Apple ‘s patent #12726751 opens a rich area for thought and innovation in ear devices. Entitled Fabric-based earbuds, it describes an enticing future:
A three-dimensional weaving system may be used to form customized earbuds for a user. …Fabric-based items such as these may have an attractive appearance and may benefit from desirable attributes associated with fabric such as sound permeability, light weight, and durability.
The September 2026 patent list
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee or Applicant | Issued |
| Alertness determination for non-alert detection using ear-worn electronic devices | 12721545 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/01/2026 |
| Robust active noise cancelling at the eardrum | 12725599 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/01/2026 |
| Method and audio processing system for wind noise suppression | 12725625 | Dolby Laboratory Licensing Corporation (San Francisco, CA) | 9/01/2026 |
| Patient-specific individualization of an electrode array for a cochlear implant | 12725685 | MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT) | 9/01/2026 |
| dBattery arrangement and method of assembling the same | 12725867 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/01/2026 |
| Fabric-based earbuds | 12726751 | Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA) | 9/01/2026 |
| Hearing sensitivity acquisition methods and devices | 12726752 | The Diablo Canyon Collective LLC (Wilmington, DE) | 9/01/2026 |
| Sensor component with improved overload and interference immunity performance | 12726762 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 9/01/2026 |
| Hearing device with multiple input multiple output DC-DC converter | 12726775 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 9/01/2026 |
| Intraoperative vibrational feedback assessment | 12726776 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/01/2026 |
| One-piece coupling for a bone anchored hearing system | 12726777 | Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/01/2026 |
| Ear-wearable oxygen monitoring system | 12727798 | Oxiwear Inc (Arlington, VA) | 9/08/2026 |
| Universal fitting structure for hearing protection device | 12728041 | Schumaier, Daniel R (Elizabethtown, TN) | 9/08/2026 |
| Assemblies, electrode leads, and methods for steering an electrode lead during insertion into a cochlea | 12728261 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/08/2026 |
| Binaural loudness cue preservation in bimodal hearing systems | 12728265 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/08/2026 |
| Harmonic allocation of cochlea implant frequencies | 12728266 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/08/2026 |
| Distributed implantable hearing systems | 12728269 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/08/2026 |
| Inductive charging case | 12732021 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/08/2026 |
| Assistive listening device and system and method for providing hearing assistance | 12732732 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/08/2026 |
| Wearable device with enhanced noise suppression | 12732739 | Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA) | 9/08/2026 |
| Micro-electro-mechanical systems microphone with increased back volume | 12732742 | Knowles Electronics LLC (Itasca, IL) | 9/08/2026 |
| Hearing compensation in an audio device | 12732763 & 12732762 | Aviom Inc (West Chester, PA) | 9/08/2026 |
| Earbud | D1146885 | B&W Group Ltd (West Sussex, GB) | 9/08/2026 |
| Earbud | D1146887 | Dell Products LP (Round Rock, TX) | 9/08/2026 |
| Bone conduction hearing aid
|
D1147372 | Zdeer Industrial (Hubei) Co Ltd (Wuhan, CN) | 9/08/2026 |
| Hypoxic or anoxic neurological injury detection with ear-wearable devices and system | 12733862 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/15/2026 |
| Antenna designs for hearing instruments | 12738635 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/15/2026 |
| System for charging an ear-worn electronic device | 12739553 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/15/2026 |
| Speech boost for ear-worn device | 12739574 | Fortell Research Inc (New York, NY) | 9/15/2026 |
| Operating a hearing device for classifying an audio signal to account for user safety | 12739575 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/15/2026 |
| Hearing device-based systems and methods for monitoring a listening state of a user | 12739576 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/15/2026 |
| Hearing instrument and associated binaural hearing system | 12739579 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 9/15/2026 |
| Clinical fitting assistance using software analysis of stimuli | 12740746 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/22/2026 |
| System for charging an ear-worn electronic device | 12745031 | Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing device with foveated bearforming (sic) and related method | 12745047 | GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK) | 9/22/2026 |
| Microphone assembly and method for providing hearing assistance with optimized directivity | 12745048 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/22/2026 |
| Method of processing an audio signal in a hearing device | 12745049 | Sonova AG (Staefa, CH) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing aid retention tether | 12745050 | Sheenah, Sling LLC (Naples, FL) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing device having a power source | 12745051 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing aid | D1149049 | Deng, Wenjuan (Guangzhou, CN) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing aid | D1149050 | Elehear Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 9/22/2026 |
| Hearing aid | D1149051 | Shenzhen Cresendo Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 9/22/2026 |
| Scoring speech audiometry | 12745928 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/29/2026 |
| Quantized waveform power transmission | 12746401 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU) | 9/29/2026 |
| Class D amplifier and related chip and electronic apparatus | 12750018 | Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co Ltd (Shenzhen, CN) | 9/29/2026 |
| Ear-worn device with neural network-based noise modification and/or spatial focusing | 12750623 | Fortell Research Inc (New York, NY) | 9/29/2026 |
| Method for detecting a direction of arrival of an acoustic target signal and binaural hearing system | 12750626 | Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG) | 9/29/2026 |
| Wearable device | D1150218 | Amazon | 9/29/2026 |
| Hearing aid | D1150476 | Ding, Xuehong (Ji’an, CN) | 9/29/2026 |
About the Author
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.
