Hearing Aids, Electrical Patents (Class 381/312)
  • Patent number: 11689876
    Abstract: A method includes providing, for each respective audio channel of a plurality of audio channels provided by an operating system of a computing device, a set of successive audio processing stages to apply to the respective audio channel. The method also includes providing, by the operating system, an application programming interface (API) configured to set a plurality of parameters for adjusting the set of successive audio processing stages for each respective audio channel. The method additionally includes receiving, via the API and from an application running on the computing device, one or more values for one or more parameters of the plurality of parameters. The method further includes adjusting, by the operating system, the plurality of audio channels based on the received one or more values for the one or more parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Ricardo Antonio Garcia, Brian Kemler, Justin Wooyoung Lee, Richard Francis Lyon, Malcolm Graham Slaney
  • Patent number: 11671755
    Abstract: Wind noise reduction in microphone signals. A first microphone signal is obtained from a first omnidirectional microphone and, contemporaneously, a second microphone signal is obtained from a second omnidirectional microphone. The first and second microphone signals are mixed to produce an output signal. Mixing involves weighting the first and second microphone signals by respective first and second signal weights to produce respective first and second weighted microphone signals, and summing the first and second weighted microphone signals together to produce the output signal. The first and second signal weights are calculated to minimize the power of the output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventor: Henry Chen
  • Patent number: 11653154
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a hearing device having a microphone, where most of the microphone is shielded by an outer shielding of the hearing device. An inlet in the outer shielding allows sound from outside the hearing aid to travel to the microphone to be picked up by it. However, the combination of the microphone and the inlet results in the microphone becoming more sensitive at some audible frequencies. A damping filter positioned in connection with the inlet acts to counter the acoustic effect of the inlet by damping sound in the audible frequency range, where the microphone has increased sensitivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: GN HEARING A/S
    Inventors: Gojko Obradovic, Poul Rosenkilde Kristensen, Finn Hansen
  • Patent number: 11638104
    Abstract: An ear-worn electronic device comprises a plurality of EEG sensors configured to sense EEG signals from or proximate a wearer's ear. At least one processor is configured to detect, during a baseline period of no wearer movement, EEG signals from the EEG sensors, and detect, during each of a plurality of candidate control movements by the wearer, EEG signals from the EEG sensors. The at least one processor is also configured to compute, using the EEG signals, discriminability metrics for the candidate control movements and the baseline period, the discriminability metrics indicating how discriminable neural signals associated with the candidate control movements and the baseline period are from one another. The at least one processor is further configured to select a subset of the candidate control movements using the discriminability metrics, each of the selected control movements defining a neural command for controlling the ear-worn electronic device by the wearer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Lauren Petley, Swapan Gandhi, Simon Carlile, Sahar Akram
  • Patent number: 11632634
    Abstract: Presented herein are techniques for extracting features from sound signals received at a hearing prosthesis at least partially based on an environmental classification of the sound signals. More specifically, one or more sound signals are received at a hearing prosthesis and are converted in to stimulation control signals for use in delivering stimulation to a recipient of the hearing prosthesis. The hearing prosthesis determines an environmental classification of the sound environment associated with the one or more sound signals and is configured to use the environmental classification in the determination of a feature-based adjustment for incorporation into the stimulation control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Michael Goorevich, Matthew Brown, Andrew Vandali
  • Patent number: 11596793
    Abstract: A method, including the action of operating a sense prosthesis, such as a retinal implant, according to a first operating regime while the recipient has a first fatigue level, and operating the sense prosthesis according to a second operating regime while the recipient has a second fatigue level that is greater than the first fatigue level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Sean Lineaweaver, John Michael Heasman
  • Patent number: 11595763
    Abstract: Presented herein are techniques for monitoring the sensory outcome of a recipient of a sensory prosthesis in an ambient environment that includes one or more controllable network connected devices. The sensory outcome of the recipient in the environment is used to make operational changes to the one or more controllable network connected devices in order to create an improved environment for recipient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Stephen Fung, Alexander von Brasch
  • Patent number: 11589173
    Abstract: A hearing aid comprises a) an input transducer; b) an output transducer; c) an input buffer connected to the input transducer configured to store audio data representing one or more time segments of an electric input signal; d) an own voice detector for providing an own voice control signal, and e) a combiner allowing to insert audio data from the input buffer in a forward audio signal path. The hearing aid further comprises f) an input controller configured to control storage of a time segment of the electric input signal in dependence of said own voice control signal; and g) an output controller configured to select audio data from said one or more time segments of the electric input signal currently stored in the input buffer for insertion in the forward path in dependence of an output control signal originating from the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: OTICON A/S
