Patents Examined by Tuan D. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11678127
    Abstract: A method operates a hearing system having a hearing device and modifies an input signal for the purpose of sound output to a user and, applies multiple algorithms with a respective potency, as a result of which a respective algorithm is applied with a present potency in a present situation. The hearing system recurrently receives a report from the user indicating that the user is dissatisfied with the sound output in the present situation. The hearing system has a database, containing multiple weights for each algorithm, to rate a change of the potency. If a report is received, each of the algorithms is rated using the weights to ascertain an individual-case relevance for each of the algorithms, to assess the effect of a change of the potency. Multiple individual-case relevances are combined to form a relevance value for each algorithm, the relevance values are compared with one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Frank Beck, Stefan Aschoff, Stefan Petrausch
  • Patent number: 11665486
    Abstract: A hearing aid system assists a user's ability to hear. The system has a hearing aid instrument worn on the user's head. A sound signal from the user's surroundings is recorded and converted into input audio signals by two input transducers. The input audio signals are processed in a signal processing step for generating an output audio signal, which is output by an output transducer. The input audio signals or audio signals derived therefrom by pre-processing are direction-dependently damped by an adaptive beamformer according to the stipulation of a variable directivity with a directional strength to generate a directed audio signal. The directivity is varied with a specified adaptation speed such that the energy content of the directed audio signal is minimized. The adaptation speed and/or the directional strength are variably set on a basis of an analysis of the input audio signals or of the pre-processed audio signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Gabriel Gomez
  • Patent number: 11665478
    Abstract: An acoustic diaphragm 1 according to the present invention includes a center dome member, and a sub dome member. The center dome member includes a center dome 2 and an annular first plane part 2a that is disposed along the outer periphery of the center dome and formed integrally with the center dome. The sub dome member includes a sub dome 3 and an annular second plane part 3a that is disposed along the inner periphery of the sub dome and formed integrally with the sub dome. The first plane part includes a rising part 2b of the center dome, a first front surface, and a first back surface. The second plane part includes an inner peripheral edge 3b, a second front surface, and a second back surface. The center dome is formed of a material different from that of the sub dome. The sub dome surrounds the periphery of the center dome. The inner peripheral edge coincides with the rising part. The first front surface is joined to the second back surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: AUDIO-TECHNICA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiromichi Ozawa
  • Patent number: 11659340
    Abstract: The present invention provides an impulsive noise suppression method based on dual-microphone architecture, applied to a hearing aid comprising a first feedforward microphone, a second feedforward microphone, and a speaker, and a sensitivity level of the first feedforward microphone is less than a sensitivity level of the second feedforward microphone, wherein the method comprising: obtaining an input signal comprising a first signal provided through the first microphone and a second signal provided through the second feedforward microphone; determining whether the input signal comprises an impulsive signal according to a first time-domain signal energy value of the first signal and a second time-domain signal energy value of the second signal; and performing an impulsive signal suppression operation on the input signal if the input signal comprises the impulsive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Shenzhen Muxin Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Zhuo Chen, Bo Tan
  • Patent number: 11659318
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a loudspeaker device. The loudspeaker device includes a support connector configured to be in contact with a head and at least one speaker component. The at least one speaker component may include an earphone core and a core housing for accommodating the earphone core. The core housing may be fixedly connected to the support connector. The core housing may be provided with at least one key module. The support connector may accommodate a control circuit or a battery. The control circuit or the battery may drive the earphone core to vibrate to produce sound. The loudspeaker device of the present disclosure may optimize sound transmission efficiency and increase volume, th ereby improving the user experience.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: SHENZHEN SHOKZ CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Lei Zhang, Yongjian Li, Wenbing Zhou, Jinbo Zheng, Zhuyang Jiang
  • Patent number: 11617043
    Abstract: Disclosed is a multi-mode beam former, comprising a device for receiving a multi-mode input signal, and a device for constructing an optimization model and solving the optimization model to obtain a beam-forming weight coefficient for performing linear or non-linear combination on the multi-mode input signal. The optimization model comprises an optimization formula for obtaining the beam-forming weight coefficient. The optimization formula comprises: establishing an association between at least one electroencephalogram signal and a beam forming output, and optimizing the association to construct the beam-forming weight coefficient associated with the at least one electroencephalogram signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Wenqiang Pu, Jinjun Xiao, Tao Zhang
  • Patent number: 11576003
