Patents by Inventor Eric Durant

Eric Durant 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: 20250159418
    Abstract: In an audio signal, one or more processing circuits recognize spoken content in a user's own speech signal using speech recognition and natural language understanding. The spoken content describes a listening difficulty of the user. The one or more processing circuits generate, based on the spoken content, one or more actions for hearing devices and feedback for the user. The one or more actions attempt to resolve the listening difficulty. Additionally, the one or more processing circuits convert the user feedback to verbal feedback using speech synthesis and transmit the one or more actions and the verbal feedback to the hearing devices via a body-worn device. The hearing devices are configured to perform the one or more actions and play back the verbal feedback to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2025
    Publication date: May 15, 2025
    Inventors: Tao Zhang, Eric Durant, Dean G. Meyer, Martin McKinney, Matthew D. Kleffner, Dominic Perz, Karrie Recker
  • Patent number: 12279092
    Abstract: In an audio signal, one or more processing circuits recognize spoken content in a user's own speech signal using speech recognition and natural language understanding. The spoken content describes a listening difficulty of the user. The one or more processing circuits generate, based on the spoken content, one or more actions for hearing devices and feedback for the user. The one or more actions attempt to resolve the listening difficulty. Additionally, the one or more processing circuits convert the user feedback to verbal feedback using speech synthesis and transmit the one or more actions and the verbal feedback to the hearing devices via a body-worn device. The hearing devices are configured to perform the one or more actions and play back the verbal feedback to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2025
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Tao Zhang, Eric Durant, Dean G. Meyer, Martin McKinney, Matthew D. Kleffner, Dominic Perz, Karrie Recker
  • Publication number: 20220295194
    Abstract: In an audio signal, one or more processing circuits recognize spoken content in a user's own speech signal using speech recognition and natural language understanding. The spoken content describes a listening difficulty of the user. The one or more processing circuits generate, based on the spoken content, one or more actions for hearing devices and feedback for the user. The one or more actions attempt to resolve the listening difficulty. Additionally, the one or more processing circuits convert the user feedback to verbal feedback using speech synthesis and transmit the one or more actions and the verbal feedback to the hearing devices via a body-worn device. The hearing devices are configured to perform the one or more actions and play back the verbal feedback to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Publication date: September 15, 2022
    Inventors: Tao Zhang, Eric Durant, Dean G. Meyer, Martin McKinney, Matthew D. Kleffner, Dominic Perz, Karrie Recker
  • Patent number: 11412333
    Abstract: In an audio signal, one or more processing circuits recognize spoken content in a user's own speech signal using speech recognition and natural language understanding. The spoken content describes a listening difficulty of the user. The one or more processing circuits generate, based on the spoken content, one or more actions for hearing devices and feedback for the user. The one or more actions attempt to resolve the listening difficulty. Additionally, the one or more processing circuits convert the user feedback to verbal feedback using speech synthesis and transmit the one or more actions and the verbal feedback to the hearing devices via a body-worn device. The hearing devices are configured to perform the one or more actions and play back the verbal feedback to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Tao Zhang, Eric Durant, Dean G. Meyer, Martin McKinney, Matthew D. Kleffner, Dominic Perz, Karrie Recker
  • Publication number: 20190149927
    Abstract: In an audio signal, one or more processing circuits recognize spoken content in a user's own speech signal using speech recognition and natural language understanding. The spoken content describes a listening difficulty of the user. The one or more processing circuits generate, based on the spoken content, one or more actions for hearing devices and feedback for the user. The one or more actions attempt to resolve the listening difficulty. Additionally, the one or more processing circuits convert the user feedback to verbal feedback using speech synthesis and transmit the one or more actions and the verbal feedback to the hearing devices via a body-worn device. The hearing devices are configured to perform the one or more actions and play back the verbal feedback to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Tao Zhang, Eric Durant, Dean G. Meyer, Martin McKinney, Matthew D. Kleffner, Dominic Perz, Karrie Recker
  • Patent number: 8359283
    Abstract: Disclosed herein, among other things, is a method for fitting a hearing assistance device for a user using a genetic algorithm. Stimulus pairs are presented to the user using a computer, the stimulus pairs adapted to provide contrasting options for selection from a set of stimuli stored in the computer. Inputs are received from the user entered into the computer, including preference judgments of the user. A score is calculated for each stimulus of the pair using the computer to execute a rank agreement function to maximize agreement between scores and the preference judgments. A set of genes is selected based on the scores, where the set of genes correspond to hearing assistance device parameters. The set of genes is operated on with a genetic algorithm using the assigned scores to obtain a child set of genes. The child set is used to provide parameter values during fitting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Deniz Baskent, Eric Durant
  • Publication number: 20110055120
    Abstract: Disclosed herein, among other things, is a method for fitting a hearing assistance device for a user using a genetic algorithm. Stimulus pairs are presented to the user using a computer, the stimulus pairs adapted to provide contrasting options for selection from a set of stimuli stored in the computer. Inputs are received from the user entered into the computer, including preference judgments of the user. A score is calculated for each stimulus of the pair using the computer to execute a rank agreement function to maximize agreement between scores and the preference judgments. A set of genes is selected based on the scores, where the set of genes correspond to hearing assistance device parameters. The set of genes is operated on with a genetic algorithm using the assigned scores to obtain a child set of genes. The child set is used to provide parameter values during fitting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2009
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Applicant: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Deniz Baskent, Eric Durant