Hearing device for identifying a sequence of movement features, and method of its operation

1. A hearing device comprising

a housing configured to be worn at an ear of a user;

a movement detector mechanically coupled to the housing, the movement detector configured to provide movement data indicative of a movement of the housing; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the movement detector, the processor configured to identify, based on the movement data, a plurality of movement features in a sequence, the movement features representative of a movement activity carried out by the user, and to determine a temporal characteristic of the sequence of movement features and/or to determine an amplitude characteristic of the movement data associated with at least one of the movement features identified in the sequence;

characterized in that the processor is further configured to

control maintaining of a data record representative of the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a plurality of times; to

determine a deviation measure indicative of a deviation between the data record and the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a time later than said plurality of times; and to

control an operation of the hearing device depending on the deviation measure.

2. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the hearing device comprises a sound detector configured to provide sound data indicative of a detected sound, the processor communicatively coupled to the sound detector and configured to

identify a sound feature from the sound data; and to

associate said temporal characteristic and/or said amplitude characteristic with the sound feature depending on a temporal correlation between the sound feature and the sequence of movement features.

3. The device according to claim 2 , characterized in that the sound detector comprises a microphone and/or a voice activity detector (VAD).

4. The device according to claim 2 , characterized in that the sound feature is representative of an own voice activity of the user.

5. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the movement features are representative of a walking activity of the user.

6. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the movement features are representative of sequential manual tappings causing the movement of the housing.

7. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the processor is configured to identify the movement activity carried out by the user based on determining whether the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic corresponds to a predetermined parameter.

8. The device according to claim 7 , characterized in that the operation comprises adjusting the predetermined parameter depending on the deviation measure.

9. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the operation comprises determining a parameter indicative of a listening intention of the user and/or a parameter indicative of an own voice activity of the user and/or a parameter indicative of a change of a cognitive capability of the user depending on the deviation measure.

10. The device according to claim 9 , characterized in that the parameter is indicative of a cognitive decline of the user when the deviation measure determined at said plurality of times is indicative of a shorter time interval between the movement features as compared to the time interval determined at the time later than said plurality of times.

11. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the hearing device comprises a microphone configured to detect ambient sound and a beamformer configured to form an acoustic beam based on the detected sound, wherein the operation comprises determining an optimized parameter for controlling a property of the acoustic beam.

12. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the operation comprises providing a notification depending on the deviation measure.

13. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the data record is a first data record representative of the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a first plurality of times, the processor configured to control maintaining of a second data record, the second data record representative of the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a second plurality of times, the first plurality of times temporally preceding the second plurality of times, wherein the deviation measure is indicative of a deviation between the first data record and the second data record.

14. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the data record comprises a statistical measure of the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at said plurality of times.

15. A method of operating a hearing device comprising a housing configured to be worn at an ear of a user, the method comprising

providing movement data indicative of a movement of the;

identifying, based on the movement data, a plurality of movement features in a sequence, the movement features representative of a movement activity carried out by the user; and

determining a temporal characteristic of the sequence of movement features and/or determining an amplitude of the movement data associated with at least one of the movement features identified in the sequence,

characterized by

maintaining a data record representative of the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a plurality of times;

determining a deviation measure indicative of a deviation between the data record and the temporal characteristic and/or the amplitude characteristic determined at a time later than said plurality of times; and

controlling an operation of the hearing device depending on the deviation measure.