    Inventor: Lars Riemer
  • Patent number: 11582562
    Abstract: A hearing system configured to be located at or in the head of a user, comprises a) at least two microphones providing at least two electric input signals, b) an own voice detector, c) access to a database (Ol, Hl) comprising c1) relative or absolute own voice transfer function(s), and corresponding c2) absolute or relative acoustic transfer functions for a multitude of test-persons, d) a processor connectable to the at least two microphones, to the own voice detector, and to the database. The processor is configured A) to estimate an own voice relative transfer function for sound from the user's mouth to at least one of the at least two microphones, and B) to estimate personalized relative or absolute head related acoustic transfer functions from at least one spatial location other than the user's mouth to at least one of the microphones of the hearing system in dependence of the estimated own voice relative transfer function(s) and the database (Ol, Hl).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Oticon A/S
    Inventors: Jesper Jensen, Nels Hede Rohde, Thomas Bentsen, Michael Syskind Pedersen, Svend Oscar Petersen
  • Patent number: 11553289
    Abstract: Disclosed herein, among other things, are systems and methods for a user adjustment interface using remote computing resources. Specifically, a system can include a mobile device in communication with a hearing assistance device or a remote server. The mobile device can interpret an acoustic environment and send information about the environment to a remote server. The remote server can determine and send information to the mobile device for use in a user interface. The mobile device can receive a user selection of hearing assistance parameter information to be sent to the hearing assistance device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Kelly Fitz, Kirk Klobe, David Haggerty
  • Patent number: 11545170
    Abstract: An acoustic environment identification system is disclosed that can use neural networks to accurately identify environments. The acoustic environment identification system can use one or more convolutional neural networks to generate audio feature data. A recursive neural network can process the audio feature data to generate characterization data. The characterization data can be modified using a weighting system that weights signature data items. Classification neural networks can be used to generate a classification of an environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Jinxi Guo, Jia Li, Ning Xu
  • Patent number: 11528567
    Abstract: A hearing prosthesis, the hearing prosthesis including a plurality of sound capture devices and a determinator configured to generate a parameter indicative of an orientation of the plurality of sound capture devices relative to a reference, wherein the hearing prosthesis is configured to adjust a direction of focus of the hearing prosthesis based on at least the parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Oliver Ridler, Martin James Cosenza
  • Patent number: 11523244
    Abstract: A system including an audio source device having a first microphone and a first speaker for directing sound into an environment in which the audio source device is located and a wireless audio receiver device having a second microphone and a second speaker for directing sound into a user's ear. The audio source device is configured to 1) capture, using the first microphone, speech of the user as a first audio signal, 2) reduce noise in the first audio signal to produce a speech signal, and 3) drive the first speaker with the speech signal. The wireless audio receiver device is configured to 1) capture, using the second microphone, a reproduction of the speech produced by the first speaker as a second audio signal and 2) drive the second speaker with the second audio signal to output the reproduction of the speech.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Paul Meade, Christopher T. Eubank, Neal D. Evans, Nikolas T. Vitt
  • Patent number: 11516601
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device is discussed that has one or more accelerometers, a user interface, and optionally a left/right determination module is configured to receive input data from the one or more accelerometers from user actions causing control signals as sensed by the accelerometers to trigger a program change for an audio configuration for the device selected from a group consisting of a change in amplification/volume control, a change in a mute mode, a change of a hear loss profile loaded into that hearing assistance device, and a change in a play-pause mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Eargo, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Sarjeant Aase, Jeffrey Baker, Beau Polinske, Gints Valdis Klimanis
  • Patent number: 11463820
    Abstract: A hearing aid comprises a forward path comprising a) at least two input transducers, each for picking up sound from the environment of the hearing aid and providing respective at least two electric input signals; b) a beamformer filter for filtering said at least two electric input signals or signals originating therefrom and providing a spatially filtered signal; c) a signal processor for processing one or more of said electric input signals or one or more signals originating therefrom, and providing one or more processed signals based thereon; and d) an output transducer for generating stimuli perceivable by the user as sound based on said one or more processed signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Oticon A/S
    Inventors: Anders Højsgaard Thomsen, Steen Michael Munk, Anders Meng
