Patent ID: 6424721
Filing Date: 2002-07-23
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
A hearing aid comprising:a housing adapted to be worn at an ear; a plurality of microphones in said housing selected from the group consisting of directional microphones and non-directional microphones, each of said microphones having a principal reception direction and each of said microphones producing an electrical output signal; a signal processing unit in said housing which produces a processed electrical signal; an earphone in said housing supplied with said processed electrical signal which converts said processed electrical signal into an acoustic output signal; a plurality of delay elements in said housing connected between said plurality of microphones and said signal processing unit in different selectable combinations, for combining the respective electrical output signals of said microphones with different delays and weightings to form, in combination with said signal processing unit, a directional microphone system with a system reception characteristic having a system principal reception direction; said plurality of microphones being respectively disposed in said housing with their respective principal reception directions crossing substantially at a right angle; and said signal processing unit comprising means for setting said system principal reception direction at any direction between the respective principal reception directions of said plurality of microphones.