A hearing device providing spoken information on the surroundings
DRIVE
January 15, 2014
A personal navigation system is disclosed, comprising a hearing device configured to be head worn and having loudspeakers for emission of sound towards the ears of a user and accommodating an inertial measurement unit positioned for determining head yaw, when the user wears the hearing device in its intended operational position on the user's head, a GPS unit for determining the geographical position of the user, a sound generator connected for outputting audio signals to the loudspeakers, pairs of filters with a Head-Related Transfer Functions connected in parallel between the sound generator and the loudspeakers for generation of a binaural acoustic sound signal emitted towards the eardrums of the user and perceived by the user as coming from sound sources positioned in directions corresponding to the respective Head-Related Transfer Functions, and a processor configured for selecting Points-Of-Interests in the vicinity of the system and determining directions towards each of the selected Points-Of-Interests with relation to the determined geographical position and head yaw of the user, selecting pairs of filters with Head-Related Transfer Functions corresponding to the determined directions, and controlling the sound generator for sequentially outputting audio signals with spoken information on the selected Points-Of-Interests in sequence through the respective selected pairs of filters so that the user hears spoken information on the Points-Of-Interests from the respective directions towards the Points-Of-Interests.
Discussion in the ATmosphere