Jean K Sullivan

US Patent:

53254368, Jun 28, 1994

Filed:

Jun 30, 1993

Appl. No.:

8/085652

Inventors:

Sigfrid D. Soli - Sierra Madre CA
Sriram Jayaraman - Los Angeles CA
Shawn Gao - Cerritos CA
Jean Sullivan - Murrieta CA

Assignee:

House Ear Institute - Los Angeles CA

International Classification:

H04R 500
H04R 2900
H04R 2500

US Classification:

381 68

Abstract:

The insertion effects of hearing aids are determined and compensated to restore the ability to have directional hearing in individuals wearing hearing aids. In one aspect a method involves finding the ratio of the unaided head related transfer function to the aided head related transfer function and then designing a hearing aid filter that is the inverse of that derived insertion effect, thereby restoring the ability to hear interaural differences in aided systems both in level and in time of arrival to improve hearing in the presence of noise. The insertion effects can be derived either through frequency domain analyses, using the above-mentioned transfer function calculations and measurements, or in another aspect through time domain analyses, using optimal filter calculations and measurement obtained using a successive data acquisition system that is subsequently time aligned by recording trigger pulses with the data.