Ear Device Patents in May 2019

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Hearing Health & Technology Matters
July 2, 2019

Your Own Little Lab

 

Ear real estate continues to attract health technology innovations in search of a place to tuck in and work efficiently, uninterrupted. EarLens patents #10284964 & 10292601 are riding that trend with a customized ear canal hearable/wearable system that has a quiet little laboratory churning away in the background 24/7. 

Equipped with biometric sensors and drug delivery elements located by, on or in the ear canal (feature image), the EarLens wearable elements “…may be positioned on the tympanic membrane of a user and left there overnight, for multiple days, months, or years.” Location and longevity afford the device considerable advantages over prior art, according to the patents. It’s wondrous to imagine waking and sleeping with extended-wear, concealed-carry health labs in our ears, while hearing better too.

 

Your Own Not so Little Gym

 

Figure 1. A wearable gym.

Multifunctionality for fitness is front and center in patent #10286250, where ear devices are just one more accessory in a cast of seemingly thousands (Fig 1).  This wearable gym includes an energy measurement module to track calories burned, time spent and reps performed using various devices on the wearable, such as straps of varying elasticity for resistance training.

For those not on the go, the gym can continue your workout via vibrating devices which emit muscle-targeted energy pulses to stimulate body areas:

For example, if a vibrating device is located proximate to the abdomen of a user when the user is wearing the wearable gym ..[it] can stimulate tightening of the abdominal muscles [to] replicate an exercise, such as sit ups or planking.” (paraphrased from the patent)

 

Your Bright Wearable Future

 

The gym and the drug delivery patents couldn’t look more different from one another. But both envision wearable health and wellness systems which function under user control as well as in the background when you’re busy, don’t want to be bothered or forget to take your meds or do your planks. Everybody needs such systems, probably most people want them, but only if they’re not too burdensome or expensive.

Who knows whether anyone wants to wear that vest? How heavy is it? Can it work while you’re sleeping? Who knows what happens to the EarLens system when water or wax get involved? Do you know when drug delivery fails?

Eventually, probably soon, these and other wearable questions will be “solved” as more multifunction, continuous-wear, background support systems gain feasibility to aid our everyday lives. With all the voice platform chips out there, it likely that the Hearables components will be recruited to provide wearers with feedback and updates on drugs delivered, calories burned, encroaching wax, and gluts at work.

 

The May 2019 List

 

Description

Patent Number

Assignee

Issued

Method and device for intracochlea impedance measurement

10278610

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/07/2019

External ear canal pressure regulation system

10278868

Nocira LLC (Tempe, AZ)

5/07/2019

Integrated device for ear temperature measurement and non-contact temperature measurement

10281332

Applicant: Liang, Cao (Guangdong, CN)

5/07/2019

Audio control using auditory event detection

10284159

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation (San Francisco, CA)

5/07/2019

Anatomically customized ear canal hearing apparatus

10284964

EarLens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)

5/07/2019

Method for the automated ascertainment of parameter values for a hearing aid

10284965

Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG)

5/07/2019

Hearing device, particularly hearing aid

10284967

Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG)

5/07/2019

Advanced management of an implantable sound management system

10284968

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/07/2019

Hearing device incorporating dynamic microphone attenuation during streaming

10284969

Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN)

5/07/2019

Kalman filtering based speech enhancement using a codebook based approach

10284970

GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)

5/07/2019

Hearing assistance method

10284971

Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)

5/07/2019

Binaural hearing assistance operation

10284972

Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA)

5/07/2019

Wearable band for facilitating hearing

10284973

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/07/2019

Acoustically transparent barrier layer to seal audio transducers

10284974

Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN)

5/07/2019

Self-fitting in-canal component and hearing assistance device

10284975

Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN)

5/07/2019

Hearing aid

10284976

Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)

5/07/2019

Equipment for programming a hearing aid and a hearing aid

10284978

Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)

5/07/2019

Method of operating a hearing aid system and a hearing aid system

10284979

Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)

5/07/2019

Adjustable securing mechanism

10284977

Eargo Inc. (San Jose, CA)

5/07/2019

Hearing augmentation systems and methods

10284998

K/S HIMPP (Lynge, DK)