  • Patent number: 11463822
    Abstract: A hearing assistive device including an audio processing circuit with an analog-to-digital converter having an integrator integrating a voltage present in the summation point; a comparator comparing an output from the integrator with a reference voltage (Vref) and outputting a logical level in accordance with the comparison; a feedback loop coupling a feedback signal back to the summation point; and a reference voltage generation circuit being adapted to provide the reference voltage (Vref) being lower than a power supply voltage (Vbattery) and following the decay of the power supply voltage (Vbattery) with a predefined margin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Widex A/S
    Inventor: Niels Ole Knudsen
  • Patent number: 11438718
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an electronic module for a hearing device. The electronic module comprises at least one electronic component for a hearing device and an embedding material covering the electronic component. The electronic component comprises at least one restricted area which is free from the embedding material. The restricted area is surrounded at least partially by a zone and the zone is covered by an attaching material. The attaching material covering the zone has a mold part formed by molding and freely formed edge facing the restricted area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: OTICON A/S
    Inventors: Troels Holm Pedersen, Søren Wichmann, Dennis Presutti
  • Patent number: 11438697
    Abstract: A system may include a digital delta-sigma modulator configured to receive a digital audio input signal and quantize the digital audio input signal into a quantized signal, a filter configured to receive the quantized signal and perform filtering on the quantized signal to generate a filtered quantized signal, the filter having a variable group delay, and a current-mode digital-to-analog converter configured to receive the filtered quantized signal and convert the filtered quantized signal into an equivalent current-mode analog audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: John L. Melanson, Wai-Shun Shum, Leyi Yin
  • Patent number: 11425510
    Abstract: A first hearing device is assigned to a first user and a second hearing device is assigned to another, second user. The first hearing device emits a first acoustic ID of a voice of the first user as a coupling request. The second hearing device receives the first acoustic ID and compares the first acoustic ID with a second acoustic ID. If the first acoustic ID matches the second acoustic ID the second hearing device emits a coupling acceptance so that the first hearing device is coupled with the second hearing device for exchanging data between these two hearing devices. There is also described a corresponding hearing device for carrying out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Umut Goekay
  • Patent number: 11418897
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a housing configured to be positioned within an ear canal of a recipient, at least one transducer, and at least one communication circuit. The at least one transducer is configured to respond to sound within the ear canal by generating output signals indicative of the sound. The at least one communication circuit has at least one resonance frequency and is configured to receive the output signals from the at least one transducer and to modulate the at least one resonance frequency in response to the output signals from the at least one transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Kenneth Oplinger, Sören Nilsson
  • Patent number: 11412332
    Abstract: An exemplary system comprises a first and second hearing device associated with a first and second ear of a user, respectively. The first hearing device is configured to detect a first audio signal representative of audio content, generate a first intermediate signal representation (ISR) corresponding to the first audio signal, the first ISR comprising a sparsely-encoded non-audio signal having a complexity measure that is below a threshold, and transmit the first ISR to the second hearing device. The second hearing device is configured to detect a second audio signal representative of the audio content, generate a second ISR corresponding to the second audio signal, and transmit the second ISR to the first hearing device. The first hearing device is further configured to generate, based on the first and second ISRs, an output audio signal, and provide the output audio signal to the first ear of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Manuel Christoph Kohl, Joachim Thiemann, Raphael S. Koning, Josef Chalupper
  • 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
  • Patent number: 11405733
    Abstract: A system, including a signal input, a processor a signal output, wherein the processor is configured to generate an instruction related to data related to a recipient of a sensory prosthesis based on input into the signal input, and the signal output is configured to output data indicative of the instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Cochlear Limited
    Inventors: Kenneth Oplinger, Rowan Christopher Page
  • Patent number: 11405732
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device which is worn by the user and which can suppress the voices produced by the user wearing the hearing assistance device is provided. When the user wears the hearing assistance device 1, a pair of microphones is separated and positioned on both sides of a head of the user and a pair of speakers is separated and positioned on both ears of the user or positioned near the ears and which emits sound. The hearing assistance device includes a noise canceller 96 which subtracts a signal processed by a mouth directivity sound processor 93 from the input signal from at least one of the microphones L and R, in which the mouth directivity sound processor 93 emphasizes voice produced from a sound source positioned at a mouth of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignees: CEAR, INC., FREECLE INC.
