Patent ID: 6876750

Claim:
A method for generating digital filter coefficients for tuning a hearing aid employing digital audio processing to enhance hearing ability of an individual comprising: fitting said hearing aid to said individual; connecting said hearing aid to a source of audio digital signals; providing said individual with a device to generate indication signals at will; generating and providing a first series of audio digital signals to said hearing aid, each digital signal in said first series of signals corresponding to an analog audio signal having a selected frequency and multiple power levels; at said hearing aid converting each of said series of digital signals into said corresponding analog audio signal; receiving said indication signal during said generation of a signal of a selected frequency indicative of said individual hearing said selected frequency providing a digital audio processing unit in said hearing aid for processing received audio digital signals corresponding to analog audio signals and providing processed audio digital data, including applying digital audio filters for tuning said hearing aid characterized by generating digital filter coefficients in algorithms applied to said received audio digital signals to effect said digital audio filters; providing a digital computer connected to receive said first series of audio digital signals and said indication signals to generate digital data representative of said individual's hearing ability using said hearing aid without filters determined from said first series of digital signals, said computer programmed to determine said digital filter coefficients for digital filters for tuning said hearing aid and providing said coefficients to said digital audio processing unit in said hearing aid; and said digital computer is programmed to determine said digital filter coefficients by providing second digital data for a tolerance range for a target response curve ability of representative of said individual's enhanced hearing ability of sound level versus frequency; providing first digital data representative of an initial response curve of said individual's hearing ability of sound level versus frequency; comparing said second digital data to said first digital data and determining whether said response curve is within said tolerance range; and if said response curve is not within said tolerance range, iteratively generating digital filter coefficients controlling center frequency, filter bandwidth and amplitude for a succession of additional digital audio filters, applying digital audio filters determined by said digital filter coefficients to said first digital data to generate third digital data for a compensated response curve, and automatically optimizing said digital filter coefficients by optimizing the center frequency, amplitude and filter bandwidth of said digital audio filters until said compensated response curve is within said tolerance range or a predetermined limit on the number of digital audio filters has been reached, whichever occurs first.