Patent activity in the hearing aid industry continues to grow and grow more interesting. We’re not Google or Apple, which ranked #11 and #13 for number of US patents in 2013 and are projected to rank higher in 2014. But, our industry is hanging in there even as the competition heats up for Smart wearables and augmented reality (AR).
Besides the the usual two-month list of recent patents issued, today’s post tallies total patent applications and patents issued. Size-wise, Cochlear and Siemens have the most in both categories, but Starkey has a lot of applications in the mill. Although there is not time or space to delve into the many applications currently under review, suffice it to say that some of them are potential game changers for our industry. A future post will peek at a few.
Hearing Device Patent Ownership
It’s interesting to compare patent portfolios among the big players in our industry and track other players entering the arena.
The Bimonthly List of USPTO Patents
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Hearing Aid Device for Frequency Compression | 8855342 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/24/2014 |
| Hearing aid with a casing element | 8873784 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 10/28/2014 |
| Hearing system and method for operating the same | 8873780 | Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) | 10/28/2014 |
| Hearing Aid with a Casing Element | 8873784 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 10/28/2014 |
| Hearing apparatus with own speaker activity detection and method for operating a hearing apparatus | 8873779 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/28/2014 |
| Method for operating a hearing device having reduced comb filter perception and hearing device having reduced comb filter perception | 8873781 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 10/28/2014 |
| Separate inner and outer hair cell loss compensation | 8873782 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 10/28/2014 |
| Audio processing pipeline for auditory prosthesis having a common, and two or more stimulator-specific, frequency-analysis stages | 8873770 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/28/2014 |
| Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for configuring hearing prostheses | 8874226 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/28/2014 |
| Conformal electrode pad for a stimulating medical device | 8874238 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/28/2014 |
| Cochlear implant electrode lead having a cross-section with variable height | 8874240 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/28/2014 |
| Configurable FM receiver for hearing device | 8879764 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 11/04/2014 |
| Configurable FM receiver for hearing device | 8879764 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 11/04/2014 |
| At least partially implantable sound pick-up device with ultrasound emitter | 8879755 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/04/2014 |
| Method of Deriving Individualized Gain Compensation Curves for Hearing Aid Fitting | 8879745 | Dean Robert Gary Anderson as Trustee of the D/L Anderson Family Trust | 11/04/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Microactuator | 8876689 | OtoKinetics Inc. (Salt Lake City) | 11/04/2014 |
| Method and Apparatus for Detecting User Activities from within a Hearing Assistance Device Using a Vibration Sensor | 8879763 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 11/04/2014 |
| Antenna system for a wearable computing device | 8878735 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 11/04/2014 |
| Assessing Neural Survival | 8880180 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/04/2014 |
| Implantable electrical connector having unitary contacts | 8880181 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/04/2014 |
| Fitting a cochlear implant | 8880181 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/04/2014 |
| Hearing aid with integrated flexible display and touch sensor | 8885856 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 11/11/2014 |
| Method and apparatus for alerting a person carrying an EEG assembly | 8884767 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 11/11/2014 |
| System for Establishing a Conversation Group among a Number of Hearing Aids | 8885857 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 11/11/2014 |
| Method of Processing a Signal in a Hearing Aid, a Method of Fitting a Hearing Aid and a Hearing Aid | 8885838 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 11/11/2014 |
| Hearing Aid with Mechanical Sound Generating Means for Function Selection | 8885864 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 11/11/2014 |
| Semi-Permanent Hearing Aid | 8885859 | Sonion Nederland BV (Amsterdam) | 11/11/2014 |
| Methods and Systems for Content Processing | 8886206 | Digimarc Corp. (Beaverton, Ore.) | 11/11/2014 |
| Implantable medical device | 8885837 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/11/2014 |
