Making It Real
Verizon’s patent #11386903 seeks to improve speech in artificial worlds, where understanding speech turns out to be just as hard as in daily life
As in the real world, certain artificial reality worlds may immerse users in complex and chaotic audio environments. For instance, an artificial reality world may include a significant number of people speaking at once, as well as various other types of noise, reverberation, and other sound propagation effects that, in combination, may make it difficult for users to distinguish and understand speech in the artificial reality world. This difficulty to understand may significantly diminish the benefits of the artificial reality experience that the users might otherwise enjoy.
Deathridge et al noted in 1954 that humans can perceive ultrasonic sounds up to 120kHz as audible in certain situations (e.g., bone conducted at the base of the cochlea). Patent #11399240 from the Regents of the University of Minnesota picks up the thread with a hearing system that:
…extracts temporal and spectral features from the audio signal and creates modulated ultrasound signals in a range of 50 kHz to 4 megahertz (MHz). The system further includes at least one ultrasonic transducer which receives the modulated signal and delivers the modulated signal to at least one medium and activates the auditory system using cerebrospinal fluids.
The July 2022 Patent List
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Composition, containing sarpogrelate as active ingredient, for preventing or treating sensorineural hearing loss | 11376233 | Ajou University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation (Gyeonggi-Do, KR) | 7/05/2022 |
| Medical electroporation | 11376423 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/05/2022 |
| Systems and methods for detecting electrode lead proximity to cochlear tissue | 11376431 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics | 7/05/2022 |
| Relay interface for connecting an implanted medical device to an external electronics device | 11376442 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/05/2022 |
| Auricular nerve stimulation to address patient disorders, and associated systems and methods | 11376430 | Nēsos Corp (Redwood City, CA) | 7/05/2022 |
| System and method for populating electronic medical records with wireless earpieces | 11380430 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 7/05/2022 |
| Method and system for establishing network connection to a hearing aid | 11381924 | Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) | 7/05/2022 |
| In-ear sensing systems and methods for biological signal monitoring | 11382561 | The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate (Denver, CO) | 7/12/2022 |
| Method for operating an apparatus for tinnitus characterization and corresponding apparatus | 11386283 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 7/12/2022 |
| Methods and systems for speech presentation based on simulated binaural audio signals | 11386903 | Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc (Basking Ridge, NJ) | 7/12/2022 |
| Binaural hearing device with monaural ambient mode | 11388498 | GN Audio A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 7/12/2022 |
| Universal adjustable ear tip | 11388499 | Piercings LLC (Kansas City, MO) | 7/12/2022 |
| Methods and devices for occluding an ear canal having a predetermined filter characteristic | 11388500 | Staton Techiya LLC (Delray Beach, FL) | 7/12/2022 |
| In-ear device with personalized aesthetics | 11388502 | Strand Industries LLC (Los Angeles, CA) | 7/12/2022 |
| Wearable earbud system | 11388505 | Assignee: Wolfe, James (Venice, CA) | 7/12/2022 |
| Ear-mountable listening device with orientation discovery for rotational correction of microphone array outputs | 11388513 | Iyo Inc (Redwood City, CA) | 7/12/2022 |
| Method for operating a hearing device, and hearing device | 11388514 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 7/12/2022 |
| Hearing aid system comprising a hearing aid and a charging station, and method for adjusting a signal processing parameter | 11388527 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 7/12/2022 |
| Method for operating a hearing instrument and hearing system containing a hearing instrument | 11388528 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 7/12/2022 |
| Hearing assistance system with own voice detection | 11388529 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 7/12/2022 |
| Sub-surface indicator lighting | 11388530 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/12/2022 |
| Smoothing power consumption of an active medical device | 11388531 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/12/2022 |
| Method and device for audio signal processing for binaural virtualization | 11388539 | Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co KG (Wedemark, DE) | 7/12/2022 |
| Hearing aid | D957645 | Shenzhen Shokz Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 7/12/2022 |
| Bone fixture for a medical prosthesis | 11389180 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/19/2022 |
| Noise-cancelling ear plugs | 11389332 | Make Great Sales Limited (Hong Kong, HK) | 7/19/2022 |
| Method of enhancing distorted signal, a mobile communication device and a computer program product | 11393485 | MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT) | 7/19/2022 |
| Ambient noise aware dynamic range control and variable latency for hearing personalization | 11393486 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 7/19/2022 |
| Contaminant-proof microphone assembly | 11395058 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 7/19/2022 |
| Hearing device comprising a feedback reduction system | 11395074 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 7/19/2022 |
| Hearing device and method of updating a hearing device | 11395075 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 7/19/2022 |
| Health monitoring with ear-wearable devices and accessory devices | 11395076 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 7/19/2022 |
| Hearing device with vent | 11395077 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 7/19/2022 |
| Listening optimization for cross-talk cancelled audio | 11395086 | Jawbone Innovations LLC (Marshall, TX) | 7/19/2022 |
| Earbud | D958115 | Aukey Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 7/19/2022 |
| Earbud | D958116 | Aukey Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 7/19/2022 |
| Hearing aid | D958372 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 7/19/2022 |
| Estimating a direct-to-reverberant ratio of a sound signal | 11395090 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 7/26/2022 |
| Detecting hidden hearing loss | 11395606 | Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary (Boston, MA) | 7/26/2022 |
| ECAP recording method and cochlea implant system | 11395913 | Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK) | 7/26/2022 |
| Ultrasonic hearing system and related methods | 11399240 | Regents of the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) | 7/26/2022 |
| Device with decoupling element configured between respective ground planes for antenna and coil | 11399241 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 7/26/2022 |
| Granting access rights to a sub-set of the data set in a user account | 11399242 | Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) | 7/26/2022 |
| Fitting devices, server devices and methods of remote configuration of a hearing device | 11399243 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 7/26/2022 |
| Hearing instrument | 11399244 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 7/26/2022 |
| Protective cover for a hearing aid device | 11399246 | Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK) | 7/26/2022 |
