Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid

Details Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid

2002-08-07

2003-10-14

Tran, Sinh (Department: 2643)

Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices

Binaural and stereophonic

C381S331000, C381S312000, C361S160000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06633645

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to hearing aids, and more particularly to an automatic switch for a hearing aid.
BACKGROUND
Hearing aids can provide adjustable operational modes or characteristics that improve the performance of the hearing aid for a specific person or in a specific environment. Some of the operational characteristics are volume control, tone control, and selective signal input. One way to control these characteristics is by a manually engagable switch on the hearing aid. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,933, it may be desirable to have both a non-directional microphone and a directional microphone in a single hearing aid. Thus, when a person is talking to someone in a crowded room the hearing aid can be switched to the directional microphone in an attempt to directionally focus the reception of the hearing aid and prevent amplification of unwanted sounds from the surrounding environment. However, the switch on the hearing aid in the '933 patent is a switch that must be operated by hand. It can be a drawback to require manual or mechanical operation of a switch to change the input or operational characteristics of a hearing aid. Moreover, manually engaging a switch in a hearing aid that is mounted within the ear canal is difficult, and may be impossible, for people with impaired finger dexterity.
In some known hearing aids, magnetically activated switches are controlled through the use of magnetic actuators, for examples see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,553,152 and 5,659,621. The magnetic actuator is held adjacent the hearing aid and the magnetic switch changes the volume. However, such a hearing aid requires that a person have the magnetic actuator available when it desired to change the volume. Consequently, a person must carry an additional piece of equipment to control his\her hearing aid. Moreover, there are instances where a person may not have the magnetic actuator immediately present, for example when in the yard or around the house.
Once the actuator is located and placed adjacent the hearing aid, this type of circuitry for changing the volume must cycle through the volume to arrive at the desired setting. Such an action takes time and adequate time may not be available to cycle through the settings to arrive at the required setting, for example there may be insufficient time to arrive at the required volume when answering a telephone.
Some hearing aids have an input which receives the electromagnetic voice signal directly from the voice coil of a telephone instead of receiving the acoustic signal emanating from the telephone speaker. Accordingly, signal conversion steps, namely, from electromagnetic to acoustic and acoustic back to electromagnetic, are removed and a higher quality voice signal reproduction may be transmitted to the person wearing the hearing aid. It may be desirable to quickly switch the hearing aid from a microphone (acoustic) input to a coil (electromagnetic field) input when answering and talking on a telephone. However, quickly manually switching the input of the hearing aid from a microphone to a voice coil may be difficult for some hearing aid wearers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Upon reading and understanding the present disclosure it is recognized that the inventive subject matter described herein satisfies the foregoing needs in the art and several other needs in the art not expressly noted herein. The following summary is provided to give the reader a brief summary which is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting and the scope of the invention is provided by the attached claims and the equivalents thereof.