    Inventors: Yasushi Honda, Yoshitaka Murayama, Sosuke Kubo, Taichi Sekiguchi
  • Patent number: 11399241
    Abstract: A device is provided. The device includes an antenna for communicating with one or more hearing aids. The device further comprises a coil for receiving a wireless signal. The device comprises a first ground plane connected to the antenna. The device comprises a second ground plane connected to the coil. The first ground plane and the second ground plane are decoupled via a decoupling element so that noise from one ground plane does not propagate to the other ground plane at certain frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Oticon A/S
    Inventor: Jens Troelsen
  • Patent number: 11374796
    Abstract: According to one general aspect, a method may include estimating a combined channel. The method may include estimating a channel correlation based, at least in part upon a measurement of a combined channel for a current beam sweeping interval and a previous beam sweeping interval. The method may include recovering a current channel by employing a compressive sensing-based channel recovery employing estimated channel correlation, a previous measurement, and a current measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Inventors: Yanru Tang, Hongbing Cheng
  • Patent number: 11368798
    Abstract: In a method for the environment-dependent operation of a hearing system values for a first plurality of environmental data of a first user of the hearing system are determined each time in a training phase for survey times, and the values of the environmental data for each of the survey times are used to form respectively a feature vector in an at least four-dimensional feature space. Each of the feature vectors is mapped respectively onto a corresponding representative vector in a maximum three-dimensional representation space, and a spatial distribution of a subgroup of representative vectors is used to define a first region in the representation space for a first environmental situation of the hearing system. A value of a setting for signal processing of the hearing system is specified for the first environmental situation, and the hearing system is operated with the value set in this way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Thomas Kuebert, Stefan Aschoff
  • Patent number: 11363390
    Abstract: A method, comprising receiving at least one sound at an electronic device. The at least one sound is enhanced for the at least one user based on a compound metric. The compound metric is calculated using at least two sound metrics selected from an engineering metric, a perceptual metric, and a physiological metric. The engineering metric comprises a difference between an output signal and a desired signal. At least one of the perceptual metric and the physiological metric is based at least in part on input sensed from the at least one user in response to the received at least one sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Joao Felipe Santos, Tao Zhang, Yan Zhao, Buye Xu, Ritwik Giri
  • Patent number: 11361781
    Abstract: Method to perform dynamic beamforming to reduce SNR in signals captured by head-wearable apparatus starts with microphones generating acoustic signals. Microphones are coupled to first stem of the apparatus and to second stem of the apparatus. First and second beamformers generate first and second beamformer signals, respectively. Noise suppressor attenuates noise content from the first beamformer signal and the second beamformer signal. Noise content from first beamformer signal are acoustic signals not collocated in second beamformer signal and noise content from second beamformer signal are acoustic signals not collocated in first beamformer signal. Speech enhancer generates clean signal comprising speech content from first noise-suppressed signal and second noise-suppressed signal. Speech content are acoustic signals collocated in first beamformer signal and second beamformer signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Asfaw, Russell Douglas Patton, Patrick Timothy McSweeney Simons
  • Patent number: 11343617
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a contact hearing system comprising: an ear tip including a transmit coil, wherein the transmit coil is connected to an audio processor, including an H Bridge circuit; a first input to the H Bridge circuit comprising an AND circuit wherein a first input to the AND circuit comprises a carrier signal and a second input to the AND circuit comprises an output of a delta sigma modulation circuit, wherein the delta sigma modulation circuit is a component of the audio processor; and a second input to the H Bridge circuit comprising an NAND circuit wherein a first input to the NAND circuit comprises a carrier signal and a second input to the NAND circuit comprises an output of the delta sigma modulation circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Earlens Corporation
    Inventors: Lawrence W. Arne, Douglas Webb, Jeffrey Ward Tuttle, Konstadinos Hatzianestis
  • Patent number: 11329501
