Fun and Useful Things to Do with Your Earbuds
Bragi’s patent #11651238 for an Earpiece advisor offers new and improved ways to provide opportunities for contextual or potentially sponsored content in a manner helpful to users and viewed favorably by users. In case you weren’t aware that you needed such earbud help, Bragi notes that too much advertising can be distractive to users and cause them to abandon a technology platform. This may be especially true with audio technology platforms.
Also working on wearers’ awareness, IBM’s patent #11647954 for an Ear device for heat stroke detection is a wearable device in an ear of a subject for detecting at least the following bio-markers; core body temperature, sweat rate, and sodium ion concentration.
The Patent List for May 2023
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Predictive fall event management system and method of using same | 11638563 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 5/02/2023 |
| Headpieces and implantable cochlear stimulation systems including the same | 11638823 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics | 5/02/2023 |
| Instability mitigation in an active noise reduction (ANR) system having a hear-through mode | 11640817 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/02/2023 |
| Hearing device with user driven settings adjustment | 11641556 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 5/02/2023 |
| Systems and methods for detecting a scalar translocation of an electrode lead within a cochlea of a cochlear implant patient | 11642525 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics | 5/09/2023 |
| Systems and methods for gradually adjusting a control parameter associated with a cochlear implant system | 11642535 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics | 5/09/2023 |
| Radio enhanced augmented reality and virtual reality with truly wireless earbuds | 11644317 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 5/09/2023 |
| Wearable audio system supporting enhanced hearing support | 11644693 | IngenioSpec, LLC (San Jose, CA) | 5/09/2023 |
| Elastomer sleeve for wireless earphone and wireless earphone | 11647320 | Harman International Industries Inc (Stamford, CT) | 5/09/2023 |
| Hearing aid for placement in a user’s ear canal | 11647341 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/09/2023 |
| Configuration of feedback cancelation for hearing aids | 11647343 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 5/09/2023 |
| Hearing device with end-to-end neural network | 11647344 | British Cayman Islands Intelligo Technology Inc (Grand Cayman, KY) | 5/09/2023 |
| Miniature hearing instrument configured for positioning at least partially in bony region of ear canal | 11647345 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 5/09/2023 |
| Hearing aid devices | 11647346 | Shenzhen Shokz Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 5/09/2023 |
| Method of manufacturing a faceplate for a hearing device | 11647347 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 5/09/2023 |
| Preparation device and system for in-situ customization of an earpiece | 11647348 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 5/09/2023 |
| Hearing aid battery package | D985383 | Energizer Brands LLC (St Louis, MO) | 5/09/2023 |
| Alertness mode initiation for non-alert detection using ear-worn electronic devices | 11647925 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 5/16/2023 |
| Hearing device with optical sensor at spout | 11647950 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 5/16/2023 |
| Ear device for heat stroke detection | 11647954 | International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY) | 5/16/2023 |
| Earpiece advisor | 11651238 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 5/16/2023 |
| Gain adjustment in ANR system with multiple feedforward microphones | 11651759 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/16/2023 |
| Damping filter for a hearing device | 11653137 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Modular acoustic systems | 11653140 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/16/2023 |
| Helmholtz-resonator for microphone assembly | 11653143 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 5/16/2023 |
| Open audio device | 11653144 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/16/2023 |
| In-the-ear hearing aid device, a hearing aid, and an electro-acoustic transducer | 11653145 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Binaural hearing system comprising bilateral compression | 11653153 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Hearing evaluation and configuration of a hearing assistance-device | 11653155 | Concha Inc (San Carlos, CA) | 5/16/2023 |
| Source separation in hearing devices and related methods | 11653156 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Head-wearable hearing instrument with improved co-existence of multiple communication interfaces | 11653158 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Hearing instrument comprising a battery antenna | 11653159 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| Dynamic fitting for device worn on recipient’s body | 11653160 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 5/16/2023 |
| Socket connector for a hearing device | 11653161 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 5/16/2023 |
| In-ear speaker | 11653170 | Meta Platforms Technologies LLC (Menlo Park, CA) | 5/16/2023 |
| Earbud | D986223 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 5/16/2023 |
| Receiving box for hearing assistance device | 11653732 | Compal Electronics Inc (Taipei, TW) | 5/23/2023 |
| Cochlear implant system with improved across-electrode interference model | 11654282 | Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK) | 5/23/2023 |
| Hearing enhancement methods and systems | 11657827 | IpVenture, Inc (San Jose, CA) | 5/23/2023 |
| Voice sensing using multiple microphones | 11657793 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/23/2023 |
| Adapters for microphones and combinations thereof | 11659310 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 5/23/2023 |
| Open-ear headphone | 11659313 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/23/2023 |
| In-ear speaker hybrid audio transparency system | 11659317 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 5/23/2023 |
| Wearable audio device having improved output | 11659328 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 5/23/2023 |
| Battery module and hearing device | 11659339 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 5/23/2023 |
| Hearing device | 11659342 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 5/23/2023 |
| Hearing enhancement and protection device | 11659343 | SoundTrack Outdoors LLC (Brentwood, TN) | 5/23/2023 |
| Earbud | D986858 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 5/23/2023 |
| Wearable customized ear canal apparatus | 11660007 | Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA) | 5/30/2023 |
| Personal audio device | 11664041 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 5/30/2023 |
| Hearing aid system containing at least one hearing aid instrument worn on the user’s head, and method for operating such a hearing aid system | 11665486 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 5/30/2023 |
| Quality factor in a contact hearing system | 11665487 | Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA) | 5/30/2023 |
| Auditory device assembly | 11665488 | Eartex Limited (London, BG) | 5/30/2023 |
| Hearing aid with speaker unit assembly | 11665489 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 5/30/2023 |
| Auditory device cable arrangement | 11665490 | Helen of Troy Limited (St Michael, BB) & NantSound Inc (Park Ridge, IL) | 5/30/2023 |
| Face mask with audio device holder | 11665491 | Team IP Holding | 5/30/2023 |
| Acoustic sealing analysis system | 11665493 | Staton Techiya LLC (Delray Beach, FL) Techiya | 5/30/2023 |
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.
