Patent ID: 7826631

Claim:
A hearing aid comprising: a classification device that automatically detects a hearing situation that currently exists in an environment in which the hearing aid is currently located, and that assigns a class, from among a plurality of different hearing situation classes, to the hearing situation that currently exists; a memory in which a plurality of different assigned settings are stored respectively associated with the plurality of different classes of hearing situations, each setting comprising operating parameters for the hearing aid that cause the hearing aid to emit sound appropriate for the associated class of hearing situation; a setting device in communication with said classification device and said memory, said setting device being configured, in response to being supplied with the class of the current hearing situation by said classification device, to automatically access said memory and to retrieve therefrom the assigned setting associated with the class of the current hearing situation; a manual input device in communication with said setting device configured to allow manual entry of a manual setting of operating parameters for the class of said current hearing situation; and said setting device, in response to said manual entry, being configured to access said memory and replace the assigned setting for said class of said current hearing situation with said manual setting and to thereafter retrieve said manual setting when said class of said current hearing situation is detected by said classification device.