One embodiment of the present invention provides a method and apparatus for switching of a hearing aid input between an acoustic input and an electromagnetic field input. In one embodiment a method and an apparatus are provided for automatically switching from acoustic input to electromagnetic field input in the presence of the telephone handset.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2530621 (1950-11-01), Lybarger
patent: 2554834 (1951-05-01), Lavery
patent: 2656421 (1953-10-01), Lybarger
patent: 3396245 (1968-08-01), Flygstad
patent: 4187413 (1980-02-01), Moser
patent: 4467145 (1984-08-01), Borstel
patent: 4489330 (1984-12-01), Marutake et al.
patent: 4490585 (1984-12-01), Tanaka
patent: 4508940 (1985-04-01), Steeger
patent: 4596899 (1986-06-01), Wojcik et al.
patent: 4631419 (1986-12-01), Sadamatsu et al.
patent: 4638125 (1987-01-01), Buettner
patent: 4696032 (1987-09-01), Levy
patent: 4710961 (1987-12-01), Buttner
patent: 4764957 (1988-08-01), Angelini et al.
patent: 4845755 (1989-07-01), Busch et al.
patent: 4862509 (1989-08-01), Towsend
patent: 4887299 (1989-12-01), Cummins et al.
patent: 4926464 (1990-05-01), Schley-May
patent: 4930156 (1990-05-01), Norris
patent: 5010575 (1991-04-01), Marutake et al.
patent: 5027410 (1991-06-01), Williamson et al.
patent: 5086464 (1992-02-01), Groppe
patent: 5091952 (1992-02-01), Williamson et al.
patent: 5189704 (1993-02-01), Krauss
patent: 5212827 (1993-05-01), Meszko et al.
patent: 5280524 (1994-01-01), Norris
patent: 5404407 (1995-04-01), Weiss
patent: 5422628 (1995-06-01), Rodgers
patent: 5425104 (1995-06-01), Shennib
patent: 5463692 (1995-10-01), Fackler
patent: 5524056 (1996-06-01), Killion et al.
patent: 5553152 (1996-09-01), Newton
patent: 5636285 (1997-06-01), Sauer
patent: 5640293 (1997-06-01), Dawes et al.
patent: 5640457 (1997-06-01), Gnecco et al.
patent: 5659621 (1997-08-01), Newton
patent: 5687242 (1997-11-01), Iburg
patent: 5706351 (1998-01-01), Weinfurtner
patent: 5710820 (1998-01-01), Martin et al.
patent: 5737430 (1998-04-01), Widrow
patent: 5740257 (1998-04-01), Marcus
patent: 5751820 (1998-05-01), Taenzer
patent: 5757933 (1998-05-01), Preves et al.
patent: 5768397 (1998-06-01), Fazio
patent: 5796848 (1998-08-01), Martin
patent: 5809151 (1998-09-01), Husung
patent: 5823610 (1998-10-01), Ryan et al.
patent: 5991420 (1999-11-01), Stern
patent: 6031922 (2000-02-01), Tibbetts
patent: 6031923 (2000-02-01), Gnecco et al.
patent: 6078675 (2000-06-01), Bowen-Nielsen et al.
patent: 6101258 (2000-08-01), Killion et al.
patent: 6104821 (2000-08-01), Husung
patent: 6115478 (2000-09-01), Schneider
patent: 6118877 (2000-09-01), Lindemann et al.
patent: 6148087 (2000-11-01), Martin
patent: 6157727 (2000-12-01), Rueda
patent: 6157728 (2000-12-01), Tong et al.
patent: 6310556 (2001-10-01), Green et al.
patent: 6324291 (2001-11-01), Weidner
patent: 6327370 (2001-12-01), Killion et al.
patent: 6356741 (2002-03-01), Bilotti et al.
patent: 6381308 (2002-04-01), Cargo et al.
patent: 6459882 (2002-10-01), Palermo et al.
patent: 6466679 (2002-10-01), Husung
patent: 3036417 (1982-05-01), None
patent: 3443907 (1985-06-01), None
patent: 2714561 (1995-06-01), None
patent: 09-018998 (1997-01-01), None
Beck, L..B. , “The “T” Switch; Some Tips for Effective Use”,Shhh,(Jan./Feb. 1989),pp. 12-15.
Gilmore, R.., “Telecoils: past, present & future”,Hearing Instruments,44 (2), (1993),pp. 22, 26-27, 40.
Lybarger, S..F. ,“Development of a New Hearing Aid with Magnetic Microphone”,Electrical Manufacturing,(Nov., 1947), 11 pages.
Preves, D..A. ,“A Look at the Telecoil—It's Development and Potential”,SHHH Journal,(Sep./Oct. 1994),pp. 7-10.
Hansaton Akustik GMBH, “48 K-AMP Contactmatic”, (from Service Manual), (Apr. 1996),8 pgs.
Schaefer, Conrad, “Letter referencing Micro Ear Patent”, (Jul. 22, 2002),2 pgs.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatic telephone switch for hearing aid will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3138098