second trained model, and an output of the second trained model is set as an input to the first trained model.
11 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein, when first control information being currently used in the sound processing device is different from second control information newly estimated by the information estimation unit, a process related to changing of the control information to be used in the sound processing device is performed.
12 . The sound processing device according to claim 11 , wherein changing from the first control information to the second control information is recommended to a user of the sound processing device, and the control information is changed on a basis of an answer from the user.
13 . The sound processing device according to claim 12 , wherein, on a screen of an external device connected to the sound processing device, the second control information newly estimated is displayed as one of a recommendation mark, a recommended value, or a recommended range, together with a setting means to be used by the user to set the control information.
14 . The sound processing device according to claim 11 , wherein, when an effect of noise canceling with a calculated necessary noise canceling intensity is not sufficient, a user of the sound processing device is notified that the effect of noise canceling is not sufficient, changing of a sound environment is suggested to the user, and suspension or stopping of hearing acuity measurement is determined on a basis of an answer from the user.
15 . The sound processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the sound processing device includes one of an earphone, a headphone, a hearing aid, a sound collector, or a head-mounted display.
16 . A sound processing method comprising: an information estimation step of estimating control information, on a basis of hearing threshold information regarding a hearing threshold at each frequency, and input sound information; and a signal processing step of processing an input sound signal, on a basis of the estimated control information, wherein when first control information being currently used is different from second control information newly estimated in the information estimation step, a process related to changing of the control information to be used is performed, and changing from the first control information to the second control information is recommended to a user, and the control information is changed on a basis of an answer from the user.
17 . The sound processing method according to claim 16 , wherein the information estimation step estimates the control information, further on a basis of configuration information about a sound processing device.
18 . The sound processing method according to claim 17 , wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a type of an earpiece of the sound processing device, a wearing method, and characteristics information about a housing of the sound processing device.
19 . A hearing aid device comprising a hearing acuity measurement function, the hearing aid device collecting ambient sound around the hearing aid device when conducting hearing acuity measurement, amplifying the collected ambient sound, outputting the amplified ambient sound from a speaker of one of the hearing aid device or an external device connected to the hearing aid device, and a noise canceling function, wherein information indicating that noise canceling is used during the hearing acuity measurement is recorded together with a result of the hearing acuity measurement.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 371 as a U.S. National Stage Entry of International Application No. PCT/JP2022/003690, filed in the Japanese Patent Office as a Receiving Office on Jan. 31, 2022, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application Number JP2021-114718, filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Jul. 12, 2021, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The technology disclosed in the present specification (hereinafter referred to as “the present disclosure”) relates to a sound processing device that mainly performs sound processing for a hearing aid device, a sound processing method, and a hearing aid device. BACKGROUND ART To solve the problem of hearing loss of hearing-impaired people and the like, hearing aids that collect and amplify the ambient sound, and output the amplified sound have become widespread. When the ambient sound includes noise in addition to a desired sound (such as an utterance of a speaker in a conversation), the quality of the amplified voice is degraded, and therefore, a process of reducing the noise component in the collected sound signal (this process will be hereinafter also referred to as the “noise reduction (NR) process” in the present specification) is often performed (see Patent Document 1, for example). Also, an amplifying function is normally set so that the sound in the frequency band in which hearing is lost in the audible frequency range is amplified to reduce the hearing loss, on the basis of an audiogram (the hearing levels at the respective frequency bands) obtained as a result of a hearing acuity test conducted on the user. CITATION LIST Patent Document Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2016-537891Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-221092 Non Patent Document Non Patent Document 1: Donald G. Mackay, Metamorphosis of a Critical Interval: Age-Linked Changes in the Delay in Auditory Feedback that Produces Maximal Disruption of Speech, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1967 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention The object of the present disclosure is to provide a sound processing device that mainly performs sound processing for a hearing aid device, a sound processing method, and a hearing aid device. Solutions to Problems The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and a first aspect thereof is a sound processing device that includes:an information estimation unit that estimates control information, on the basis of hearing threshold information regarding a hearing threshold at each frequency, and input sound information; anda signal processing unit that processes an input sound signal, on the basis of the estimated control information. The hearing threshold information is a threshold measurement result obtained by measuring the hearing threshold of the user of the sound processing device at each frequency. Alternatively, the hearing threshold information is information about the sound pressure level of a measurement signal to be used in a hearing acuity measurement function at each frequency. The information estimation unit then estimates information regarding an acceptable delay amount in the signal processing unit. Alternatively, the information estimation unit estimates noise canceling characteristics information related to a noise canceling process to be performed in the signal processing unit. Further, a second aspect of the present disclosure is a sound processing method that includes:an information estimation step of estimating control information, on the basis of hearing threshold information regarding the hearing threshold at each frequency, and input sound information; anda signal processing step of processing an input sound signal, on the basis of the estimated control information. Further, a third aspect of the present disclosure is a hearing aid device including a hearing acuity measurement function, and the hearing aid devicecollects ambient sound around the hearing aid device when conducting hearing acuity measurement,amplifies the collected ambient sound, andoutputs the amplified ambient sound from a speaker of the hearing aid device or an external device connected to the hearing aid device. The hearing aid device according to the third aspect collects ambient sound when the measurement sound for hearing acuity measurement is stopped. Further, in a case where a noise canceling function is further provided, information indicating that noise canceling is used at the time of hearing acuity measurement is recorded together with the result of the hearing acuity measurement, and the presence or absence of noise canceling is also displayed when the measurement result is displayed. Effects of the Invention According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a sound processing device, a sound processing metho