BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to hearing aids. The invention, more particularly, relates to a hearing system having a classifier classifying an auditory environment and selecting a mode of operation for one or more signal processing sub-systems each having at least two modes of operation. The hearing system includes a hearing aid and a personal communication device. Also, the invention relates to a method of controlling program selection in a hearing aid.

2. Prior Art

Basically, a hearing aid has a microphone for converting sound into an electric signal, and an amplifier for alleviating the hearing loss of the user and a receiver for converting the amplified electric signal into sound again. Modern, digital hearing aids comprise sophisticated and complex signal processing units for processing and amplifying sound according to a prescription aimed at alleviating a hearing loss for a hearing impaired individual. The major purpose of a hearing aid is to improve speech intelligibility. State of the art hearing aids have features for recognizing speech and suppressing noise in an audio signal picked up by the hearing aid. A useful element in the statistical analyses is percentile levels. Percentile levels provide information on the level distribution, that is, how the loudness level of the incoming signal changes over time. When obtained for multiple frequencies, this information provides quite a detailed picture of the auditory environment. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,804,974 B and 8,411,888 B describe the operation of a hearing aid classifier in details.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an improved classifier for program selection in a hearing aid wherein the risk of undesired program changes is minimized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This purpose is achieved by a hearing system according to the invention including a hearing aid and a personal communication device. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a hearing system including a hearing aid and a personal communication device both including a short range data transceiver for providing a short range data communication link. The hearing aid includes a signal processor processing an electric input signal according to audio processing parameters of the hearing aid, and a classifier component analyzing at least one specific characteristic of said electric input signal statistically, said statistical analysis includes comparison of said at least one specific characteristic to one or more thresholds. A program selector component automatically selects one of at least two modes of operation for a signal processing sub-system according to the classifier's classification. The thresholds are controlled by the signal processor. The personal communication device offers the user a user interface for controlling and interacting with a program selector component of the hearing aid, and generating a notification according to the operation of the user interface and transmitting the notification to said hearing aid via said short range data communication link. Upon reception of the notification from said personal communication device, the processor adjusts at least one of said one or more thresholds used by the classifier component.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of selecting one of at least two modes of operation for a signal processing sub-system for a hearing aid including a signal processor processing an electric input signal according to audio processing parameters of the hearing aid. The method includes connecting a personal communication device to the hearing aid by means of a short range data communication link, analyzing in a classifier at least one specific characteristic of said electric input signal statistically in order to determine the acoustic environment of the hearing aid, said statistical analysis including comparison of at least one specific to one or more thresholds, and offering the user by means of said personal communication device a user interface for controlling and interacting with a program selector component of the hearing aid. The method furthermore includes steps of generating a notification according to the operation of the user interface and transmitting the notification to said hearing aid via said short range data communication link, and adjusting at least one of said one or more thresholds used by the classifier component upon reception of the notification from said personal communication device.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a hearing aid communicating with the personal communication device via a short range data communication link. The hearing aid includes a signal processor processing an electric input signal according to audio processing parameters of the hearing aid, a classifier component analyzing at least one specific characteristic of said electric input signal statistically, said statistical analysis including comparison of at least one specific characteristic to one or more thresholds, and a program selector component automatically selecting one of at least two modes of operation for a signal processing sub-system according to said statistical analysis performed by the classifier component. The signal processor is adapted to receive a notification from said personal communication device and initiated by a user operating a user interface allowing the user to control said program selector component, and to adjust the thresholds of the classifier component upon reception of the notification from said personal communication device.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a hearing aid including a signal processor processing an electric input signal according to audio processing parameters of the hearing aid, a feature extractor for extracting value representations relating to at least one specific characteristic for said samples of said electric input signal, and a classifier component analyzing said value representations statistically by comparing said value representations to one or more thresholds for said at least one specific characteristic. The signal processor furthermore analyzes the statistical distribution of said value representations for evaluating the homogeneity of the auditory environment. When the signal processor recognizes the auditory environment as being homogeneous, the signal processor compares the mean value of the distribution to the threshold for said at least one specific characteristic. When the signal processor recognizes the difference between the mean value and one of said one or more thresholds to be below a first predetermined value, the signal processor adjust the thresholds so said difference at least corresponds to said first predetermined value.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a method of classifying an acoustic environment for a hearing aid including a signal processor processing an electric input signal according to audio processing parameters of the hearing aid. The method includes extracting in a feature extractor value representations relating to at least one specific characteristic for said samples of said electric input signal, analyzing in a classifier component said value representations statistically by comparing said value representations to one or more thresholds for said at least one specific characteristic, and analyzing in the signal processor the statistical distribution of said value representations for evaluating the homogeneity of the auditory environment. When the signal processor has recognized the auditory environment as being homogeneous, the signal processor furthermore compares the mean value of the distribution to said one or more thresholds for said at least one specific characteristic, and when the signal processor has recognized that the difference between the mean value and one of said one or more thresholds is below a first predetermined value, the signal processor adjusts one of said one or more thresholds so said difference at least corresponds to said first predetermined value.

