Patent ID: 8144884

Claim:
A microphone test method for testing at least one microphone of a hearing device, the method comprising: connecting the hearing device to a sound source external to the hearing device, the hearing device having the at least one microphone; providing a housing adapted to receive the hearing device and the sound source, and wherein the housing is further adapted to do at least one of disposing the sound source at a repeatable distance from the hearing device and disposing the sound source in a repeatable orientation relative to the hearing device; placing the hearing device and the sound source into the housing, wherein the housing provides a sound channel between the sound source and at least one of the at least one microphones; placing the hearing device into communication with the sound source by generating a test signal in the hearing device and communicating the signal to the sound source, so that the sound source generates an acoustic signal; receiving the acoustic signal from the sound source, via the sound channel, using at least one of the at least one microphone, wherein the acoustic signal passes directly from the sound source to the at least one microphone via the sound; processing the received acoustic signal to determine a test result regarding a quality of at least one of the at least one microphone; and providing an indication regarding the test result.