Patent ID: 8320573

Claim:
An adaptive hearing device for being worn by a child user, the hearing device comprising: an input unit for converting an acoustic input to a first signal, an output unit for converting a second signal to an acoustic output, a signal processing unit for generating said second signal from said first signal based on a setting of parameters indicating a characteristic of the child user's ear, said signal processing unit coupling said input unit and said output unit, wherein the signal processing unit comprising a digital gain stage and a digital maximum-power-output stage for implementing separate adjustment of gain and maximum power output, a timing unit for generating a timing signal indicating elapsed time, and a control unit for storing said setting of parameters and for modifying said setting of parameters based on said timing signal, said control unit being coupled to said signal processing unit and to said timing unit, and wherein said control unit contains a mathematical conversion unit for the timing unit and a digital register, the digital register storing an initial parameter set based on: one or more measured or estimated real-ear-to-coupler-difference values for the child user; and an initial age of the child user, the digital register further storing at least one of: a pre-defined look-up table of average values of real-ear-to-coupler-difference (RECD) at different ages; and an algorithm for determining a time-adjusted real-ear-to-coupler-difference value (RECD) from the initial parameter set and an estimated current age, said control unit adapted for automatically determining the estimated current age and the RECD in relation to the initial parameter set, and implementing an adjustment of the digital gain and/or the digital maximum-power-output of the hearing device over time, wherein the adjustment of the digital gain is, at a given time: digital gain=gain techn −RECD wherein gain techn is an initial digital gain as determined during fitting, and wherein the adjustment of the digital maximum-power-output is, at a given time: digital maximum-power-output=MPO techn −RECD wherein MPO techn is an initial digital maximum-power-output measured with a 2 cc coupler during fitting.