Hearing Economics

Minding Our Auditory Manners OtoUSA’s patent #1367348 aims to outfit traffic signals to automate and improve IDing and chastising those who scorn noise ordinances on the road: “for a mobile audio signal source which makes loud noise at arbitrary places and time, for example illegally modified car, old vehicle or speeding motorcycle, it is hard to give evidence, or a

Just doin’ their thangs Amazon and Apple came up with earbud designs this month (respectively, D951236 & D950526). It took two inventors to create Amazon’s bud while Apple’s took a whopping 20. Will Apple’s design be 10 times better, does Amazon make their inventors work 10 times as hard, or probably none of the above? Bragi continues to do interesting things

Among the many interesting patents in this month’s list, Oticon’s #11297444 for a Hearing Aid System is a standout for all its sensor-laden activity, as described here. Reading the description, it’s hard to envision how to know that the device is properly inserted in the ear, but the sensors probably tell you.  … at least one surface electrode located at

Avocado oil is advocated for heart health; also for treating osteoarthritis. Now, add hearing health to the list of things for which avocado oil is a Good Thing.  Dong Kook Phar Co Ltd’s patent #11273194 claims a Pharmaceutical composition containing avocado oil fraction as active ingredient for prevention or treatment of hearing loss. The March 2022 Patent List Description Patent

Ear Device Variety The January 2022 patent post highlighted sensors loaded onto ear devices. For those interested in more on sensors, see Sonova’s patent #11240611 in this month’s list, which provides a good summary of sensor types and applications under development. Nocira’s patent #11246793, entitled Ear Pumps, describes a treatment device [that] can utilize specific patterns of pressure applied to

More to Them Than Meets the Eardrum Hearing aids are fast developing into all-round sensing devices, multitasking on top of sound amplification by tracking eye movement and measuring body temperature (Starkey’s patents 11223915 & 11213252); using EEG and cardiovascular signals for biofeedback (GN Hearing’s 11228849 & MindMics’ 11234069); and monitoring health in general (Google’s 11219412).  No doubt, that’s just the

Hearable is a relatively new word in our vocabulary. It’s only made the title of 6 US patents since it first appeared in 7/2019. Not until this month has a patent title specified a hearable of the type we see on the market:   Three patents aim to authenticate or detect of existing devices (Harmon,  Apple and Qualcomm) Two Facebook patents

by Amyn Amlani, PhD The Diffusion of Innovation, developed by Rogers in 1962, is a social process that occurs among people in response to learning about an innovation. In this model, diffusion involves an innovation that is communicated through various channels, over time, to members of a social system. The reader was introduced to these concepts in Parts 1 and

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts

No Longer a Joke   Audiologists have long suffered a few standard jokes from patients, first and foremost the old “What” response to queries about hearing difficulty. Running a close second, sadly, is the one where patients ask for a device that will boost sound but  turn off their spouses.  Clinicians largely smile and ignore such standup routines, aiming to