A few quick AI queries inform us that:
- 78% of preventable injury-related deaths in the United States occur in the home. In 2022, there were an estimated 178,400 preventable injury-related deaths in homes and communities.
- About one-quarter of non-fatal injuries to men occur in the home.
- Falls are the second leading cause of home accidental or injury related deaths
And that only counts accidents that end in death or happen to men. AI doesn’t give us the whole picture, but it’s enough to know that home may not be your safe place.
Starkey’s patent #12095940,Hearing devices using proxy devices for emergency communication, connects hearing aids with other home devices in a wireless network to make sure help is on the way if you fall at home. Their patent describes several communication modes in a variety of networked connections:
…a hearing device paired to a wireless communication enabled device (e.g., a smartphone) for conveying data to a non-local network as initiated by the hearing device [or] a hearing device accessory being paired in the network, in which the accessory can be anything but the kitchen sink (the patent describes 32 instances): …a charger, a cell phone transmitter, a media streamer, a hearing aid remote, a USB dongle device, a remote microphone, a smart phone, a second hearing device.
The September 2024 patent list
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Hearing prothesis | 12076563 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/03/2024 |
| Compositions and methods for treating non-age-associated hearing impairment in a human subject | 12077773 | Akouos Inc (Boston, MA) | 9/03/2024 |
| Methods of generating human inner ear sensory epithelia and sensory neurons | 12077778 | Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation (Bloomington, IN) | 9/03/2024 |
| Predicting a cumulative thermal dose in implantable battery recharge systems and methods | 12081061 | Envoy Medical Corporation (White Bear Lake, MN) | 9/03/2024 |
| Activity detection using a hearing instrument | 12081933 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/03/2024 |
| In-ear headphone device with active noise control | 12081935 | LIZN ApS (Vejle Ost, DK) | 9/03/2024 |
| Acoustic receiver and method of making same | 12081940 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 9/03/2024 |
| Beamforming devices for hearing assistance | 12081943 | Nuance Hearing Ltd (Tel Aviv, IL) | 9/03/2024 |
| Audio device apparatus for hearing impaired users | 12081944 | Clinton D Nelson & Antonius Stanciu (Wauconda, IL & Timisoara, RO) | 9/03/2024 |
| Hearing device having a power source | 12081945 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/03/2024 |
| Individualized own voice detection in a hearing prosthesis | 12081946 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/03/2024 |
| Hearing device incorporating conformal folded antenna | 12081947 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/03/2024 |
| Self-fitting hearing compensation device with real-ear measurement, self-fitting hearing compensation method thereof and computer program product | 12081948 | GMI Technology Inc (Taipei, TW) | 9/03/2024 |
| Electrostatic discharge (ESD) mitigation for in-ear audio output devices | 12082385 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 9/03/2024 |
| Instability mitigation in an active noise reduction (ANR) system having a hear-through mode | 12087266 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 9/10/2024 |
| System and method for populating electronic medical records with wireless earpieces | 12087415 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 9/10/2024 |
| Microphone natural speech capture voice dictation system and method | 12088985 | Bragi GmbH (Munich, DE) | 9/10/2024 |
| Hearing device | 12089001 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 9/10/2024 |
| Method for charging a device, device and charger | 12089004 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 9/10/2024 |
| Hearing aid comprising an open loop gain estimator | 12089005 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/10/2024 |
| Ear-worn device configured for over-the-counter and prescription use | 12089006 | Chromatic Inc (New York, NY) | 9/10/2024 |
| Hearing device comprising a connector and a locking element | 12089007 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 9/10/2024 |
| Remotely updating a hearing aid profile | 12089008 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 9/10/2024 |
| Hearing aid device with biometric sensor | 12089009 | Yukka Magic LLC (Wilmington, DE) | 9/10/2024 |
| Hearing aid | 12089010 | Kyungpook National University Hospital (Daegu, KR) | 9/10/2024 |
| Auditory function screening | 12089012 | Listen Up Hearing Technologies LLC (Paradise Valley, AZ) | 9/10/2024 |
| Synchronized pitch and timing cues in a hearing prosthesis system | 12090327 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/17/2024 |
| System and method for road alert systems to improve in-car speech intelligibility and reduce noise pollution | 12094334 | Harman International Industries Inc (Stamford, CT) | 9/17/2024 |
| Apparatus and method for applying a bias voltage to a MEMS device based on a variable reference signal | 12095390 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 9/17/2024 |
| Hearing devices using proxy devices for emergency communication | 12095940 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/17/2024 |
| Method and system for operating a bi-directional audio device with an external speaker
|
12095952 | Logitech Europe SA (Lausanne, CH) | 9/17/2024 |
| Hearing aid comprising a feedback control system | 12096184 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/17/2024 |
| Hearing protection and noise measurement system | 12096185 | Schumaier, Daniel R (Elizabethton, TN) | 9/17/2024 |
| Hearing aid with speaker unit assembly | 12096186 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/17/2024 |
| Dynamic headroom management | 12096189 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 9/17/2024 |
| Apparatus and method for protecting dental patient hearing through noise reduction | 12096190 | Healing Sound Co Ltd (Seoul, KR) | 9/17/2024 |
| Delayed audio following | 12096204 | Magic Leap Inc (Plantation, FL) | 9/17/2024 |
| Hearing aid | D1042847 | Shenzhen Magnet Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 9/17/2024 |
| Method and system for predicting or detecting conductive hearing loss risk in a person | 12097051 | HearX IP (Pty) Ltd (Ashlea Gardens, ZA) | 9/24/2024 |
| Multimodal prescription techniques | 12097370 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/24/2024 |
| Hearing aid for alarms and other sounds | 12100289 | Sony Group Corporation (Tokyo, JP) | 9/24/2024 |
| SNR profile adaptive hearing assistance attenuation | 12100411 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/24/2024 |
| Audio processing device, system, use and method in which one of a plurality of coding schemes for distributing pulses to an electrode array is selected based on characteristics of incoming sound | 12101071 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/24/2024 |
| System for charging an ear-worn electronic device | 12101588 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/24/2024 |
| Dynamic earbud profile | 12101591 | Sonos Inc (Goleta, CA) | 9/24/2024 |
| Implantable sound sensors with non-uniform diaphragms | 12101602 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/24/2024 |
| Systems, devices and methods for fitting hearing assistance devices | 12101604 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/24/2024 |
| Adaptive hearing normalization and correction system with automatic tuning | 12101605 | Ear Physics LLC (Clarkston, MI) | 9/24/2024 |
| Methods and systems for assessing insertion position of hearing instrument | 12101606 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/24/2024 |
| Wireless earbuds with charging case | D1043621 | Shenzhen Wewo Tech Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 9/24/2024 |
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.
