Minding Our Auditory Manners
OtoUSA’s patent #1367348 aims to outfit traffic signals to automate and improve IDing and chastising those who scorn noise ordinances on the road:
“for a mobile audio signal source which makes loud noise at arbitrary places and time, for example illegally modified car, old vehicle or speeding motorcycle, it is hard to give evidence, or a lot of manpower would be required to collect evidence.”
Oticon’s 11375322 patent introduces a new term and interesting data to Hearing Economics. Entitled Hearing aid determining turn-taking, it defines turn-taking as the dynamic behaviour of a conversation or dialog between two persons…quantified by gaps or overlaps in their speech (paraphrased).
It turns out that those with hearing difficulties and the type of background noise influence gaps and overlaps in turn taking. Overlaps decrease, gaps increase and speaking rate decreases when one of the speakers in the conversation has hearing loss.
A New Twist on an Old Idea?
Amidst all the earbud design patenting, here comes Vincent-Yuval R&D’s Therapeutic ear device (see Figure 1), which looks like a vintage ear horn (D956232).
The June 2022 Patent List
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Monophasic stimulation pulses with alternating polarity and extraordinary polarity changes | 11351373 | MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT) | 6/07/2022 |
| Charging-induced implant operation | 11351389 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 6/07/2022 |
| Venue seat assignment based upon hearing profiles | 11354604 | AT & T Intellectual Property I, L.P.) | 6/07/2022 |
| Ear-worn electronic device incorporating an antenna substrate comprising a dielectric gel or liquid | 11355834 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 6/07/2022 |
| Communication architecture between ear bud device and charging device based on fewer pins | 11355946 | Audiowise Technology Inc (Hsinchu, TW) | 6/07/2022 |
| Individually assignable transducers to modulate sound output in open ear form factor | 11356757 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 6/07/2022 |
| Dynamic earbud profile | 11356764 | Sonos Inc (Santa Barbara, CA) | 6/07/2022 |
| Hearing device comprising an own voice processor | 11356783 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 6/07/2022 |
| Method of operating a hearing device system, and hearing device system | 11356784 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 6/07/2022 |
| Method for hearing test and hearing test system | 11357424 | Merry Electronics (Shenzhen) Co Ltd (Guangdong, CN) | 6/14/2022 |
| Wireless streaming sound processing unit | 11357982 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 6/14/2022 |
| System for articulation training for hearing impaired persons | 11361677 | King Abdulaziz University (Jeddah, SA) | 6/14/2022 |
| Method and apparatus for using hearing assistance device as voice controller | 11361766 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 6/14/2022 |
| Audio control using auditory event detection | 11362631 | Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation (San Francisco, CA) | 6/14/2022 |
| Ear tip including partition wall structure with improved active noise canceling function | 11363368 | Azla Inc (Seoul, KR) | 6/14/2022 |
| Audio/visual device with central control, assistive listening, or a screen | 11363379 | Galaxy Next Generation Inc (Toccoa, GA) | 6/14/2022 |
| Dynamic adjustment of earbud performance characteristics | 11363383 | Logitech Europe SA (Lausanne, CH) | 6/14/2022 |
| Hearing device comprising a beamformer filtering unit for reducing feedback | 11363389 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 6/14/2022 |
| Perceptually guided speech enhancement using deep neural networks | 11363390 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 6/14/2022 |
| Systems and methods for biomarker analysis on a hearing device | 11363391 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 6/14/2022 |
| Method for influencing an auditory direction perception of a listener and arrangement for implementing the method | 11363400 | Technische Universitat Dresden (Dresden, DE) | 6/14/2022 |
| Communication device having a wireless interface | 11363440 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CA) | 6/14/2022 |
| Cochlear implants having impact resistant MRI-compatible magnet apparatus | 11364384 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 6/21/2022 |
| Earbud | D954684 | Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Seattle, WA) | 6/21/2022 |
| Distributed hearing system for use with traffic signals | 11367348 | OtoUSA Inc (Rowland Heights, CA) | 6/21/2022 |
| Local auditory display using ultrasonic encoding and decoding | 11368231 | Facebook Technologies LLC (Menlo Park, CA) | 6/21/2022 |
