The list of US patent approvals in the hearing industry grows longer with each bi-monthly period. The Big 6 are well represented, but new players continue to enter the arena. Inventor-owned patents are a rarity these days, accounting for just 10% of all new patents, down from 25% in the past. In his new book, The Innovators, Walter Isaacson charts changes in development of ideas and inventions by inventors and innovators:
“… the most advanced work is outrun by cannier innovators who pay attention to things like patents, or who think about the practical applications of the things they have devised.”
In many countries (e.g., Germany, Finland, Japan and China), corporations have to pay employee inventors to get the rights to their inventions. Not so in the US, where intellectual property law does not go out of its way to reward individual inventors for a number of reasons.
- Filing is expensive, complicated and time consuming, which gives corporations an edge over individuals. That’s especially the case since the 2013 America Invents Act substituted a “first to file” rule for the former “first to invent” rule.
- Employees are routinely required by corporations to pre-assign intellectual property rights to their “pre-inventions”
- Corporations are not required to recognize individuals’ efforts with compensation over and above their salaries.
The List
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Apparatus and Method for Modifying an Input Audio Signal | 8812308 | Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Munich, DE) | 8/19/2014 |
| Elongate Implantable Carrier Member Having an Embedded Stiffener | 8812121 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 8/19/2014 |
| Multichannel Audio Coder and Decoder | 8817992 | Nokia Corporation (Espoo, FI) | 8/19/2014 |
| Restoring a Past Configuration to a Sound Processor of a Cochlear Implant System | 8818518 | Advanced Bionics AG (Zug, CH) | 8/26/2014 |
| Information Processing and Storage in a Cochlear Stimulation System | 8818517 | Advanced Bionics AG (Zug, CH) | 8/26/2014 |
| Battery Life Optimizer | 8805523 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 8/31/2014 |
| Earwax filter, handing tool and dispenser for such filter | 8824714 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 9/02/2014 |
| Communication system comprising a telephone and a listening device, and transmission method | 8824668 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/02/2014 |
| Method and Apparatus for Behind-the-Ear Hearing Aid with Capacitive Sensor | 8824712 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 9/02/2014 |
| FM Radio System for Digital and Analog Communications for Hearing Assistance Devices | 8825824711037 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 9/02/2014 |
| Efficient Convex Optimization for Real-Time Robust Beamforming with Microphone Arrays | 8824711 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 9/02/2014 |
| Ear Tip Piece for Hearing Instruments | 8820474 | Magnatone Hearing Aid Corp. (Florida) | 9/02/2014 |
| Optical electro-mechanical hearing devices with combined power and signal architectures | 8824715 | EarLens Corp. (Redwood City, Calif.) | 9/02/2014 |
| Exterior Power Supply for Hearing Aid | 8831257 | Chum Lee (Taipei County, Taiwan) and Huey-Ling Kao Ulrey (Scottsdale, Ariz.) | 9/09/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Faceplate Arrangement | 8831259 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/09/2014 |
| Method for restricting the output level in hearing apparatuses | 8831258 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/09/2014 |
| Bone Conduction Hearing Device Having Acoustic Feedback Reduction System | 8831260 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/09/2014 |
| Short Range, Uni-Directional Wireless Link | 8831508 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 9/09/2014 |
| Method of coating a surface with a water and oil repellant polymer layer | 8828498 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 9/09/2014 |
| Speech enhancement method and system | 8831934 | Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) | 9/09/2014 |
| System, Method and Hearing Aids for in Situ Occlusion Effect Measurement | 8837757 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 9/16/2014 |
| Control of shape of an implantable electrode array | 8843216 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/23/2014 |
| Variable impedance shunt for a tissue stimulating prosthesis | 8843208 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/23/2014 |
| Stimulation channel selection for a stimulating medical device | 8843205 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/23/2014 |
| Pitch perception in an auditory prosthesis | 8842853 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/23/2014 |
| Adaptive cancellation system for implantable hearing instruments | 8840540 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 9/23/2014 |
| Apparatus and Method for Outputting Sound in Mobile Terminal | 8842860 | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS Co. Ltd. (Suwon-si, South Korea) | 9/23/2014 |
| Test Battery System and Method for Assessment of Auditory Function | 840565 | Sonicom Inc. (Omaha, Neb) | 9/23/2014 |
| Two Part Hearing Aid with Databus Connection | 8842863 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 9/23/2014 |
| Method of Signal Processing in a Hearing Aid System and a Hearing Aid System | 8842861 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 9/23/2014 |
| Self-Adjustment of a Hearing Aid and Hearing Aid | 8848954 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/23/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Device with User-Controlled Automatic Adjusting Means | 8842862 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Erlangen, Germany) | 9/23/2014 |
| Hearing Instrument Comprising a Divided Wax Filter | 8842864 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 9/23/2014 |
| Method and Apparatus for Mathematically Characterizing Ear Canal Geometry | 8840558 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 9/23/2014 |
