US Hearing Device Patent Approvals for May and June 2014

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Holly Hosford-Dunn
July 1, 2014

Being an Audiologist wandering through the Wonderful World of Patents is like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.  I’m sure it’s better than mushrooms and the supply seems endless.

New Patents, Birth Announcements, and Rebirths in WondEAR World

 

May/June brought a shower of patents having to do with implants, adjustable magnet systems, spacers, bone conduction vibration, light detectors and duty cycles.   Check out EarLens patents 8715152, 3 & 4 below.

EarLens was hatched by Rodney Perkins, MD, the “serial entrepreneur” whose newest child, Soundhawk, was announced last year in David Kirkwood’s column,  As Kirkwood reported today, Soundhawk broke out of its shell this week and made all the headlines as a “hearable” wearable.  For Audiologists and dispensers still occupying the world of old, “wearable” is the New Black and “hearable” is the new It Word.

If you find that last sentence conceptually challenging, click on Brent Edwards’ illuminating 15-minute  Ted-like talk on YouTube for a pleasant introduction to what’s to be found when you go down the rabbit hole.

 

Could You Repeat That, Louder, Please?

 

Even those who understand wearables may grapple with this Mad Hatter sentence, found in  Panasonic’s patent #8744100 (issued 6/03/14):

 “a hearing-aid processing control unit configured to generate control information for controlling signal processing, based on a non-audible sound which is made by the user and is hard to hear from outside”

Think about it. What sound is  below threshold for the user/source but slightly above threshold for others/receivers?  Is this how it’s going to be when wirelessly powered micro-implants rule the ears and air waves? As the Mad Hatter said, “We’re all mad here,” but what fun.  Read on for more patent fun.

 