| Transcutaneous bone conduction device vibrator having movable magnetic mass | 8891795 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/18/2014 |
| Modular Hearing instrument | 8885858 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 11/18/2014 |
| Pharmaceutical agent delivery in a stimulating medical device | 8892201 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 11/18/2014 |
| Remote control for a hearing assistance device | 8891793 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 11/18/2014 |
| Hearing Aid with Signal Enhancement | 8891777 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 11/18/2014 |
| Smoothing method for suppressing fluctuating artifacts during noise reduction | 8892431 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Erlangen, Germany) | 11/18/2014 |
| Cochlear implant systems including magnetic flux redirection means | 8897883 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 11/25/2014 |
| Optical Scanning Device | 8900126 | United Sciences LLC (Atlanta) | 12/02/2014 |
| Antenna Diversity for Magnetic Induction Radio | 8902772 | NXP B.V. (Eindhoven, Netherlands) | 12/02/2014 |
| Inflatable Ear Mold with Protected Inflation Air Inlet | 8903113 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/02/2014 |
| In-Ear Device with Selectable Frequency Response | 8903114 | Sonomax Technologies Inc. (Montreal, QC, Canada) | 12/02/2014 |
| Battery Door and Hearing Device | 8903112 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 12/02/2014 |
| Method and Device for Frequency Compression in a Hearing Aid | 8908892 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/09/2014 |
| Circuit Arrangement for Adjusting the Output Power And/or the Frequency Response of a Power Amplifier for a Hearing Aid Device | 8908890 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Erlangen, Germany) | 12/09/2014 |
| Hearing Aid Apparatus and Method | 8908891 | Audiodontics LLC (Bethesda, Md.) | 12/09/2014 |
| Method and device for frequency compression in a hearing aid | 8908892 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/09/2014 |
| Method and Acoustic Signal Processing System for Interference and Noise Suppression in Binaural Microphone Configurations | 8909523 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/09/2014 |
| Hearing Apparatus with an Equalization Filter in the Filter Bank System | 8908893 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/09/2014 |
| Ear Canal Device Retention Means | 8908895 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 12/09/2014 |
| Cartridge for an electrode array insertion device | 8909349 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 12/09/2014 |
| Hearing Aid with Improved Compression | 8913768 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 12/16/2014 |
| Methods and systems for representing different spectral components of an audio signal presented to a cochlear implant patient | 8914126 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/16/2014 |
| Sound processor apparatus with sound processing integrated circuit that includes an integrated power supply module | 8914127 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/16/2014 |
| Methods and systems for minimizing an effect of channel interaction in a cochlear implant system | 8914125 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/16/2014 |
| Tonality-based optimization of sound sensation for a cochlear implant patient | 8914124 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/16/2014 |
| Transcutaneous bone conduction system | 8913770 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 12/16/2014 |
| Hearing system and method for operating a hearing system | 8913769 | Phonak AG (Stafa, Switzerland) | 12/16/2014 |
| Pre-curved electrode array loading tools | 8915926 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/23/2014 |
| Methods and systems for automatically determining an implant side associated with a cochlear implant | 8918182 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 12/23/2014 |
| Methods and apparatus for allocating feedback cancellation resources for hearing assistance devices | 8917891 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 12/23/2014 |
| Hearing Aid | 8917893 | ExSilent Research B.V. (Amsterdam) | 12/23/2014 |
| Two Part Hearing Aid with Databus and Method of Communicating between the Parts | 8923542 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 12/30/2014 |
| Hearing Aid-Compatible Apparatus for Wireless Communication Devices | 8923528 | Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash) | 12/30/2014 |
| Integrated Automatic Telephone Switch | 8923539 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) | 12/30/2014 |
| Method and Device for Frequency Compression | 8923538 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/30/2014 |
Editor’s note: The Patent Series is updated every two months. Click links for patents approved in Sep/Oct 2014, July/Aug 2014, May/Jun 2014, Mar/Apr 2014, Jan/Feb 2014, Nov/Dec 2013, September/October 2013, Jul/Aug 2013, May/Jun 2013, Mar/Apr 2013, Jan/Feb 2013, Nov/Dec 2012
feature image courtesy of itu blog
