CN101203070A - Hearing device with transponder identification and corresponding control method - Google Patents

Abstract

A hearing device and in particular a hearing aid should be able to be controlled more reliably automatically by means of an external device. For this purpose, a transponder detection device (11) is provided in the hearing instrument (10) for detecting a transponder (13) and for providing a corresponding detection signal (15). Signal processing in the hearing device (10) takes place on the basis of the detection signal (15). An external device, such as a telephone (14), is physically connected to the repeater (13). As a result, the hearing device (10) can detect the presence of external devices and control its own signal processing accordingly.

Description

Hearing device with transponder identification and corresponding control method

technical field

The invention relates to a hearing device with a signal processing device for processing an input signal into an output signal to be acoustically reproduced. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for controlling a hearing device. A hearing device is here understood to be in particular a hearing aid, but also headphones, headphones or the like.

Background technique

Hearing aids are portable hearing devices that provide sound to people who are hard of hearing. In order to meet a variety of individual needs, different structural forms of hearing aids are provided, such as behind-the-ear hearing aids (HdO), inner ear hearing aids (IdO) and pinna hearing aids. The exemplarily explained hearing aid is worn on the outer ear or in the ear canal. In addition, bone conduction hearing aids, implantable hearing aids or vibration sensing hearing aids are also available on the market. In this case, the impaired hearing is stimulated either mechanically or electrically.

A hearing aid basically has an input converter, an amplifier and an output converter as basic components. The input converter is usually an acoustic receiver (such as a microphone) and/or an electromagnetic receiver (such as an induction coil). Output transducers are mostly implemented as electroacoustic transducers (eg microspeakers) or as electromechanical transducers (eg bone conduction headphones). Amplifiers are usually integrated into signal processing units. This basic structure is illustrated in FIG. 1 using a behind-the-ear hearing aid as an example. Inside the hearing aid housing 1 for wearing behind the ear, one or more microphones 2 are mounted for receiving sounds from the environment. A signal processing unit 3 , likewise integrated in the hearing aid housing 1 , processes the microphone signal and amplifies it. The output signal of the signal processing unit 3 is transmitted to a loudspeaker or earpiece 4 which outputs an audio signal. The sound is transmitted, if necessary, to the eardrum of the hearing aid wearer via a sound tube that is secured in the ear canal using an otectomy. The hearing aid and in particular the signal processing unit 3 are powered via a battery 5 which is likewise integrated into the hearing aid housing 1 .

When wearing hearing aids and other hearing devices, individual users can be in different hearing situations. For example, the user may be in a hearing situation such as "quiet environment", "environment with disturbing noise", "concert hall", "phone call". The detection of the "telephone call" hearing situation is particularly desirable, since this occurs relatively frequently and the hearing aid should be adjusted quite differently here than in standard hearing situations. This means that in most cases an inductive input signal can be used when making a phone call, and ambient noise intruding acoustically is strongly attenuated. It is particularly advantageous for the user if the hearing aid or other relevant hearing device automatically recognizes the hearing situation "phone call", so that the phone call can be carried out satisfactorily from the start.

In order to automatically recognize the hearing situation and "make a phone call", it is generally adhering a magnet on the telephone at present. This magnet can actuate reed contacts in the hearing aid when the telephone is brought close to the hearing aid. The positioning of the magnet to the reed contact is critical. In addition, the earpieces of hearing aids will be damaged in the vicinity of strong magnetic fields. That said, strong magnetic fields can not only cause brief disturbances, but can also damage earpieces or speakers. In addition, the reed contacts could easily be triggered by other magnets than are mounted on the phone and thus cause wrong controls or program selections.

A wireless programmable hearing aid is known from publication EP1389035A2. It has a transponder with which the device can wirelessly receive programming signals from the programming device and send back specific response signals. For this purpose the transponder has an electrical coil.

Contents of the invention

Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to be able to perform an automatic control of a hearing device more reliably from the outside.

According to the invention, this technical problem is achieved by a hearing device comprising signal processing means for processing an input signal into an output signal to be acoustically reproduced, and transponder detection means for detecting transponders and A corresponding detection signal is provided, wherein processing is performed by the signal processing device on the basis of the detection signal.

Correspondingly, there is also provided a hearing system comprising such a hearing device and an external device relative to the hearing device, the external device being physically connected to the transponder.

Furthermore, according to the invention there is provided a method for controlling a hearing device by processing an input signal into an output signal to be acoustically reproduced, and detecting a transponder and providing a corresponding detection signal, wherein the processing Take control.

Thus, the hearing device and in particular the hearing aid can be controlled in a reliable manner via a transponder (Tag) which is brought close to the hearing device.

If the hearing device already has an electromagnetic transmission system, this requires no additional mechanical or electrical components on the hearing device. That is, reed contacts, GMR sensors, etc. can be dispensed with, especially for the identification of a phone call situation. As a result, hearing instruments or hearing aids can be made smaller. Furthermore, the reliability of the detection is increased according to the invention, since the magnetic field coupling via the coil extending within the transponder is better than via the reed contacts and the permanent magnet. Furthermore, the transponder is completely magnetically inactive, that is, it does not interfere with either the earpiece or other sensitive components. As a result, transponders are basically problem-free in sensitive environments, such as in aircraft.

Preferably, the transponder detection means of the hearing device can detect transponders based on energy loss. Thus, for example, the amplitude of the resonant circuit can be checked with little effort. It is advantageous here if the transponder detection device periodically evaluates its own transmission energy for transponder detection.

