Patent ID: 7336796

Claim:
A hearing assistive device, comprising: sound data acquisition apparatus adapted to acquire current sound data representing sound that occurs in the vicinity of the hearing assistive device; sound production apparatus adapted to produce sound in accordance with sound data acquired by the sound data acquisition apparatus, the sound production apparatus adapted to be mounted on, in, or proximate to an ear of a wearer of the hearing assistive device; sound replay apparatus, the sound replay apparatus comprising: a sound data accumulation device for accumulating replay sound data representing sound occurring during a replay time; and a sound data selection device for controlling the hearing assistive device to operate in one of multiple possible modes of operation of the hearing assistive device, the multiple possible modes of operation comprising a replay mode in which the replay sound data is transmitted to the sound production apparatus for use in producing sound and an off mode in which all sound data is inhibited from being transmitted to the sound production apparatus, wherein the sound data acquisition apparatus acquires current sound data during operation of the hearing assistive device in each of the multiple possible modes of operation, and wherein: at least part of the sound data acquisition apparatus and/or the sound replay apparatus is spatially separated from the sound production apparatus, the hearing assistive device further comprising: communication apparatus that enables communication between the sound production apparatus and the part of the sound data acquisition apparatus and/or the sound replay apparatus that is spatially separated from the sound production apparatus.