Hearing aid manufacturer patents continue to transform devices, merging hearing aids with health devices. This month’s premier example is Starkey patent #12533079, which could be a lifesaver for active wearers whenever it shows up in devices.
Entitled Ear-wearable system and method for detecting heat stress, heat stroke and related conditions, the patent aims to:
…detect dehydration symptoms, environmental conditions, and activity levels of a device wearer based on the processed signals, and determine a heat stress risk level based on [those factors].
The January 2026 patent list
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee or Applicant | Issued |
| Medical implant for treatment of sleep-disordered breathing | 12515049 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 1/06/2026 |
| Power-adaptive active noise reduction (ANR) headset | 12518731 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 1/06/2026 |
| Solder bump configurations in circuitry and methods of manufacture thereof | 12519072 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 1/06/2026 |
| Secure actuation with in-ear electronic device | 12520070 | FutureWei Technologies Inc (Addison, TX) | 1/06/2026 |
| Wearable audio devices with enhanced voice pickup | 12520078 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 1/06/2026 |
| Hearing aid comprising an adaptive notification unit | 12520087 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/06/2026 |
| Communication device, terminal hearing device and method to operate a hearing aid system | 12520088 | Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA) | 1/06/2026 |
| Medical implant actuator with mass configured to mitigate eddy currents | 12520089 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 1/06/2026 |
| Reliable wireless communications including commands from an application through a speaker to a hearing assistance device | 12520090 | Eargo Inc (Mountain View, CA) | 1/06/2026 |
| Hearing aid with self fitting capabilities | 12520091 | T&W Engineering A/S (Lynge, DK) | 1/06/2026 |
| Hearing aids and charging case set | D1108638 | Xia, Wenbing (Shaoyang, CN) | 1/06/2026 |
| Pair of hearing aids | D1108639 | Tianmei Medical (Shenzhen) Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 1/06/2026 |
| Ear-wearable electronic device including in-canal temperature sensor | 12521020 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/13/2026 |
| Wearable system for frequent and comfortable blood pressure monitoring from user’s ear | 12521027 | The Regents of the University of Colorado (Denver, CO) | 1/13/2026 |
| Methods and devices for electromagnetic measurements from ear cavity | 12521053 | TDK Corporation (Tokyo, JP) | 1/13/2026 |
| Communication system for athletes or hearing-impaired users | 12521618 | Chen, Corina et al (Fremont, CA) | 1/13/2026 |
| Earpieces | 12526569 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 1/13/2026 |
| Ear tips and related devices and methods | 12526571 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 1/13/2026 |
| Setup management for ear tip selection fitting process | 12526567 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 1/13/2026 |
| Ear-worn electronic device incorporating skin contact and physiologic sensors | 12526568 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/13/2026 |
| Hearing device comprising an own voice estimator | 12526586 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/13/2026 |
| Hearing device, and method for adjusting hearing device | 12526587 | Olive Union Inc (Tokyo, JP) | 1/13/2026 |
| Printed circuit board assembly for a hearing device having a multi-feed antenna apparatus and hearing device | 12526591 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 1/13/2026 |
| Hearing aid with speaker unit assembly | 12526592 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/13/2026 |
| Estimation of hearing loss of a user from interactions with a local environment by the user identified from captured audio and information describing the local area | 12526593 | Meta Platforms Technologies LLC (Menlo Park, CA) | 1/13/2026 |
| Method and system for fitting a hearing aid to a user | 12526594 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 1/13/2026 |
| Electromagnetic transducer with dual flux | 12523634 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 1/13/2026 |
| Electrode array manufacture | 12527952 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 1/20/2026 |
| Earbuds coupled to smart glasses | 12529915 | Google LLC (Mountain View, CA) | 1/20/2026 |
| Own-voice suppression in wearables | 12531079 | Meta Platforms Technologies LLC (Menlo Park, CA) | 1/20/2026 |
| Charging case for wireless earbuds and wireless earbud assembly | 12532102 | Nothing Technology Limited (London, GB) | 1/20/2026 |
| Open-ear hook-type wearable sound producing device | 12532104 | Shenzhen Dancing Future Technology Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 1/20/2026 |
| Adaptive directional audio for wearable audio devices | 12532112 | Axon Enterprise Inc (Scottsdale, AZ) | 1/20/2026 |
| Moveable element for a transducer, transducer, in-ear device and method for determining the occurrence of a condition in a transducer | 12532116 | Sonion Nederland BV (Hoofddorp, NL) | 1/20/2026 |
| Hearing device comprising a directional system configured to adaptively optimize sound from multiple target positions | 12532130 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/20/2026 |
| Method for operating a hearing aid and hearing aid | 12532131 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 1/20/2026 |
| Hearing aid system for estimating acoustic transfer functions | 12532133 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/20/2026 |
| Advanced artificial sound hearing training | 12532134 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 1/20/2026 |
| Hearing aid and method | 12532135 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 1/20/2026 |
| Faceplate for a custom-fitted hearing device shell | 12532136 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/20/2026 |
| Cover for an earbud charging case | D1109523 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 1/20/2026 |
| Wireless earbud | D1109722 | Nothing Technology Limited (London, GB) | 1/20/2026 |
| Hearing aid | D1109870 | .JCD Tecthnology (sic) Limited (Shenzhen, CN) | 1/20/2026 |
| Negative Poisson’s ratio materials for ear plugs and mouth guards | 12533264 | Park, Joon Bu (Las Vegas, NV) | 1/27/2026 |
| Devices and sensing method for measuring temperature from an ear | 12533078 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/27/2026 |
| Ear-wearable system and method for detecting heat stress, heat stroke and related conditions | 12533079 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/27/2026 |
| Audio-visual speech recognition control for wearable devices | 12537013 | von Liechtenstein, Maximilian Ralph Peter (Douglas, IM) | 1/27/2026 |
| Automatic volume control for a hearing device | 12537495 | Voyetra Turtle Beach Inc (White Plains, NY) | 1/27/2026 |
| Capture of context statistics in hearing instruments | 12538082 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/27/2026 |
| Configurable hearing device for use with an assistive listening system | 12538085 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 1/27/2026 |
| Earbud | D1110306 | Stealth Labs Inc (N/A) | 1/27/2026 |
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.