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for objectively assessing acoustical performance of an in-ear device having a passageway extending there through use a dual microphone probe that removably engages the passageway. The acoustical performance of the in-ear device is performed with the in-ear device inserted into the ear canal of the user and a reference sound source. A clip holding the probe in an acoustic near field of the sound source permits real time calibration thereof. The method and apparatus allow on-site and in-situ measurement of a predicted personal attenuation rating of the device, a subject-fit re-insertion test, an acoustic seal test, a rating test, a stability and reliability test, as well as a protection test of the device with an assessment of a filtered predicted exposure level at the ear for a specific noise exposure level. The apparatus may be simply housed along with the sound source for in-field evaluation tests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Jeremie Voix, Frederic Laville
  • Patent number: 11570532
    Abstract: An electronic device includes an enclosure defining a chamber and a first output port communicating the chamber with outside of the enclosure; a loudspeaker module disposed within the chamber. The loudspeaker module includes a first front cavity in communication with the first output port, a second front cavity acoustically connected with an inside space of the enclosure, a rear cavity, a transducer disposed between the first front cavity and the rear cavity, and a first passive radiator disposed between the second front cavity and the rear cavity. The passive radiator is capable of radiating low-frequency sound to the inside space of the enclosure via the second front cavity and an inside port or a second passive radiator. Then, the low-frequency sound re-radiates through surfaces of the enclosure and possible leaks in the enclosure to the outside environment. The low-frequency output is boosted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: AAC Microtech (Changzhou) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Timo Lamberg, Juha Backman
  • Patent number: 11570554
    Abstract: A hearing aid system for assisting a user's ability to hear includes at least one hearing aid instrument worn on the user's head. A sound signal from the surroundings is recorded and converted into input audio signals by input transducers of the hearing aid system. The hearing aid system includes two adaptive beamformers with variable notch direction, applied indirectly or directly to the input audio signals to generate direction-dependently damped audio signals. The notch directions are set to mutually different values to minimize the energy content of the direction-dependently damped audio signal of each beamformer. The notch directions of the two beamformers are evaluated in comparative fashion. A user's head rotation is captured qualitatively and/or quantitatively if a correlated change in the notch directions is determined within the scope of the comparative evaluation. A method for operating the hearing aid system is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Gabriel Gomez
  • Patent number: 11570557
    Abstract: In a method for direction-dependent noise rejection for a hearing system, first and second input transducers are used to generate an interference signal and a target signal from a sound from the surroundings. The interference signal and/or the target signal are referenced to a useful signal source arranged in a target direction. The target signal is generated with a target directivity pattern. For each of a first plurality of frequency bands, an acoustic characteristic of the target signal is compared with a corresponding acoustic characteristic of the interference signal, and the comparison is used to ascertain a provisional weighting factor. The provisional weighting factor is used to form for the frequency band a weighting factor for the respective frequency bands. An input signal to be processed is weighted on a frequency-band-by-frequency-band basis using the respective weighting factor, and the weighted input signal is used to generate an output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Gabriel Gomez
  • Patent number: 11570549
    Abstract: This disclosure includes several different features suitable for use in circumaural and supra-aural headphones designs. Designs that reduce the size of headphones and allow for small form-factor storage configurations are discussed. User convenience features that include synchronizing earpiece stem positions and automatically detecting the orientation of the headphones on a user's head are also discussed. Various power-saving features, design features, sensor configurations and user comfort features are also discussed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Brett W. Degner, Michael E. Leclerc, David H. Narajowski, Kristopher P. Laurent, William K. Smith, Christopher J. Stringer, Daniele de Luliis, Markus Diebel, Sung-Ho Tan
  • Patent number: 11558699
    Abstract: A hearing device component (6) comprises a sensor-unit (8) for receiving an audio-signal (AS), a separation device (9) for separating part-signals (PSi) from the audio-signal (AS), a classification device (10) for classifying the part-signals (PSi) separated from the audio-signals (AS), and a modulation device (11) for modulating the part-signals (PSi), wherein the classification device (10) is communicatively coupled to the modulation device (11) and wherein the modulation device (11) is designed to enable a concurrent modulation of different part-signals (PSi) with different modulation-functions depending on their classification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventor: Jean-Louis Durrieu
  • Patent number: 11558690
    Abstract: In one embodiment of an audio system, a transducer can be coupled to a passive acoustic directional amplifier to provide various benefits and improvements, including improvements to: speech intelligibility, signal-to-noise ratio, effective equivalent input noise, at-a-distance acoustic signal reception, and directional preference. In another embodiment, the shape of an interior surface of a passive acoustic directional amplifier is provided. In another embodiment, the material properties of an interior surface of a passive acoustic directional amplifier are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Inventors: Dean Robert Gary Anderson, Dean Gregory Anderson, Daniel Joseph Anderson
