Method for controlling a binaural hearing aid system and binaural hearing aid system

摘要

Level compression applied to the acoustic signals (18) received by a binaural hearing aid system (1) counteracts the preservation of inter-aural level differences (ILD) and thereby reduces the user's ability to locate the sound source and consequently his or her ability to understand speech in noisy environments. It is therefore known to increase the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and/or decreasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, which at least in part allows for preserving the ILDs. However, in some situations this instead reduces the user's ability to understand speech, e.g. when acoustic noise is received at one ear (4) at a higher level (53, 54) than simultaneous speech at the other ear (5). The present invention overcomes this problem by decreasing the gain (57) in the hearing aid (2) receiving the louder signal and/or increasing the gain (58) in the hearing aid (3) receiving the quieter signal, when the difference between the noise-floor levels (55, 56) of the two hearing aids (2, 3) increases.

主权项

1. A method for controlling a binaural hearing aid system having a first and a second hearing aid interconnected via a communication channel, the method comprising:
receiving a first acoustic input signal by the first hearing aid; receiving a second acoustic input signal by the second hearing aid;
determining a first noise-floor level of the first acoustic input signal;determining a second noise-floor level of the second acoustic input signal;controlling the first acoustic gain in dependence on the second noise-floor level;controlling the second acoustic gain in dependence on the first noise-floor level; applying the first acoustic gain to the first acoustic input signal to provide a first acoustic or virtually acoustic output signal; applying the second acoustic gain to the second acoustic input signal to provide a second acoustic or virtually acoustic output signal; outputting the first acoustic or virtually acoustic output signal via a first transducer to a first ear of a user of the binaural hearing aid system; and outputting the second acoustic or virtually acoustic output signal via a second transducer to a second ear of the user of the binaural hearing aid system.