There were lots of interesting and useful patent ideas in February. Here are some that caught our eye:
- Q (Cue) Ltd in Israel has a patent for silent speech sensing (#11908478) entitled Determining speech from facial skin movements using a housing supported by ear or associated with an earphone. For hearing practitioners unfamiliar with the term (including us at Hearing Economics), a quick Google search offers explanation and applications from Wikipedia:
Silent speech interfaces have potential applications in various fields, including communication aids for individuals with speech disorders, hands-free communication in noisy environments, and covert communication in military or surveillance contexts.
- Capital One’s patent #11915224offers useful services for many, as readily understood by the title: Devices and methods for providing card transaction feedback for hearing or visual impaired
- In one of the first, if not first, Sony hearing aid patent, here is #11917368: Hearing aids providing protection against sudden loud sounds
- Bragi’s patent #11911163 places it squarely back in the device game: Wireless earpiece with transcranial stimulation hearing aids and charging case set
The February 2024 patent list
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Hearing protection and situational awareness system | 11890168 | Li Creative Technologies Inc (Florham Park, NJ) | 2/06/2024 |
| Therapeutic substance delivery | 11890438 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/06/2024 |
| Ear-wearable device shell modeling | 11893324 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/06/2024 |
| Audio signal processing for automatic transcription using ear-wearable device | 11893997 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/06/2024 |
| Ear-worn electronic device incorporating microphone fault reduction system and method | 11895465 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/06/2024 |
| Apparatus and method for estimation of eardrum sound pressure based on secondary path measurement | 11895467 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/06/2024 |
| Audio system with mixed rendering audio enhancement | 11895472 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 2/06/2024 |
| Mixed reality spatial audio | 11895483 | Magic Leap Inc (Plantation, FL)
|
2/06/2024 |
| Apparatus and methods for opposing torque imparted onto cochlear implant magnets by magnetic fields | 11896825 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH)
|
2/13/2024 |
| Electrical shielding in implantable medical devices | 11896835 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/13/2024 |
| Digital microphone with over-voltage protection | 11897762 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 2/13/2024 |
| Waterproof hearing aid | 11902744 | Granados, Jose & Patel, Urudha (applicants, Glendale Heights & Chicago, IL) | 2/13/2024 |
| Ear level auditory system | 11902746 | Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) | 2/13/2024 |
| Hearing loss amplification that amplifies speech and noise subsignals differently | 11902747 | Chromatic Inc (New York, NY) | 2/13/2024 |
| Ear-worn electronic hearing device incorporating an antenna with cutouts | 11902748 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/13/2024 |
| Hearing aid system with internet protocol | 11902749 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 2/13/2024 |
| System and method for providing an arrangement of two first-order directional microphones arranged in tandem to form a second-order directional microphone system | 11902750 | Team IP Holdings LLC (Fort Worth, TX) | 2/13/2024 |
| Earbud | D1014469 | Zound Industries International AB (Stockholm, SE) | 2/13/2024 |
| Systems and method for adjusting auditory prostheses settings | 11904166 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Auxiliary device connection | 11904167 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Selective audio isolation from body generated sound system and method | 11908442 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 2/20/2024 |
| Determining speech from facial skin movements using a housing supported by ear or associated with an earphone | 11908478 | Q (Cue) Ltd (Ramat Gan, IL) | 2/20/2024 |
| Microphone with slew rate controlled buffer | 11909387 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 2/20/2024 |
| Sub-miniature microphone | 11910138 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 2/20/2024 |
| Power management of the modular ear-cup and ear-bud | 11910145 | Nura Holdings Pty Ltd (Brunswick, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Hearing assistance systems and methods for use with assistive listening device systems | 11910161 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/20/2024 |
| Method and device for frequency-selective processing of an audio signal with low latency | 11910162 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 2/20/2024 |
| Signal processing device, system and method for processing audio signals | 11910163 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 2/20/2024 |
| Hearing aid adapter | 11910164 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Removable attachment of a passive transcutaneous bone conduction device with limited skin deformation | 11910165 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Convertibility of a bone conduction device | 11910166 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/20/2024 |
| Hearing protection calibration adapter device | 11910167 | Honeywell Safety Products USA Inc (Charlotte, NC) | 2/20/2024 |
| Systems and methods for controlling electronic devices | 11910173 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 2/20/2024 |
| Synchronization of audio streams and sampling rate for wireless communication | 11910337 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/20/2024 |
| Earbud | D1015306 | Zound Industries International AB (Stockholm, SE) | 2/20/2024 |
| Earbud | D1015309 | Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation (Brookfield, WI) | 2/20/2024 |
| Wireless earpiece with transcranial stimulation | 11911163 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 2/27/2024 |
| Devices and methods for providing card transaction feedback for hearing or visual impaired | 11915224 | Capital One Services, LLC (McLean, VA) | 2/27/2024 |
| Method and system for active noise control | 11915680 | Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 2/27/2024 |
| Methods and systems for managing simultaneous data streams from multiple sources | 11916988 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 2/27/2024 |
| Audio device | 11917351 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 2/27/2024 |
| System and method for efficiency among devices | 11917367 | Staton Techiya LLC (Delray Beach, FL) | 2/27/2024 |
| Hearing aids providing protection against sudden loud sounds | 11917368 | Sony Group Corporation (Tokyo, JP) | 2/27/2024 |
| Ear level part for a hearing device | 11917369 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 2/27/2024 |
| Hearing device and a hearing system comprising a multitude of adaptive two channel beamformers | 11917370 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 2/27/2024 |
| Systems and methods for facilitating interaction with a graphical user interface view during a hearing device fitting session | 11917371 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 2/27/2024 |
| Eardrum acoustic pressure estimation using feedback canceller | 11917372 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 2/27/2024 |
| Head-wearable hearing instrument with improved co-existence of multiple communication interfaces | 11917374 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 2/27/2024 |
| Prosthesis functionality control and data presentation | 11917375 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/27/2024 |
| Bone conduction device including a balanced electromagnetic actuator having radial and axial air gaps | 11917376 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 2/27/2024 |
| Hearing aids and charging case set | D1016010 | Huizhou Jinghao Medical Technology Co Ltd (Huizhou, CN) | 2/27/2024 |
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.