    Abstract: A power supply apparatus wake-up circuit is provided. The power supply apparatus wake-up circuit includes a power consumption control circuit and a wake-up circuit connected to the power consumption control circuit. The power consumption control circuit includes a voltage regulation module and a protection circuit connected to the voltage regulation module. The voltage regulation module adjusts a voltage output to the protection circuit according to a sleep control signal. The protection circuit determines whether to trigger over-discharge protection according to an input voltage. The wake-up circuit includes a first switching device, and the wake-up circuit outputs a wake-up control signal to the protection circuit based on an operation of the first switching device by a user such that the protection circuit stops triggering the over-discharge protection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: MERRY ELECTRONICS (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Guang Ning
  • Patent number: 11330377
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for fitting a sound personalization algorithm using a two-dimensional (2D) graphical fitting interface. A calculated set of initial digital signal processing (DSP) parameters are determined for a given sound personalization algorithm, based on a user hearing profile. The initial DSP parameters are outputted to a 2D graphical fitting interface of an audio personalization application, wherein a first axis represents a level of coloration and a second axis represents a level of compression. A user input specifies a first 2D coordinate selected from a coordinate space presented by the 2D graphical fitting interface. A first set of refined DSP parameters is generated to apply a coloration and/or compression adjustment corresponding to the first 2D coordinate. The given sound personalization algorithm is parameterized with the first set of refined DSP parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Robert Pelzer, Nicholas R. Clark, Michael Hirsch
  • Patent number: 11323809
    Abstract: A hearing device comprises basic modifiers adjustable by a user, each basic modifier having a range of basic modifier values selectable by the user and each basic modifier modifying a sound processing of the hearing device dependent on the respective basic modifier value. A method comprises: receiving a macro modifier value for a macro modifier, wherein the macro modifier is associated with a subset of the basic modifiers and wherein the macro modifier value is selected by the user from a macro modifier range; calculating, for each basic modifier in the subset, a basic modifier value, wherein the basic modifier value is calculated with a predefined function based on the macro modifier value; applying the calculated basic modifier values to the basic modifiers such that the sound processing of the hearing device is performed based on the basic modifiers adjusted with the calculated basic modifiers values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Nicola Hildebrand, Erich Crameri, Marius Beuchert
  • Patent number: 11323833
    Abstract: A hearing device includes an enclosure comprising a shell and a faceplate and is configured for at least partial insertion within an ear of a user. An antenna structure of the hearing device is oriented such that a direction of an electric field (E-field) of a propagating electromagnetic signal generated by the antenna structure is directed non-tangentially with respect to the user at the location of the user's ear. The antenna structure includes an antenna disposed in or on the faceplate and a ground plane at least partially supported by the faceplate. A battery and electronic circuitry are disposed within the shell. The electronic circuitry is powered by the battery and is electrically coupled to send and/or receive signals via the antenna structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Beau Jay Polinske, Deepak Hosadurga, Randy Kannas, Zhenchao Yang
  • Patent number: 11323826
    Abstract: A hearing aid service system includes an Internet enabled personal communication device and one or more hearing aids provided with respective transceivers for establishing a wireless connection, whereby the personal communication device becomes a gateway for the hearing aids to a remote server. Each hearing aid includes a processor controlling the operation of the hearing aid, and a memory containing program code for at least one add-on program for the operation of the hearing aid. The server manages user accounts for a plurality of hearing aid users, including managing subscription status for the add-on program. The server creates a subscription status change event for the account upon change of the subscription status for the at least one add-on program and sends a status change instruction to the hearing aids for enabling or disabling one or more of the add-on programs by using the communication device as gateway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Widex A/S
    Inventors: Soren Erik Westermann, Svend Vitting Andersen, Anders Westergaard, Niels Erik Boelskift Maretti
