Patent ID: 6970570

Claim:
In a hearing amplification device adapted to receive a sound signal, the hearing amplification device having at least one bandpass non-linearity (BPNL) channel configured to receive an input representative of said sound signal, the improvement comprising: said channel being further configured with a memoryless nonlinear amplifier to provide (1) linear gain for an input representative of a portion of a subband of said sound signal having an instantaneous sound level less than a compression threshold, (2) instantaneous compressive gain for an input representative of a portion of a subband of said sound signal having an instantaneous sound level greater than said compression threshold, wherein said instantaneous compressive gain is less than said linear gain, and (3) control of said compression threshold that is adaptive at least partially in response to changes in said sound signal, and wherein said at least one channel is configured to have its compression threshold initially set to a predetermined quiescent level, and wherein said at least one channel is further configured to adjust said compression threshold such that said compression threshold is in a range of about said predetermined quiescent level to about 20 decibels below an average sound level of at least a portion of said sound signal.