HEARING AID AND A METHOD OF ENHANCING SPEECH REPRODUCTION

A hearing aid (60A) configured to be worn by a hearing-impaired user has a speech detector (10A) and a speech enhancer (40A) for enhancing speech being present in an input signal of the hearing aid (60A). The speech detector (10A) has means (11, 12) for independently detecting the presence of voiced and unvoiced speech in order to allow for the speech enhancer (40A) to increase the gain of speech signals suitably fast to incorporate the speech signals themselves. The hearing aid (60A) has means (49A, 50A) for communicating information regarding the detected speech signals wirelessly to a similar hearing aid (60B) worn contralaterally by the user for the purpose of mutually enhancing speech signals in the two hearing aids (60A, 60B) when speech is detected to be originating from the front of the user, and means (52B) for suppressing speech enhancement in the contralateral hearing aid (60B) when speech is detected to be originating from the ipse-lateral side of the user. The invention further provides a method of enhancing speech in a hearing aid.