Ear Device Patents for May 2022

Ear Device Patents for May 2022
Holly Hosford-Dunn
July 9, 2022

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 in the ear, including this month’s patent for 3D Audio gaming (11325039)
  • Mimi wants to use subjective hearing preferences to personalize fittings, noting that automated DSP algorithms may objectively improve the listening experience [but] may not be ideal as the fitting methodology fails to take user preferences into account (11330377
  • Vagus Health’s focus is on use of binaural earbuds for non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (not auditory input) in hopes of improving success rates for treatment of a variety of stress and health conditions (11324916).
  • Valencell continues its quest to load up hearing aids for multitasking (11330361) this time using an optical source to provide an accelerometer, a humidity sensor, an altimeter and/or a temperature sensor

The May 2022 Patent List

DescriptionPatent NumberAssigneeIssued
Systems and methods for self-fitting an electroacoustic stimulation system to a patient11317842Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics5/03/2022
Efficient wellness measurement in ear-wearable devices11317863Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/03/2022
Hearing protection devices, noise exposure sensors therefor, and sensor housings and associated methods for the same11318051Honeywell International Inc (Charlotte, NC)5/03/2022
Systems and methods for intra-surgical monitoring of cochlear trauma during an electrode lead insertion procedure11318298Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics5/03/2022
Speech processor headpiece11318308Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) bionics5/03/2022
Hearing device using a cochlear implant system and control method thereof11318312Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK)5/03/2022
System and method for generating a full three-dimensional (3D) digital geometry for an ear11321912Xyken LLC (McLean, VA)5/03/2022
Auditory communication devices and related methods11322167Ohio State Innovation Foundation (Columbus, OH)5/03/2022
Dual-microphone methods for reverberation mitigation11322168MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, AT)5/03/2022
Method to process an audio signal with a dynamic compressive system11323087Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH (Berlin, DE) Hearing Technologies GmbH (Berlin, DE)5/03/2022
Personal hearing device11323794Buderflys Technologies Inc (Denver, CO)5/03/2022
In-ear earphone11323795Shenzhen Cannice Technology Co Ltd (Guangdong, CN)5/03/2022
Method for controlling a sound output of a hearing device11323809Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/03/2022
Earring hearing aid using RIT11323824Applicant: Jarng, Dong Soo (Seoul, KR)5/03/2022
Adjusting treble gain of hearing device11323825Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/03/2022
System and method for feature management in a hearing aid11323826Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)5/03/2022
Self-fitting of hearing device with user support11323827Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/03/2022
Speaker assembly for hearing aid11323828Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/03/2022
Round window coupled hearing systems and methods11323829Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)5/03/2022
Hearing aid for placement at an ear of a user11323831Oticon Medical A/S (Smorum, DK)5/03/2022
Antenna structure for hearing devices11323833Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/03/2022
Hearing device having a shell including regions with different moduli of elasticity and methods of manufacturing the same11323834Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/03/2022
Communication device using two wireless protocols11323889Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/03/2022
EarbudD950526Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA)5/03/2022
Fall detection using photoplethysmography detectors in ear-wearable devices11324422Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/10/2022
Deep ear sensor for reducing noise from movement and environment11324456Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/10/2022
Devices and methods for the non-invasive transcutaneous neurostimulation of the neck and ear vagus nerves via electrical, magnetic and haptic stimulation11324916Vagus Health Ltd (Cambridge, GB)5/10/2022
Gaming with earpiece 3D audio11325039Bragi5/10/2022
Hearing aid optical monitoring apparatus11330361Valencell Inc5/10/2022
Portable device comprising a directional system11330366Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/10/2022
Method of adaptive mixing of uncorrelated or correlated noisy signals, and a hearing device11330375Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/10/2022
Hearing device with multiple delay paths11330376Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/10/2022
Systems and methods for fitting a sound processing algorithm in a 2D space using interlinked parameters11330377Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH (Berlin, DE)5/10/2022
Hearing device comprising a recurrent neural network and a method of processing an audio signal11330378Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/10/2022
