Hearing aid with frequency channels

1. A method for sound processing in a hearing aid, comprising:

providing an audio input signal;

selecting a frequency shaping scheme from at least two different shaping schemes, including dynamically choosing a number of channels m through which to process the audio input signal according to a sound environment;

frequency shaping the audio input signal according to a need of a user of the hearing aid and the selected frequency shaping scheme;

serving the frequency shaped signal at the user in a form perceivable as sound.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing the audio input signal into n frequency ranges f 1 , f 2 , . . . f n ;

combining groups of the frequency ranges to form m different signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . r m ;

calculating a gain and/or compression value for each signal r;

attenuating each signal r according to the calculated gain/compression values; and

combining the m attenuated signals to form an output.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the choice of the number of channels m is made by a user of the hearing aid.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the choice of the number of channels is performed automatically by the hearing aid.

5. A hearing aid, comprising:

a microphone for capturing an audio signal;

a signal processor configured to process the audio signal, the signal processor including

a selector configured to dynamically select based on a sound environment a number of channels m through which to process the audio signal; and

an output device for presenting the audio signal to the user in a form perceivable as sound.

6. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the signal processor further comprises:

a filter-block for dividing the audio signal into n different frequency ranges f 1 , f 2 , . . . , f n ;

a combination unit for combining groups of selected ranges from the n frequency ranges to form m combination signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r m ;

a gain and/or compression calculation block configured to calculate gain and/or compression values for the combination signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r m ; and

a switching unit configured to effect changes in the number m of channels selected by the selector and to effect changes in the selected frequency ranges in the combination signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r m .

7. The audio device hearing aid as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the signal processor further comprises:

an amplifier and/or a compressor provided for each of the combination signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r m configured to attenuate and/or compress each combination signal according to the gain and/or compression values to produce attenuated and/or compressed signals s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s m ; and

an adder configured to add the attenuated and/or compressed signals s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s m to generate an output signal.

8. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the signal processor further comprises:

a controllable filter provided in the audio signal path; and

a filter coefficient calculation block configured to calculate filter coefficients based on the gain and/or compression values from the calculation block and to route the filter coefficients to the controllable filter, wherein

the controllable filter attenuates and/or compresses the audio signal according to the filter coefficients to produce an output signal.

9. The hearing aid as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising:

a selection unit configured to select a first signal processing structure or a second signal processing structure, wherein

the first signal processing structure includes

an amplifier block having an amplifier and/or a compressor for each of the combination signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r m , the amplifier and/or compressor attenuating and/or compressing each combination signal according to the gain and/or compression values from the calculation block to produce attenuated and/or compressed signals s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s m , and

an adder configured to add the attenuated and/or compressed signals s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s m to generate an output signal, and wherein

the second signal processing structure includes

a controllable filter in the audio signal path, and

a filter coefficient calculation block configured to calculate filter coefficients based on the gain and/or compression values from the calculation block and to route the filter coefficients to the controllable filter, wherein the controllable filter attenuates and/or compresses the audio signal according to the filter coefficients to produce an output signal.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing the audio input signal into n frequency ranges f 1 , f 2 , . . . f n ;

combining groups of the frequency ranges to form m different signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . r m ;

calculating a gain and/or compression value for each signal r;

controlling a filter based on the calculated attenuation/compression values; and

processing the audio input signal through the filter in order to provide an output signal.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting one of a first process and a second process, wherein

the first process includes

dividing the audio input signal into n frequency ranges f 1 , f 2 , . . . f n ,

combining groups of the frequency ranges to form m different signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . r m ,

calculating a gain and/or compression value for each signal r,

attenuating each signal r according to the calculated gain/compression values, and

combining the m attenuated signals to form an output, and wherein

the second process includes

dividing the audio input signal into n frequency ranges f 1 , f 2 , . . . f n ,

combining groups of the frequency ranges to form m different signals r 1 , r 2 , . . . r m ,

calculating a gain and/or compression value for each signal r,

controlling a filter based on the calculated attenuation/compression values, and

processing the audio input signal through the filter in to provide an output signal.