5/07/2019

Audio listening system

D847780

Apple Inc. (Cupertino, CA)

5/07/2019

Ear cleaner

D847993

Quest Products LLC (Pleasant Prairie, WI)

5/07/2019

Personal EEG monitoring device with electrode validation

10285615

Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)

5/14/2019

Method and apparatus for treating ear infections

10285937

Try This First Inc. (Walnut Creek, CA)

5/14/2019

Wearable gym

10286250

Cordero, John (Arlington, TX)

5/14/2019

Behind the ear gesture control for a head mountable device

10289205

Google LLC (Mountain View, CA)

5/14/2019

Wireless ear buds

10291975

Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA)

5/14/2019

Method of mounting a hearing device component inside a hearing device

10291992

Sonova AG (Stafa, CH)

5/14/2019

Speech processor cases

10291993

Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH)

5/14/2019

Sub tragus ear unit

D848400

Freebit AS (Oslo, NO)

5/14/2019

Hearing protection headset

D848679

Honeywell International Inc (Morris Plains, NJ)

5/14/2019

Wearable customized ear canal apparatus

10292601

EarLens Corporations (Menlo Park, CA)

5/21/2019

Automated inner ear diagnoses

10292644

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/21/2019

Ear sensor

10292657

Masimo Corporation (Irvine, CA)

5/21/2019

Ear insert for relief TMJ discomfort and headaches

10292811

Renew Group Private Limited (Singapore, SG)

5/21/2019

Controlling ear stimulation in response to a status of a subject

10293158

Elwha LLC (Bellevue, WA)

5/21/2019

Methods and systems for neural stimulation via auditory stimulation

10293177

Cognito Therapeutics Inc. (Newton, MA)

5/21/2019

Hearing device with bowtie antenna optimized for specific band

10297910

Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN)

5/21/2019

Antenna for use in a wearable device

10297911

Bragi GmbH (Munchen, DE)

5/21/2019

Communication device and methods for use by hearing impaired

10298753

Ultratec Inc. (Madison, WI)

5/21/2019

Transparent hearing aid and method for fitting same

10299047

Meyer Sound Laboratories Inc. (Berkeley, CA)

5/21/2019

Hearing device

10299049

Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)

5/21/2019

Bone conduction hearing aid system

10299051

MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT)

5/21/2019

Hearing aid

D849248

Applicant: de Neufville, David (Califon, NJ)

5/21/2019

Electrophysiological method for assessing the effectiveness of a hearing aid

10299696

Hospices Civils de Lyon (Lyons, FR) and Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Villeurbanne, FR)

5/28/2019

Apparatus and method for natural cure of middle ear infections without antibiotics

10300258

Applicant: Singhal, Tara Chand

5/28/2019

Dynamic stimulation channel selection

10300274

MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT)

5/28/2019

Magnet installation systems and methods for use with cochlear implants

10300275

Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH)

5/28/2019

Cochlear implants having MRI-compatible magnet apparatus and associated methods

10300276

Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH)

5/28/2019

Multi-electrode channel configurations

10300290

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Listening device and a method of monitoring the fitting of an ear mould of a listening device

10306374

Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)

5/28/2019

Binaural cochlear implant processing

10306376

MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT)

5/28/2019

Feedback path evaluation based on an adaptive system

10306377

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Method for operating a hearing device

10306378

Sivantos Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG)

5/28/2019

Hearing device and method of updating a hearing device

10306379

GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)

5/28/2019

Hearing assistance system and method

10306380

Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)

5/28/2019

Charging protocol for rechargable hearing systems

10306381

EarLens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)

5/28/2019

RF antenna and hearing device with RF antenna

10306382

Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)

5/28/2019

Magnetic user interface controls

10306383

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Hearing device with detachable speaker unit

10306384

Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)

5/28/2019

Passive vibration cancellation system for microphone assembly

10306385

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Head wearable acoustic system with noise canceling microphone geometry apparatuses and methods

10306389

Kopin Corporation (Westborough, MA)

5/28/2019

Secure authorization in an implantable medical device system

10306472

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Cassette with magnet

D849740

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

Bracket for a sound processor and a coil

D849954

Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)

5/28/2019

 

 

Holly Hosford-Dunn, Hearing Health MattersHolly 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.

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