Utilization of vocal acoustic biomarkers for assistive listening device utilization

Abstract

A body worn or implantable hearing prosthesis, including a device configured to capture an audio environment of a recipient and evoke a hearing percept based at least in part on the captured audio environment, wherein the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify, based on the captured audio environment, one or more biomarkers present in the audio environment indicative of the recipient's ability to hear.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A body worn or implantable hearing prosthesis, comprising:
 a device configured to capture an audio environment of a recipient and evoke a hearing percept based at least in part on the captured audio environment, wherein   the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify, based on the captured audio environment, one or more biomarkers present in the audio environment indicative of the recipient's ability to hear.   
     
     
         2 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the audio environment includes speech of the recipient;   the one or more biomarkers are linguistic characteristics of the speech of the recipient and   the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify the linguistic characteristics as such.   
     
     
         3 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the hearing prosthesis is configured to evaluate the one or more biomarkers and develop data indicative of the recipient's ability to hear.   
     
     
         4 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the one or more biomarkers are linguistic characteristics of people other than the recipient and the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify the linguistic characteristics as such.   
     
     
         5 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the hearing prosthesis is configured to automatically adjust a feature thereof based on the identification.   
     
     
         6 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the hearing prosthesis is a multimodal hearing prosthesis; and   the hearing prosthesis is configured to automatically adjust a crossover point of the modes of the hearing prosthesis based on the identification.   
     
     
         7 . The hearing prosthesis of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the one or more biomarkers include one or more first biomarkers of people other than the recipient and the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify the first biomarkers as such;   the one or more biomarkers also include second biomarkers of the recipient, and the hearing prosthesis is configured to identify the second one or more biomarkers as such; and   the hearing prosthesis is configured to compare the one or more first biomarkers to the one or more second biomarkers and develop data indicative of the recipients ability to hear.   
     
     
         8 . A method, comprising:
 capturing sound with a hearing prosthesis; and   evaluating the captured sound to determine the ability of the recipient of the hearing prosthesis to hear.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 adjusting a feature of the hearing prosthesis based on the evaluation.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further providing:
 counseling the recipient based on the evaluation.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 adjusting a hearing habilitation and/or rehabilitation regime based on the evaluation.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the recipient has experienced a relatively sudden hearing loss in the higher sound frequencies; and   the action of evaluating the captured sound includes evaluating the speech of the recipient and determining, based on the evaluation of the speech, that the recipient has undergone the relatively sudden hearing loss in the higher sound frequencies.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the action of evaluating the captured sound is executed by the hearing prosthesis; and   the method further includes automatically adjusting a feature of the hearing prosthesis based on the evaluation.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein:
 captured sound is speech of others captured over a first temporal period; and   the action of evaluating the captured sound includes comparing the complexity of the captured speech to a statistical model of speech exposure and determining, based on the comparison, that the recipient is exposing himself or herself to less complex speech due to the ability of the recipient to hear.   
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 capturing first sounds corresponding to speech of a recipient of a hearing prosthesis;   comparing the captured first sounds to data based on speech of others; and   diagnosing a hearing-related impairment based on the comparison.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 capturing second sounds corresponding to one or more voices of others, wherein the data based on speech of others is based on the second sounds.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the data based on speech of others is statistical data of a statistically relevant population.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the action of diagnosing the hearing-related issue includes determining an ability of the recipient to hear based on the comparison.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the action of diagnosing the hearing-related issue includes determining that the recipient should increase exposure time to more-complex second sounds relative to that which was previously the case.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the recipient is a pre-adolescent recipient.