The Future of Hearing: These guys have thought of everything
- If you’re having trouble hearing while driving, Ford Global Technologies has your back with patent #12138045 for an In-vehicle hearing test
- If you want more control over what you’re hearing, Apple’s got you with patent #12141347 for Machine learning and user driven selective hearing
- If the elevator’s giving you barotrauma, Otis is on it with patent #12145820 for an Elevator system including a passenger ear comfort application
If you’re wondering about that last entry above, here’s what Otis has to say about elevators that act like airplanes:
Rapid changes in altitude of high-rise, high-speed, elevators result in changes in in-cab pressure that can cause discomfort to riding passengers especially during descending flights due to the pressure differential across the tympanic membrane of the human ear. Such ear pressure differences cause air to flow through the mouth and Eustachian tubes which alleviates the difference but is direction dependent. Descending elevators produce a positive pressure gradient which effectively closes the tubes and makes pressure equalization more problematic. As a result, the descent speed in such elevators is typically reduced to avoid passenger ear discomfort at the cost of increasing flight times.
The November 2024 patent list
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Systems and methods for digital auditory mapping | 12135221 | Biggs, Brandon (Gilroy, CA) | 11/05/2024 |
| Managing characteristics of active noise reduction | 12136409 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/05/2024 |
| Portable wireless listening device | 12137312 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 11/05/2024 |
| Earphone and method for identifying whether an earphone is being inserted into an ear of a user | 12137315 | Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart, DE) | 11/05/2024 |
| Hearing aid determining talkers of interest | 12137323 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 11/05/2024 |
| Binaural hearing aid system and a hearing aid comprising own voice estimation | 12137324 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 11/05/2024 |
| Ear mounted audio devices controllable by remote control | 12137325 | Davidson, Curt (San Marcos, CA) | 11/05/2024 |
| Retention magnet system for medical device | 12137326 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/05/2024 |
| Hearing aid device | D1050446 | Garber, Dylan Arthur & Patel, Ishan (Scottsdale, AZ) | 11/05/2024 |
| Method for producing a hearing aid with an antenna module, and hearing aid | 12143778 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 11/12/2024 |
| In-vehicle hearing test | 12138045 | Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Dearborn, MI) | 11/12/2024 |
| System and method for tinnitus suppression | 12138046 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/12/2024 |
| Ear-worn hearing device | 12138075 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 11/12/2024 |
| Tissue-stimulating prosthesis dissolution barrier | 12138448 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/12/2024 |
| External and implantable coils for auditory prostheses | 12138467 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/12/2024 |
| System and method for estimating an acoustic attenuation of a hearing protection device | 12140472 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/12/2024 |
| Machine learning and user driven selective hearing | 12141347 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 11/12/2024 |
| Loudspeaker for hearing device | 12143769 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 11/12/2024 |
| Acoustic receivers with multiple diaphragms | 12143770 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 11/12/2024 |
| Method of operating a hearing aid and a hearing aid | 12143774 | Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) | 11/12/2024 |
| Hearing device comprising a detector and a trained neural network | 12143775 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 11/12/2024 |
| External device of prosthesis connector | 12143776 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/12/2024 |
| Advanced bone conduction implant | 12143777 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/12/2024 |
| Spatial audio array processing system and method | 12143806 | Wave Sciences LLC (Charleston, SC) | 11/12/2024 |
| Charging case with earbuds | D1051102 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/12/2024 |
| Earbud | D1051103 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/12/2024 |
| Earbud | D1051104 | Amazon Technologies Inc (Seattle, WA) | 11/12/2024 |
| Hearing aid device | D1051398 | Garber, Dylan Arthur & Patel, Ishan (Scottsdale, AZ) | 11/12/2024 |
| Smart hearing protection device | 12144707 | Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Dhahran, SA) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing and monitoring system | 12144594 | Tran, Bao (Saratoga, CA) | 11/19/2024 |
| Cochlear implant system and method for detecting electrode migration using electrically evoked compound action potentials | 12144990 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/19/2024 |
| Elevator system including a passenger ear comfort application | 12145820 | Otis Elevator Co (Farmington, CT) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing device with speech resynthesis, and related method | 12148414 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 11/19/2024 |
| Automatic active noise reduction (ANR) control to improve user interaction | 12149881 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing device comprising a noise reduction system | 12149882 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 11/19/2024 |
| Actuator testing systems and methods | 12149889 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/19/2024 |
| Neural network-driven frequency translation | 12149890 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing aid with dual coil components for noise cancellation | 12149891 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 11/19/2024 |
| Method and system for streaming a multichannel audio signal to a binaural hearing system | 12149892 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing assistance system with enhanced fall detection features | 12149893 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 11/19/2024 |
| Hearing device plug connector and hearing device | 12149894 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/19/2024 |
| Earbud | D1051880 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/19/2024 |
| Ear probe for hearing testing | 12150782 | Interacoustics A/S (Middelfart, DK) | 11/26/2024 |
| Hearing device including an optical sensor | 12150783 | Sonion Nederland BV (Hoofddorp, NL) | 11/26/2024 |
| Combination hearing aid and cochlear implant system | 12151102 | Envoy Medical Corporation (White Bear Lake, MN) | 11/26/2024 |
| Device and method of equalizing low frequency roll off for wearable sound device | 12151934 | xMEMS Labs Inc (Santa Clara, CA) | 11/26/2024 |
| Haptic and visual communication system for the hearing impaired | 12154452 | Stevens, Peter (Plovdiv, BG) | 11/26/2024 |
| Voice activity detection | 12154585 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/26/2024 |
| Contaminant-proof microphone assembly | 12155983 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 11/26/2024 |
| Open-ear headphone | 12155984 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/26/2024 |
| Open-ear headphone | 12155988 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 11/26/2024 |
| Hearing device comprising an amplifier system for minimizing variation in an acoustical signal caused by variation in gain of an amplifier | 12155998 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 11/26/2024 |
| In ear hearing device with a housing enclosing acoustically coupled chambers | 12155999 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/26/2024 |
| Microphone assembly with disturbance compensation | 12156003 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 11/26/2024 |
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.