  • Patent number: 11323130
    Abstract: A method of filtering includes generating a random value by a random number generator circuit, filtering a first signal by a first filter to form a filtered first signal, dithering the filtered first signal using the random value to form a dithered first signal, filtering a second signal by a second filter to form a filtered second signal, and dithering the filtered second signal using the random value to form a dithered second signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS KK
    Inventor: Ryo Tsutsui
  • Patent number: 11317217
    Abstract: Disclosed are a sound device and a portable terminal. The sound device includes a first vibration system including a bobbin voice coil, the bobbin voice coil being provided behind a first diaphragm and fixedly connected to the first diaphragm, the bobbin voice coil including a bobbin and a voice coil body formed by winding voice coil leads on the bobbin, one end of the bobbin away from the first diaphragm at least partially configured to protrude from the voice coil body; a second vibration system including a second diaphragm opposite to the first diaphragm; and a magnetic circuit system between the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm, the magnetic circuit system being provided with an avoiding portion. One end of the bobbin away from the first diaphragm is movable to penetrate through the avoiding portion and is fixedly connected to the second diaphragm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: GOERTEK INC.
    Inventors: Xinglong Wang, Jianjian Wang, Tongyan Xu, Chunfa Liu
  • Patent number: 11284204
    Abstract: In accordance with the present disclosure a hearing instrument is provided. The hearing instrument comprises a wireless communication unit for wireless communication, a speaker interconnected with the wireless communication unit and being configured to provide an output audio signal, a battery configured to supply power to the hearing instrument, a filter circuit interconnecting the battery and a power management circuit of the hearing instrument, the wireless communication unit being interconnected with the battery, the battery being configured for emission and reception of an electromagnetic field having an RF wavelength. The filter circuit is configured to de-couple the battery and the power management circuit at frequencies above 3 MHz and configured to connect the battery to the power management circuit at frequencies below 300 kHz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: GN HEARING A/S
    Inventors: Søren Kvist, Alexandre da Luz Pinto, Nikolaj Peter Brunvoll Kammersgaard
  • Patent number: 11271662
    Abstract: A method for low power communication links between wireless devices is described. The method includes establishing, by a first wireless device, a first magnetic communication link to a source wireless device through a human body. The method also includes establishing, by a second wireless device, a second magnetic communication link to the source wireless device through the human body. The method also includes receiving, by the first wireless device via the first magnetic communication link and the second wireless device via the second magnetic communication link, communications from the source wireless device through the human body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Noshir Dubash, Jeffrey Koeller, Luis Briones
  • Patent number: 11265661
    Abstract: A hearing aid comprises a) an input transducer; b) an output transducer; c) an input buffer connected to the input transducer configured to store audio data representing one or more time segments of an electric input signal; d) an own voice detector for providing an own voice control signal, and e) a combiner allowing to insert audio data from the input buffer in a forward audio signal path. The hearing aid further comprises f) an input controller configured to control storage of a time segment of the electric input signal in dependence of said own voice control signal; and g) an output controller configured to select audio data from said one or more time segments of the electric input signal currently stored in the input buffer for insertion in the forward path in dependence of an output control signal originating from the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: OTICON A/S
    Inventor: Lars Riemer
  • Patent number: 11240611
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a hearing device configured to be worn at an ear of a user, the hearing device comprising a sensor unit configured to provide sensor data; and a communication unit configured to receive remote data from a remote device. The disclosure further relates to a communication system comprising the hearing device and the remote device and to a method of operating the hearing device and the remote device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Ivo Spieler, Andreas Breitenmoser
  • Patent number: 11239963
