Patent ID: 7689248

Claim:
A method, comprising a user placing a mobile phone terminal near a local acoustic source in an ambient noise situation presenting a hearing challenge to said user in hearing said local acoustic source; said user switching a mode of the mobile phone terminal from a phone mode to a listening assistance mode; said mobile phone terminal transmitting to a headset, hearing aid, or earpiece worn by said user a transmitted signal generated by the mobile phone terminal in said listening assistance mode in response to a microphone signal from a microphone of said mobile phone terminal indicative of a local acoustic signal from said local acoustic source; and providing to the user an output acoustic signal by the headset, the hearing aid, or the earphone in response to said transmitted signal thus providing listening assistance in said ambient noise situation to the user in hearing said local acoustic signal in said listening assistance mode, wherein said switching of the mode of the mobile phone terminal to the listening assistance mode comprises: providing a listening command signal to a mode switch block of said mobile phone terminal; and providing, in response to said listening command signal, a switching mode signal to an audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal or to a listening audio enhancement module of the mobile phone terminal and providing said listening command signal optionally: to a receiving and decoding module of the mobile phone terminal, to said microphone or to an analog-to-digital converter of the mobile phone terminal.