| Method of manufacturing a hearing device housing, a preform of a hearing device housing, a hearing device housing and a hearing device | 11368773 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 6/21/2022 |
| Ear tip including comfortable wearing structure | 11368774 | AZLA Inc (Seoul, KR) | 6/21/2022 |
| Hearing aid for placement in a user’s ear canal | 11368795 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 6/21/2022 |
| Binaural hearing system comprising bilateral compression | 11368796 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 6/21/2022 |
| Compact hearing aids | 11368797 | Nanoear Corporation Inc (Houston, TX) | 6/21/2022 |
| Method for the environment-dependent operation of a hearing system and hearing system | 11368798 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 6/21/2022 |
| Hearing device customization systems and methods | 11368799 | Securboration Inc (Melbourne, FL) | 6/21/2022 |
| Implantable vibratory device using limited components | 11368802 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 6/21/2022 |
| Implant tool | D955578 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 6/21/2022 |
| Implant magnet distance determination | 11369283 | MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT) | 6/28/2022 |
| Earmuff hearing-protection device comprising sound-attenuating members | 11369521 | 3M Innovative Properties Company (St Paul, MN) | 6/28/2022 |
| Compositions, systems, and methods for generating inner ear hair cells for treatment of hearing loss | 11369607 | The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Inc (Boston, MA) & Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Efficient delivery of therapeutic molecules to cells of the inner ear | 11370823 | Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (Boston, MA) & President and Fellows of Harvard College (Cambridge, MA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Online automatic audio transcription for hearing aid users | 11373654 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 6/28/2022 |
| System for real time, remote access to and adjustment of patient hearing aid with patient in normal life environment | 11375061 | Manchester, Deborah M (Studio City, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Near to the ear subwoofer | 11375303 | Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America (Peachtree City, GA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Eartip venting in a contact hearing system | 11375321 | Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Hearing aid determining turn-taking | 11375322 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 6/28/2022 |
| Hearing device with model control and associated methods | 11375323 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 6/28/2022 |
| Method for operating a hearing device, and hearing device | 11375325 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 6/28/2022 |
| Customizable ear insert | 11375326 | Logitech Canada Inc (Mississauga, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Sleep aiding in-ear audio device with noise-reduction finish | 11375327 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Extended bandwidth hearing aid with dynamically adjustable sampling rate for power optimized deployment of coordinated reset (CR) neuromodulation for the treatment of subjective tonal tinnitus | 11375328 | Aureliym GmbH (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, DE) | 6/28/2022 |
| Charging unit for hearing aid | D955986 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 6/28/2022 |
| Wireless earbud | D956018 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Wireless earbud | D956019 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Wireless earbud | D956020 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 6/28/2022 |
| Therapeutic ear device | D956232 | Vincent-Yuval R&D Limited (Hong Kong, HK) | 6/28/2022 |
Holly Hosford-Dunn, PhD, owned and operated a dispensing audiology practice in Tucson and was active in management of HearingHealthMatters.org through 2017. She holds BA degrees in Communication Sciences, Psychology and Economics; MA in Communication Disorders; PhD in Hearing Sciences. Following post-doctoral work at Max Planck Institute (Munich, DE) and Eaton-Peabody Auditory Physiology Lab (Boston), she joined the Stanford medical school faculty as director of audiology. She has authored/edited numerous text books, chapters, journals, and articles and taught Marketing and Practice Management in a variety of academic settings. She continues to consult and write on topics related to hearing health care vis-à-vis consumer demands, professional training, technological advancement, capital investment, industry consolidation, regulatory control, product and service distribution, and strategic pricing.
