Patents by Inventor Thomas Zurbruegg

Thomas Zurbruegg has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230209280
    Abstract: An illustrative hearing device may be at least partially inserted into an ear canal and may include an acoustic transducer having a membrane configured to generate sound waves, a housing enclosing a first chamber and a second chamber acoustically coupled by the membrane, a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the first chamber into the ear canal, an acoustic port acoustically coupling the second chamber to an ambient environment outside the ear canal, and a mechanical resonator configured to resonate with sound waves at a resonance frequency. The second chamber may be acoustically coupled to the mechanical resonator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Paul Wagner, Antonio Hoelzl
  • Patent number: 11622206
    Abstract: A hearing device includes an acoustic transducer having a membrane configured to generate sound waves, a housing enclosing a first chamber and a second chamber acoustically coupled by the membrane, a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the first chamber into the ear canal, and an acoustic port acoustically coupling the second chamber to an ambient environment outside the ear canal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Paul Wagner, Antonio Hoelzl
  • Publication number: 20220201405
    Abstract: An illustrative hearing device includes a housing configured to be partially inserted into an ear canal; an acoustic transducer having an oscillator element configured to generate sound waves, the housing accommodating the acoustic transducer inside an inner volume of the housing; and a sound outlet provided at the housing and configured to enable propagation of sound waves from the inner volume into the ear canal. The acoustic transducer and the housing are configured such that an output impedance of the hearing device measured at the sound outlet has a value of at most 3.5·107 kg/(m4·sec) within a frequency bandwidth of at least 50 Hz comprised in a frequency range between 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2022
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Antonio Hoelzl, Paul Wagner, Fabian Hohl
  • Patent number: 11317223
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a hearing device comprising a housing accommodating an acoustic transducer inside an inner volume of the housing, the acoustic transducer having an oscillator element configured to generate sound waves, the housing accommodating the acoustic transducer inside an inner volume of the housing. The hearing device further comprises a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the inner volume into an ear canal. The hearing device may also comprise a microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to the ear canal, and an active feedback control circuit configured to provide an active feedback control signal to modify the sound waves generated by the acoustic transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Antonio Hoelzl, Paul Wagner, Fabian Hohl
  • Publication number: 20210400401
    Abstract: A hearing device includes an acoustic transducer having a membrane configured to generate sound waves, a housing enclosing a first chamber and a second chamber acoustically coupled by the membrane, a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the first chamber into the ear canal, and an acoustic port acoustically coupling the second chamber to an ambient environment outside the ear canal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Paul Wagner, Antonio Hoelzl
  • Publication number: 20200204929
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a hearing device comprising a housing accommodating an acoustic transducer inside an inner volume of the housing, the acoustic transducer having an oscillator element configured to generate sound waves, the housing accommodating the acoustic transducer inside an inner volume of the housing. The hearing device further comprises a sound outlet configured to release sound waves from the inner volume into an ear canal. The hearing device may also comprise a microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to the ear canal, and an active feedback control circuit configured to provide an active feedback control signal to modify the sound waves generated by the acoustic transducer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Antonio Hoelzl, Paul Wagner, Fabian Hohl
  • Publication number: 20200178003
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to hearing device comprising a housing accommodating an acoustic transducer separating an inner volume inside the housing into a first chamber and a second chamber acoustically coupled by an oscillator element of the acoustic transducer. A first acoustic port acoustically couples the first chamber to an ambient environment outside the inner volume.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Publication date: June 4, 2020
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Antonio Hoelzl, Paul Wagner, Fabian Hohl
  • Patent number: 9584932
    Abstract: A method for operating a hearing device including an ambient microphone, a signal processing unit, a receiver and an ear canal microphone. The method includes steps of filtering the audio signal processed by the signal processing unit with a filter having a transfer function including a transfer function from an output of the receiver to an input of the ear canal microphone when the hearing device is turned on and being worn in an ear canal of the user, computing a difference between the audio signal picked up by the ear canal microphone and the filtered signal, and detecting a presence of own-voice of the user based on the difference. Furthermore, a hearing device including an own-voice detection unit is provided, which is adapted to perform the proposed method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: SONOVA AG
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Andre Niederberger
  • Patent number: 9319814
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for fitting a hearing aid device (3) that includes a part which is arranged in the ear canal (2) of a user (31).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Alfred Stirnemann, Stefan Launer
  • Publication number: 20160105751
    Abstract: A method for operating a hearing device including an ambient microphone, a signal processing unit, a receiver and an ear canal microphone. The method includes steps of filtering the audio signal processed by the signal processing unit with a filter having a transfer function including a transfer function from an output of the receiver to an input of the ear canal microphone when the hearing device is turned on and being worn in an ear canal of the user, computing a difference between the audio signal picked up by the ear canal microphone and the filtered signal, and detecting a presence of own-voice of the user based on the difference. Furthermore, a hearing device including an own-voice detection unit is provided, which is adapted to perform the proposed method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2013
    Publication date: April 14, 2016
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Andre Niederberger
  • Publication number: 20130243209
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for fitting a hearing aid device (3) that includes a part which is arranged in the ear canal (2) of a user (31).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: Phonak AG
    Inventors: Thomas Zurbruegg, Alfred Stirnemann, Stefan Launer