Patent ID: 6735317
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
A method for intensification of speech signals components in a hearing aid input signal including background noise, comprising the steps of classifying said input signal into at least three frequency bands comprising at least one high frequency band, a low frequency band and at least one frequency band intermediate said high frequency band and said low frequency band, estimating the level of background noise in said low frequency band and at least one intermediate frequency band and adjusting the gain in said low and said one intermediate frequency band in response to the estimated level of background noise to provide squelching of said background noise, said method further comprising the steps of estimating the content of speech signal components in said at least one high frequency band and modifying the gain adjustment caused by said background noise estimation in at least said one intermediate frequency band to reduce said squelching of background noise and thereby intensify the content of speech signals components occurring in said one intermediate frequency band, wherein said estimations of the level of background noise and the content of speech signal components are effected by percentile estimation.