Hearing Economics

Tis the season   Baby it’s cold out there, especially for the ears. Hence, the recurring, much-appreciated winter theme when inventors think up new ear warmers (D871677) and ear covering systems (10500098). The latter patent addresses an emerging technology-wrought crisis of sorts — how to keep ears warm while streaming music through earbuds.  The inventor’s solution is a set of

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts

Home Alone with Your Ear Devices Zipline Health’s patent #10463241 laments time lost and illness exacerbated by the inconvenient fact that “diagnosing external and middle ear infections requires a live in-person physician appointment and consultation.” The ear’s unclaimed territory beckons as a solution (image above). buy kamagra-gold online kamagra-gold online generic Zipline envisions  fully-loaded earpieces–light source, magnification lens, air conduction

by Amyn M Amlani, PhD In Part 1 of the series on “Pricing in Hearing Healthcare: Which Race are You Running?,” the reader was provided with an overview of the supply-side’s strategy to reduce retail prices to encourage product uptake/adoption. Such a strategy, it was contended, supported the transition of hearing healthcare from a predominately provider-based market segment to a

Behold, The Pinna Pinnas are visible and cute (e.g., Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty and feature image). Historically, pinnas offered a popular form of corporal punishment and a quick sketch of evil-doers in 19th century German literature (“What big ears you have, Grandma”). And that’s about it.1 Audiologists tend to view the ear inside-out, focusing on inner ear sound processing functionality

Ears Gone Wild   With the proliferation of voice assistants talking to an even greater proliferation of IoT devices, not to mention everybody talking at once, it’s a jungle out there. Orion Labs, among others, considers the advantages of facilitated linking of user devices to other communication devices so wearers can figure out what’s up in group situations (#10402612).  In

by Amyn M Amlani, PhD In hearing healthcare, price continues to be a hot-button topic of discussion among consumers, providers, advocacy groups, legislators, professional organizations, and manufacturers of consumer electronic products and traditional hearing aids. The fundamental issue is that consumers and their supporters believe the costs associated with and the value received in treating impaired hearing are misaligned. This

by Amyn M Amlani, PhD The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 432 million adults, globally, exhibit “disabled” impaired hearing, where disabled is defined as audiometric thresholds greater than 40 dB in the better ear. An additional estimated 1.1 billion listeners worldwide—ranging in age between 12 and 35 years—are at-risk of demonstrating impaired hearing because of high-level exposure stemming from

Dick Tracy’s uber futuristic two-way wristwatch radio looks quaint today when one considers patent ideas like #D856328 .  Think of all the crimes Mr Tracy could solve as well as solutions for all that ails us if he’d been equipped with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-wristwatch-&-earbuds-included-device envisioned by that patent’s equally long title:  “Wearable artificial intelligence (AI) data processing, augmented reality, virtual reality,

Got Ear?   The pinna, concha and external meatus are wonderful things for hands-free carry, fitness, entertainment and environment awareness. The cochlea is a wonderous thing for hearing, no matter how you get to it. In distal order of anatomy:  Pinna as carrying case: consider patent #10382851 for an “Ear-wearable wireless communication flashlight,” when hearing is just not enough. (feature