Patent ID: 6466678
Filing Date: 2002-10-15
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
A hearing aid comprising:a. a housing having an interior and an exterior; b. a microphone disposed in the interior of said housing and having at least one sound inlet tube to receive sound from the exterior of said housing; c. a digital signal processor for damping signals representative of sound received by said microphone, said digital signal processor having a frequency response characterized by a generally flat portion and an inverse peak, said digital signal processor executing at least one filter for defining the inverse peak; d. a programming interface for communicating with the digital signal processor; and e. an earphone for transducing signals that have been damped by said digital signal processor into sound representative of the sound received by said microphone, said earphone having a sound outlet tube for conducting sound to the exterior of said housing, said earphone having a frequency response including a generally flat portion and at least one undamped peak, said at least one undamped peak occurring over a frequency range that is at least partially dependent on the length of said outlet tube, said inverse peak of said digital signal processor occurring over a frequency range generally corresponding to the frequency range of said undamped peak thereby to provide a hearing aid output signal that is generally unaffected by undesirable characteristics of said undamped peak.