  • Patent number: 11553293
    Abstract: A tinnitus shielding device primarily includes an audio pick-up circuit, a processor, and a speaker in a case. The audio pick-up circuit receives a sound from an outer environment to generate a sound signal, and the processor processes the sound signal to compare a sound frequency in each of a plurality of audio components according to a configuration data and generates an output audio component by a frequency shifting process to at least one of the sound frequency which conforming to the configuration data. Then the processor combines the output audio component and the audio components those are not shifted to generate an output sound signal, to allow the speaker to output the output sound signal. Accordingly, the tinnitus shielding device of the present disclosure provides automatically shielding the sound frequency which may cause tinnitus discomfort to the user, to avoid the problem with tinnitus thereby.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: AWNT LIMITED
    Inventors: Yi-Chang Liu, Li-Min Sun
  • Patent number: 11546680
    Abstract: A flat plate audio transducer. A front panel and a back panel are connected via a frame. One or more electromagnetic actuators are mounted between the two panels. Voice coils are used as the actuators in some embodiments. Stiffening braces are preferably run between groups of actuators to prevent unwanted resonance phenomena. In some embodiments an actuator array moves both the front and back panels. In other embodiments only one panel is moved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Inventor: F. Bruce Thigpen
  • Patent number: 11516327
    Abstract: A telecommunications tray is presented herein. In some examples, the telecommunications tray assembly includes a tower structure and at least one hinged tray rotatably mounted to the tower structure. In one aspect, the hinged tray is rotatable between at least two indexed positions, wherein the hinged tray is positively retained in the at least two indexed positions by a position retention structure. In some examples, the position retention structure is a transversely mounted leaf spring that is received into recesses of the tower structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: CommScope Technologies LLC
    Inventor: Barry Wayne Allen
  • Patent number: 11516569
    Abstract: A capacitive microphone includes a substrate, a plurality of stationary electrodes, a diaphragm, and a backplate. The substrate includes a cavity and a step disposed in the cavity, and the plurality of stationary electrodes is equally spaced on the step. A diaphragm is received in the step and includes a vibration portion and a connecting portion connected to the vibration portion. A plurality of movable electrodes protrudes from a periphery of the vibration portion, and one end of the connecting portion away from the vibration portion is connected to the substrate. The backplate is provided with a plurality of sound transmission holes, and a gap is formed between the backplate and the diaphragm to form electrode plates of a variable capacitor. The capacitive microphone can get a higher signal-to-noise ratio, improve the capability of suppressing linear distortion, and improve the anti-interference capability of the microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: AAC Acoustic Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yannick Pierre Kervran
  • Patent number: 11510013
    Abstract: In some embodiments, an ear-mounted sound reproduction system is provided. The system includes an ear-mountable housing that sits within the pinna of the ear and occludes the ear canal. In some embodiments, the ear-mountable housing includes a plurality of external-facing microphones. Because the external-facing microphones may be situated within the pinna of the ear but outside of the ear canal, the microphones will experience some, but not all, of the three-dimensional acoustic effects of the pinna. In some embodiments, sound is reproduced by an internal-facing driver element of the housing using a plurality of filters applied to the signals received by the plurality of external-facing microphones to preserve three-dimensional localization cues that would be present at the eardrum in the absence of the housing, such that the housing is essentially transparent to the user. In some embodiments, techniques are provided for deriving the plurality of filters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Iyo Inc.
    Inventors: Malcolm Slaney, Ricardo Garcia, William Woods, Jason Rugolo
  • Patent number: 11503411
    Abstract: One embodiment provides a slim acoustic transducer with a diaphragm that is substantially centered on a vertical axis. A first top plate is substantially perpendicular to the vertical axis. The first top plate houses a first upper magnet. A first bottom plate is substantially perpendicular to the vertical axis. The first bottom plate houses a first lower magnet. A voice coil has a height parallel to the vertical axis. The voice coil is at least partially disposed within the first top plate and at least partially disposed within the first bottom plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Allan Devantier
  • Patent number: 11503402
    Abstract: A unidirectional microphone includes: a case having a shape of a bottomed cylinder and including a sound hole in a bottom thereof; a ring-shaped diaphragm fixed to the bottom in the case; a vibrating membrane stretched on the diaphragm; a backplate which has a shape of a bottomed cylinder and is housed in the case in a nested manner such that an air gap to serve as a sound propagation path is formed between the backplate and an inner surface of the case, the backplate including an aperture serving as a sound propagation path in a side face thereof; a spacer positioned between the diaphragm and the backplate to fix the diaphragm and the backplate, and including a notch serving as a sound propagation path in a portion thereof; and a base plate covering a top opening of the case and including a hole serving as a sound propagation path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: HOSIDEN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yamagata, Hironori Saeki, Tsuyoshi Baba, Ryuji Awamura, Kensuke Nakanishi