Patent ID: 7428313
Filing Date: 2008-09-23
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
1. A method for correcting sound for the hearing impaired, comprising the steps of: (a) analyzing an incoming sound into a plurality of signals, one of said signals in each of a plurality of frequency channels; (b) computing a group delay (GD) of each of said frequency channels that is expected in a healthy ear; (c) defining a correction as (100%)/(% GD), where (% GD) is defined as a percentage less than 100% of the group delay (GD) that a given impaired ear has compared to the group delay of the healthy ear; (d) computing, in each of said frequency channels, an amount of delay required for the correction as a function of time for each of said frequency channels, based on the correction from step (c) and the group delays computed in step (b); (e) imposing the amount of delay on each signal passing through each frequency channel; (f) scaling the signal level of each signal to adjust audibility; and (g) recombining the delayed and scaled signals from all frequency channels into an outgoing sound.