In addition, the transponder detection means can detect transponders based on frequency changes. Thus, eg a defined detuning of the frequency of the resonant circuit can be a clear indication of the presence of a transponder.

In addition, the transponder detection means can detect transponders based on pulse replies. In this case, it can preferably be used that the transponder can respond to the transmission pulses in a specific manner.

Corresponding to another preferred embodiment, the transponder detecting device is used for detecting multiple frequencies. In this case, for example, a predetermined frequency range can be scanned by the transponder detection device. For example, it is also possible to change the frequency by means of wobbling or switching, which are easy to implement.

It is very advantageous for a repeater if it consists of only one LC resonant circuit. Such transponders can be produced inexpensively and with a very small design.

Description of drawings

Further explain the present invention with reference to accompanying drawing, in the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 shows the principle structure of a hearing aid according to the prior art, and

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of detecting a transponder using a hearing aid.

Detailed ways

The examples described further below illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention.

According to the example of FIG. 2 , the hearing aid 10 has a so-called wireless system 11 via which a wireless connection to external devices can be established. In this case, for electromagnetic transmission via the wireless system 11, an LC resonant circuit with capacitor C1 and coil L1 is used. The resonant circuit is actuated or driven by the driver V1. An alternating magnetic field 12 is established by the coil L1 of the hearing aid 10 .

In order to switch on the corresponding hearing aid program (here the telephone program), the hearing aid should now recognize that a telephone or other device has been brought into its vicinity. For example, it is also possible to bring the remote control of the TV or the radio to the vicinity of the hearing aid, so as to correspondingly switch on the TV hearing aid program or the radio hearing aid program. Of course, the hearing aid 10 itself can also be brought into proximity with various external devices.

In order for the hearing aid 10 to recognize an external device (telephone, remote control, etc.), a transponder is installed on the external device. In the example of FIG. 2 , repeater 13 is mounted on telephone 14 .

The coil L2 and the capacitor C2 together constitute the resonant circuit of the transponder 13 . Two components L2, C2 form a simple RFID transponder. An RFID transponder is also known, for example, from publication DE 20 2006 006 921 U1.

The coil L2 of the transponder 13 acting as an antenna interacts with the magnetic field 12 . The energy requirement of the wireless system 11 of the hearing aid can thus be influenced during operation by the presence of the transponder 13 or its resonant circuit L2 , C2 . This principle is known from RFID technology.

Since the resonant circuit transponder 13 is mounted on the telephone receiver or telephone set 14 or other corresponding external device, the coil L2 and the capacitor C2 should be realized to be very flat. In this case, the area enclosed by the coil L2 can in principle be chosen freely. But this area is very important for the recognition rate, because the field density of the receiving coil L2 determines the induced voltage.

The proximity of the transponder 13 is determined by sending periodic queries of energy in the hearing aid 10 . According to the example in FIG. 2 , for this purpose a voltage is detected at the transmitting resonant circuit L1 , C1 , amplified by the amplifier V2 and supplied as detection signal 15 to the hearing aid signal processing. Unlike solutions with magnets glued to the telephone receiver, the hearing aid 10 here actively searches for the transponder 13 .

In order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances of the transponder 13, the frequency at which the hearing aid 10 searches for the transponder 13 is varied within a small range. In this case, the frequency can be changed continuously by wobbling or in jumps by switching.

If the two hearing aids are wirelessly or wiredly coupled to each other, the reliability of the telephone identification can be increased while providing sound to both ears of the hearing aid wearer. In this case, phone identification preferably only works if the transmitted energy at the resonance frequency on one side is boosted and not on the other side.

Claims (14)

1. A hearing device comprising: - signal processing means (3) for converting the input signal into an output signal with acoustic reproduction, It is characterized in that, - transponder detection means (11) for detecting transponders (13) and providing corresponding detection signals (15), - Signal processing by said signal processing means (3) is carried out on the basis of said detection signal (15). 2. The hearing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transponder detection means (11) is capable of detecting transponders (13) based on energy loss. 3. The hearing instrument as claimed in claim 2, wherein the transponder detection device (11) periodically evaluates the own transmitted energy for detecting the transponder (13). 4. The hearing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transponder detection means (11) can detect transponders (13) based on a change in frequency. 5. The hearing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transponder detection means (11) can detect transponders (13) based on pulse responses. 6. The hearing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transponder detection means (11) is used to detect a plurality of frequencies. 7. The hearing device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transponder detection means searches a predetermined frequency range. 8. A hearing system comprising: - a hearing device (10) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, - An external device (14) relative to said hearing device (10), which is physically connected to a transponder (13). 9. The hearing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the transponder (13) consists of only one LC resonant circuit (L2, C2). 10. A method of controlling a hearing device (10), comprising: - processing of the input signal into an output signal to be acoustically reproduced, It is characterized in that, - probing transponders (13) and providing corresponding probing signals (15), wherein - Controlling the processing on the basis of said detection signal (15). 11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the transponder (13) is detected on the basis of energy loss. 12. A method as claimed in claim 10 or 11, wherein the transponder (13) is detected according to a frequency change. 13. The method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the transponder (13) is detected on the basis of a pulse reply. 14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the hearing device comprises two hearing aids for providing sound in both ears, and the transponder (13) is used to identify the telephone set (14 ), and wherein, if the transmitted energy at a predetermined resonant frequency is increased relative to a predetermined normal value in one hearing aid but not in the other hearing aid, a telephony situation important for processing is identified.

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