Patent ID: 8611554

Claim:
A hearing assistance device, comprising: two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic, the device being arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device; a signal processor for processing said data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing; at least one speaker which utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person; and an active noise reduction system that provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person, wherein each transducer is selected from the group consisting of: a first order pressure gradient directional transducer, a higher than first order pressure gradient directional transducer, a combination pressure and first order pressure gradient directional transducer, and a combination pressure and higher than first order pressure gradient directional transducer.