| Microcircuit cochlear electrode array and method of manufacture | 8849426 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/30/2014 |
| Deep-Ear-Canal Hearing Device | 8848955 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/30/2014 |
| Hearing-Test Method | 8844358 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/30/2014 |
| Invisible Retention Device for Hearing Aids | 8848959 | Milton Richter (Monticello, NY) | 9/30/2014 |
| Method for the Operation of a Hearing Device and Hearing Device with Variable Frequency Shift | 8848953 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/30/2014 |
| Self-Adjustment of a Hearing Aid and Hearing Aid | 8848954 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 9/30/2014 |
| Standard Fit Hearing Assistance Device with Removable Sleeve | 8848956 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 9/30/2014 |
| Invisible Retention Device for Hearing Aids | 8848959 | Milton Richter (Monticello, NY) | 9/30/2014 |
| Sound Exposure Monitoring System and Method for Operating the Same | 8848929 | AEGISOUND (Christiansburg, Va.) | 9/30/2014 |
| Optical cochlear stimulation devices and methods | 8845705 | EarLens Corp. (Redwood City, Calif.) | 9/30/2014 |
| Hearing aid retainer accessory | 8848957 & 8848958 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 9/30/2014 |
| Hearing device with a vent extension and method for manufacturing such a hearing device | 8855347 | Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) | 10/07/2014 |
| Telecoil in a detachable direct audio input accessory | 8855348 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 10/07/2014 |
| Patterned implantable electret microphone | 8855350 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/07/2014 |
| Mechanical Fixation System for a Prosthetic Device | 8852251 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/07/2014 |
| Systems, Methods, and Article of Manufacture for Configuring a Hearing Prosthesis | 8855324 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/07/2014 |
| Dynamic Noise Reduction in Auditory Prosthesis Systems | 8855344 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 10/07/2014 |
| Systems and Methods for Loading a Pre-Curved Electrode Array onto a Straightening Member | 8855790 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 10/07/2014 |
| Method for Identifying a Receiver in a Hearing Aid | 8855323 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 10/07/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Device for Frequency Compression | 8855342 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/07/2014 |
| Hearing device with reduced acoustic feedback due to vibration-related shortening of the hearing device | 8855346 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/07/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Compliant Mobile Handset | 8855724 | Molex Inc. (Lisle, Ill.) | 10/07/2014 |
| Battery Module for Perpendicular Docking into a Canal Hearing Device | 8855345 | iHear Medical Inc. (San Leandro, Calif.) | 10/07/2014 |
| Vibration sensor for bone conduction hearing prosthesis | 8858420 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/14/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Device and Processing Unit and Receiving Unit for the Hearing Aid Device | 8861758 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/14/2014 |
| Feedback suppression device and method for periodic adaptation of a feedback suppression device | 8861759 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/14/2014 |
| Balanced Armature Devices and Methods for Hearing | 8858419 | EarLens Corp. (Redwood City, Calif.) | 10/14/2014 |
| System for hearing assistance device including receiver in the canal | 8861761 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 10/14/2014 |
| Audio Processing Compression System Using Level-Dependent Channels | 8861760 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 10/14/2014 |
| Hearing aid and an ear piece for a hearing aid | 8861762 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 10/14/2014 |
| RF transmitter for electrically short antenna | 8868010 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 10/21/2014 |
| Method for producing a signal which is audible by an individual | 8867766 | Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) | 10/21/2014 |
| Earpiece assembly with foil clip | 8867768 | iHear Medical Inc. (San Leandro, Calif.) | 10/21/2014 |
| Antenna used in conjunction with the conductors for an audio transducer | 8867765 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 10/21/2014 |
| Hearing Implant | 8864645 | Sentient Medical Ltd. (Dundee, Great Britain) | 10/21/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Mold | 8867767 | Gustavo Andres Bravo Cordero (Santiago, Chile) | 10/21/2014 |
| Method of focusing a hearing instrument beamformer | 8867763 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/21/2014 |
| Behind-the-Ear Hearing Aid Having a Plug-In Connector | 8867769 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/21/2014 |
| Calibrated Hearing Aid Tuning Appliance | 8867764 | Bowie-Wiggins LLC (Burien, Wash.) | 10/21/2014 |
| Input converter for an EEG monitoring system, signal conversion method and monitoring system | 8866661 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 10/21/2014 |
| Waterproof Acoustic Element Enclosures and Apparatus Including the Same | 8873783 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 10/28/2014 |
| Retaining Module for the Earpiece of a Hearing Aid | 8873786 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 10/28/2014 |
| Attenuating Tip for Hearing Aids | 8873785 | Zounds Hearing Inc. (Tempe, Az) | 10/28/2014 |
Editor’s note: The Patent Series is updated every two months. Click links for patents approved in July/Aug 2014, May/Jun 2014, Mar/Apr 2014, Jan/Feb 2014, Nov/Dec 2013, September/October 2013, Jul/Aug 2013, May/Jun 2013, Mar/Apr 2013, Jan/Feb 2013, Nov/Dec 2012
feature photo of Thomas Edison courtesy of The Atlantic
