Patent ID: 8351613

Claim:
A hearing apparatus for a subject having an ear with an ear canal, the hearing apparatus comprising: a receiver configured to be placed in or about the ear; at least one microphone configured to be placed in or about the ear and configured to produce a signal related to sounds reaching said microphone; and a digital signal processing device in communication with the receiver and the at least one microphone, the digital signal processing device including a configuration having an acoustic feedback canceller that reduces an amount of acoustic feedback produced by the hearing apparatus, wherein the digital signal processing device configured to provide at least one mode wherein a noise generator in the hearing apparatus is configured to provide at least a white noise signal to be played by the receiver with the acoustic feedback canceller activated, and at least another mode wherein the digital signal processor is configured to provide hearing aid processing using the microphone and the receiver and with the acoustic feedback canceller activated, and wherein in the at least one mode the digital signal processing device is configured to execute instructions to use the microphone to receive sounds played by the receiver using at least in part the white noise signal, the digital signal processing device programmed to generate an estimate of gain margin over a range of different frequencies by processing a recorded impulse response to the white noise signal of the hearing apparatus.