Hearing aid having an adaptive classifier11330379Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)5/10/2022
Modularization of components of an ear-wearable device11330380Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/10/2022
Dynamic fitting for bone conduction device11330381Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)5/10/2022
Method for determining distance between ears of a wearer of a sound generating object and an ear-worn, sound generating object11330390GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)5/10/2022
EarbudD91236Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Seattle, WA)  5/10/2022
Hearing test system for non-expert user with built-in calibration and method11331008K/S HIMPP (Lynge, DK)5/17/2022
Method for reversing hearing loss11331486Ng, Milly (Hong Kong, HK)  5/17/2022
Hearing device seal modules, modular hearing devices including the same and associated methods11336982Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/17/2022
In-ear wireless device11336985Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA)5/17/2022
In-ear speaker hybrid audio transparency system11336986Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA)5/17/2022
Earpiece with GPS receiver11336989Bragi5/17/2022
Hierarchical environmental classification in a hearing prosthesis11337011Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)5/17/2022
Battery coating for rechargable hearing systems11337012Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)5/17/2022
Hearing aid, hearing aid set and hearing aid module11337013Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG)5/17/2022
Earpiece for a hearing device and method of producing an earpiece11337014GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)5/17/2022
Closing assembly for an in the ear part of a hearing device11337015Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/17/2022
Binaural rendering apparatus and method for playing back of multiple audio sources11337026Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Torrance, CA)5/17/2022
Hearing aid maintenance systemD952179MG Developpement (Perols, FR)5/17/2022
Electronic hearing protector with switchable electrical contacts113378613M Innovative Properties Company (St Paul, MN)5/24/2022
Ear splint to correct congenital ear deformities11337862The Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)5/24/2022
Hearing assistance devices with motion sickness prevention and mitigation features11338106Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/24/2022
Shielding device for signal transmission coil11338147Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)5/24/2022
Earbud case with hall effect sensor and related holder11340315Bose Corporation (Framingham, MA)5/24/2022
Transmission system for a body-worn electronic device11342949Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/24/2022
System and method for automatic right-left ear detection for headphones11343605Apple Inc (Cupertino, CA)5/24/2022
Avoidance of user discomfort due to pressure differences by vent valve, and associated systems and methods11343616Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/24/2022
Modulation in a contact hearing system11343617Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)5/24/2022
Intelligent, online hearing device performance management11343618Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/24/2022
Binaural hearing system comprising frequency transition11343619Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/24/2022
Method of operating a hearing aid system and a hearing aid system11343620Widex A/S (Lynge, DK)5/24/2022
Controlling a volume dynamic of a hearing device11343621Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/24/2022
Multi-mode radio for hearing assistance devices11343622Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/24/2022
Hearing device11343627Sivantos Pte Ltd (Singapore, SG)5/24/2022
Hydrophobic structure for hearing device11343628Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/24/2022
Hearing aidD952861Zhongshan Great-Ears Electronic Technology Co Ltd (Zhongshan, CN)5/24/2022
External and implantable coils for auditory prostheses11344736Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)5/31/2022
Hearing aid device with speech control functionality11348580Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/31/2022
Inductance coil with varied geometry11348720Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, AU)5/31/2022
Hearing device system, devices and method of creating a trusted bond between a hearing device and a user accessory device11349642GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)5/31/2022
In-the-ear hearing aid device, a hearing aid, and an electro-acoustic transducer11350211Oticon A/S (Smorum, DK)5/31/2022
Hearing device with suppression of sound impulses11350224GN Hearing A/S (Ballerup, DK)5/31/2022
Charging protocol for rechargeable hearing systems11350226Earlens Corporation (Menlo Park, CA)5/31/2022
Hearing assistance device11350227Starkey Laboratories Inc (Eden Prairie, MN)5/31/2022
Rechargeable hearing aidD953536Xia, Wenbing (Shaoyang, CN)5/31/2022
Hearing aidD953537Sonova AG (Staefa, CH)5/31/2022

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.

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