US Patent 7149320 Binaural adaptive hearing aid

A system and method for processing an acoustic input signal and providing at least one output acoustic signal to a user of a hearing-aid system. The hearing-aid system includes first and second channels with one of the channels having an adaptive delay. The first channel includes a directional unit for receiving the acoustic input signal and providing a directional signal; a correlative unit for receiving the directional signal and providing a noise reduced signal by utilizing correlative measures for identifying a speech signal of interest in the directional signal; and, a compensator for receiving the noise reduced signal and providing a compensated signal for compensating for a hearing loss of the user.