A method for dynamic suppression of surrounding acoustic noise when listening to electrical inputs

摘要

The invention relates to a listening instrument adapted for being worn by a user and comprising. The invention further relates to the use a listening instrument and to a method of operating a listening instrument. The object of the present invention is to improve a signal to noise ratio in a listening instrument. The problem is solved in that the listening instrument comprises a) a microphone unit for picking up an input sound from the current acoustic environment of the user and converting it to an electric microphone signal; b) a microphone gain unit for applying a specific microphone gain to the microphone signal and providing a modified microphone signal; c) a direct electric input signal representing an audio signal; d) a direct gain unit for applying a specific direct gain to the direct electric input signal and providing a modified direct electric input signal; e) a detector unit for classifying the current acoustic environment of the user and providing one or more classification parameters; f) a control unit for controlling the specific microphone gain applied to the electric microphone signal and/or the specific direct gain applied to the direct electric input signal based on the one or more classification parameters; wherein the detector unit comprises an own-voice detector (OVD) for determining whether or not the user is speaking at a given point in time. An advantage of the invention is that it provides improved listening comfort to a user in different acoustic environments. The invention may e.g. be used in hearing aids, headsets, active ear protection devices, head phones, etc.