Hearing aid with adjustable frequency response

Claim 2

A hearing aid comprising: means for receiving incoming audio signals and generating an electrical signal therefrom; a plurality of frequency selecting channels connected to said means for receiving, said channels respectively transmitting electrical signals in different frequency ranges; circuit means in each of said channels for generating an intermediate signal corresponding to the strength of the electrical signal in the frequency range for that channel; means in at least one of said channels for combining said intermediate signals with intermediate signals from the circuit means in each of the other of said channels respectively representing the signal strength of each of the other of said plurality of channels; means in each channel having a means for combining connected to said means for combining for generating a channel output which increases as the strength of the electrical signal for that channel increases relative to the signal strength of the other channels; means for combining all of the channel outputs to generate an output signal; and means for supplying said output signal to a hearing-impaired person.

Claim 3

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of frequency selecting channels is in the range of 3 through 12.

Claim 4

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of frequency selecting channels is 6.

Claim 5

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein each frequency selecting channel includes a bandpass filter for selecting the frequency thereof at an input side.

Claim 6

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of frequency selecting channels has a channel of a lowest frequency range, and wherein said channel of a lowest frequency range has a low pass filter at its input side.

Claim 7

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of frequency selecting channels has a channel of a highest frequency range, and wherein said channel of highest frequency range has a high pass filter at its input side.

Claim 8

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for generating an intermediate signal corresponding to the signal strength in each channel includes means for forming a signal envelope of the signal in the respective channel.

Claim 9

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 7, wherein said means for generating a channel output comprises a voltage-controlled amplifier connected to and controlled by the output of said means for combining said intermediate signals.

Claim 10

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 8, wherein said means for combining is a summing unit having a positive input which is supplied with the signal for the channel containing said summing unit, and having a plurality of negative inputs respectively supplied with differently weighted signals from the envelopes of the remaining channels in said plurality of channels.

Claim 11

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 9, further comprising means for supplying said signal for said envelope of said channel containing said summing unit to all other of said frequency selecting channels for combination in an identical summing unit.

Claim 12

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 9, wherein said differently weighted signals of said plurality of channels are weighted based on the hearing-impairment of said hearing-impaired person.

Claim 13

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 9, wherein said differently weighted signals are weighted by pre-adjustment for a specific type of hearing impairment.

Claim 14

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said audio signal has a total transmission range which is divided into a plurality of frequency ranges by said plurality of frequency selecting channels, and wherein frequency selecting channels in a center of said transmission range have smaller bandwidths than the remaining frequency channels.

Claim 15

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of frequency selecting channels is 6 and wherein said channels have respective frequency ranges of 175-350Hz, 350-700Hz, 700-1050Hz, 1050-1600Hz, 1600-3200Hz and 3200-6400Hz.

Claim 16

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 14, wherein each of said frequency ranges is determined by a plurality of bandpass filters respectively in said frequency selecting channels, and wherein the steepness of each bandpass filter is at least 12 dB per octave.

Claim 17

A hearing aid as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a variable resistance disposed in a feedback path for said voltage-controlled amplifier for selectively varying the strength of the channel output supplied to said means for combining all of the channel outputs.

Claim 18

A hearing aid comprising: means for receiving incoming audio signals and generating an electrical signal therefrom; a plurality of frequency selecting channels connected to said means for receiving, said channels respectively transmitting electrical signals in different frequency ranges; circuit means in each of said channels for generating an intermediate signal corresponding to the strength of the electrical signal in the frequency range for that channel; means in each channel connected to said circuit means in all of said channels for adding said intermediate signals from all of the channels with the intermediate signal from the channel containing the means for adding being assigned a positive value and all other intermediate signals being assigned a negative value to generate a control voltage; a voltage controlled amplifier in each channel to which the electrical signal for that channel is supplied, said voltage controlled amplifier generating a channel output from said electrical signal based on said control voltage which increases as the strength of said electrical signal for that channel increases relative to the other channels; means for combining all of the channel outputs to generate an output signal; and means for supplying said output signal to a hearing-impaired person.

Claim 19

A hearing aid comprising: means for receiving incoming audio signals and generating an electrical signal therefrom; a plurality of frequency selecting channels connected to said means for receiving, said channels respectively transmitting electrical signals in different frequency ranges; circuit means in each of said channels for generating an intermediate signal corresponding to the strength of the electrical signal in the frequency range for that channel; means in each channel connected to said circuit means in all of said channels for adding said intermediate signals from all of the channels with the intermediate signal from the channel containing the means for adding being assigned a positive value and all other intermediate signals being assigned a negative value to generate a control voltage; a voltage controlled amplifier in each channel to which the electrical signal for that channel is supplied, said voltage controlled amplifier generating a channel output from said electrical signal based on said control voltage which increases as the strength of said electrical signal for that channel increases relative to the other channels; means for combining all of the channel outputs to generate an output signal; and means for supplying said output signal to a hearing-impaired person.