Description Patent Number Assignee Issued
Methods and Systems for Registering and Identifying a Cochlear Implant Emulation Device and Managing Data Associated Therewith 8700169 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 4/15/2014
Systems and Methods for Providing a Pre-Stimulation Visual Cue Representative of a Cochlear Implant Stimulation Level 8700168 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 4/15/2014
Methods and Systems for Acoustically Controlling a Cochlear Implant System 8705783 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 4/22/2014
Remote Audio Processor Module for Auditory Prosthesis Systems 8706247 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 4/22/2014
Fully Implantable Cochlear Implant Systems Including Optional External Components and Methods for Using the Same 8706246 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 4/22/2014
Noise spectrum Tracking in Noisy Acoustical Signals 8712074 Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) 4/29/2014
Hearing Instrument Configured for Wireless Communication in Bursts and a Method of Supplying a Power to Such 8718304 GN Resound A/S A/S (Taastrup, Denmark) 5/06/2014
Electroactive Polymer Systems 8718313 Personics Holdings, LLC. 5/06/2014
Securing an Implanted Medical Device in a Patient 8718795 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/06/2014
Hearing Aid System for Establishing a Conversation Group 8718303 Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) 5/06/2014
Hearing Aid Apparatus 8718307 Daniel R. Schumaier (Elizabethton, TN) 5/06/2014
Hearing Device with a Detachable Coupled Earpiece 8718306 Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) 5/06/2014
Optical Electro-Mechanical Hearing Devices with Separate Power and Signal Components 8715152 EarLens Corporation (Redwood City, CA) 5/06/2014
Optically Coupled Bone Conduction Systems and Methods 8715153 EarLens Corporation (Redwood City, CA) 5/06/2014
Optically Coupled Cochlear Actuator Systems and Methods 8715154 EarLens Corporation (Redwood City, CA) 5/06/2014
System for Customizing Hearing Assistance Devices 8718288 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/06/2014
Mixing of In-the-Ear Microphone and Outside-the-Ear Microphone Signals to Enhance Spatial Perception 8718302 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/06/2014
Securing an Implanted Medical Device in a Patient 8718795 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/06/2014
Radio Receiver, Radio Transmitter, and Hearing Aid 8724835 NXP B.V. (Eindhoven, Netherlands) 5/13/2014
Simultaneous-Script Execution 8725267 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/13/2014
Hearing Aid 8731221 Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) 5/20/2014
Bone Conduction Device Fitting 8731205 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/20/2014
Insulated Conductive Element Having a Substantially Continuous Barrier Layer Formed through Multiple Coatings 8726492 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/20/2014
System Comprising a Portable Electronic Device with a Time Function 8737650 Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) 5/20/2014
Hearing Device with Two or More Microphones and Two or More Resonators Having Different Lengths and the Same Resonant Frequency 8724836 Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) 5/20/2014
Noise Reduction System for Hearing Assistance Devices 8737653 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/27/2014
System for Measuring Maximum Stable Gain in Hearing Assistance Devices 8737655 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/27/2014
Methods and Apparatus for Improved Noise Reduction for Hearing Assistance Devices 8737654 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/27/2014
Three Dimensional Substrate for Hearing Assistance Devices 8737658 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 5/27/2014
Method for Operating a Hearing Device with selectively Adjusted Signal Weighing Values 8737652 Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) 5/27/2014
Hearing Device with Feedback-Reduction Filters Operated in Parallel, and Method 8737656 Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) 5/27/2014
Bone Conduction Device with a User Interface 8737649 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/27/2014
Coil Retention Systems for Implantable Medical Devices 8733494 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/27/2014
Bone Conduction Device with a User Interface 8737649 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 5/27/2014
Method for Adjusting a Hearing Device with Frequency Transposition and Corresponding Arrangement 8737631 Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) 5/27/2014
Hearing Assistance System and Method 8737651 Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) 5/27/2014
Suspension for a Hearing Device Receiver, and a Method of Producing a Hearing Device, and a Hearing Device 8737657 GN Resound A/S A/S (Taastrup, Denmark) 5/27/2014
Fitting Device and a Method of Fitting a Hearing Device to Compensate for the Hearing Loss of a User; and a Hearing Device and a Method of Reducing Feedback in a Hearing Device 8744103 GN Resound A/S A/S (Taastrup, Denmark) 6/03/2014
Method for Testing a Wireless Communication System in Connection with a Fitting Device and a Hearing Device as Well as a Communication System 8744092 Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) 6/03/2014
Hearing Device with Reduced Acoustic Wind Sensitivity 8744107 Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) 6/03/2014
Configuring an Electrically Stimulating Device to Stimulate Using a Subset of Electrode Contacts 8744590 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 6/03/2014
Hearing Aid, and a Method for Control of Adaptation Rate in Anti-Feedback Systems for Hearing Aids 8744102 Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) 6/03/2014
Hearing Aid with Adaptive Bulk Biasing Power Management 8744105 Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) 6/03/2014
Hearing Aid in Which Signal Processing Is Controlled Based on a Correlation between Multiple Input Signals 8744100 Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) 6/03/2014
Entrainment Avoidance with Pole Stabilization 8744104 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 6/03/2014
System for Controlling the Primary Lobe of a Hearing Instrument’s Directional sensitivity Pattern 8744101 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 6/03/2014
Hearing Aid with Adaptive Bulk Biasing Power Management 8744105 Widex A/S (Lynge, DK) 6/03/2014
Hearing Aid Compatibility in a Wireless Communications Device 8750929 BlackBerry Ltd. (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) 6/10/2014
Listening Device Adapted for Establishing an Electric Connection to an External Device Using Electrically Conductive Parts of One or More Components of the Listening Device 8750548 Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) 6/10/2014
Cochlear Electrode Array 8751019 Cochlear Ltd (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 6/10/2014
Hearing Assistance Devices with Echo Cancellation 8750545 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 6/10/2014
Sound Processors and Implantable Cochlear Stimulation Systems Including the Same 8750546 Advanced Bionics (Valencia, CA) 6/10/2014
Stability and Speech Audibility Improvements in Hearing Aids 8755545 GN Resound A/S A/S (Taastrup, Denmark) 6/17/2014
Hearing Apparatus Having a Special Sound Channel 8755551 Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) 6/17/2014
Reference Electrodes for Inner Ear Stimulation Devices 8755910 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 6/17/2014
Automatic Performance Optimization for Perceptual Devices 8755533 Audigence Inc; Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 6/17/2014
Universal Flexible In-the-Ear Hearing Aid 8755549 Jiangsu Betterlife Medical Co. Ltd (Changshu, China) 6/17/2014
Ear Mould and Hearing Aid with Open In-Ear Receiving Device 8755548 Jiangsu Betterlife Medical Co. Ltd (Changshu, China) 6/17/2014
Sound Processing Apparatus, Sound Processing Method and Hearing Aid 8755546 Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) 6/17/2014
Speaker, Hearing Aid, Earphone, and Portable Terminal Device 8755558 Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) 6/17/2014
Portable Electronic Device and Computer-Readable Medium for Remote Hearing Aid Profile Storage 8761421 Audiotoniq Inc. (Austin, Texas) 6/24/2014
Frequency translation by high-frequency spectral envelope warping in hearing assistance devices 8761422 Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 6/24/2014
Listening system comprising an alerting device and a listening device 8760284 Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) 6/24/2014
Cochlear implant with modified intracochlear electrode member 8761904 Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) 6/24/2014

Editor’s note:  The Patent Series is updated every two months.  Click links for patents approved in Mar/Apr 2014,  Jan/Feb 2014Nov/Dec 2013September/October 2013Jul/Aug 2013May/Jun 2013Mar/Apr 2013Jan/Feb 2013Nov/Dec 2012  feature image courtesy of bp blogspot

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