    Abstract: A system and method for transmitting data ultrasonically through biological tissue employs a network of a plurality of nodes, at least a portion of the nodes implantable within the biological tissue. At least one implanted node includes a transmitter having an orthogonal frequency division multiplex signal generator to encode an ultrasonic signal for transmission through the biological tissue to an ultrasonic receiver at another node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Northeastern University
    Inventors: Tommaso Melodia, Giuseppe Enrico Santagati
  • Patent number: 11234087
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a hearing device comprising a housing surrounding a venting channel comprising a valve member moveable relative to the venting channel between different positions comprising a first valve position and a second valve position, an actuator configured to provide an actuation force with a direction and a magnitude acting on the valve member, and a controller a controller configured to provide a first control signal controlling the actuator to provide the actuation force in a first direction, and to provide a second control signal controlling the actuator to provide the actuation force in a second direction. The disclosure further relates to a method of operating such a hearing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Hans-Ueli Roeck, Christian Frei, Manuel Weibel, Erwin Kuipers, Maxi Susanne Moritz, Christian Landolt
  • Patent number: 11234093
    Abstract: A method includes providing, for each respective audio channel of a plurality of audio channels provided by an operating system of a computing device, a set of successive audio processing stages to apply to the respective audio channel. The method also includes providing, by the operating system, an application programming interface (API) configured to set a plurality of parameters for adjusting the set of successive audio processing stages for each respective audio channel. The method additionally includes receiving, via the API and from an application running on the computing device, one or more values for one or more parameters of the plurality of parameters. The method further includes adjusting, by the operating system, the plurality of audio channels based on the received one or more values for the one or more parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Ricardo Antonio Garcia, Brian Kemler, Justin Wooyoung Lee, Richard Francis Lyon, Malcolm Graham Slaney
  • Patent number: 11218820
    Abstract: A hearing system comprising a hearing device and at least two controllers connected to the hearing device for changing a state of the hearing device, wherein the hearing device is configured to maintain a transaction token having a present value associated with at least one present state parameter value of the hearing device. Each controller is configured to acquire, prior to changing the state of the hearing device, the present transaction token value and the present at least one state parameter value of the hearing device, to change the acquired parameter value, and to send back to the hearing device, as a state change request, the new at least one state parameter value together with the acquired transaction token value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventor: Stephan Gehring
  • Patent number: 11206496
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a hearing device and in particular to hearing device and related method for configuration or operation of a hearing device. Disclosed is a hearing device comprising a processing unit configured to compensate for hearing loss of a user of the hearing device, a memory, and an interface. The processing unit/hearing device may be configured to receive a mode request via the interface; authenticate the mode request; and place the hearing device into the requested mode if authentication of the mode request succeeds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: GN Hearing A/S
    Inventors: Brian Dam Pedersen, Allan Munk Vendelbo
  • Patent number: 11202159
    Abstract: A method for self-calibrating of a hearing device (which includes an ear canal microphone, an external microphone, and a receiver) includes: obtaining an input signal with the external microphone; providing an output signal with the receiver; measuring the output signal using the ear canal microphone; predicting an output response based on a gain setting; determining a difference between the predicted output response and the measured output signal; and calibrating the hearing device by controlling a gain parameter based on the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: GN Hearing A/S
    Inventors: Jonathan Boley, Tobias Piechowiak
  • Patent number: 11190884
    Abstract: A terminal may include: a sensor unit including a microphone configured to acquire a surrounding sound, and a position sensor configured to identify a position of the terminal; a processor configured to learn the position of the terminal and the surrounding sound to identify characteristics of a dangerous sound depending on the position of the terminal, and determine a setting value of a hearing aid depending on the identified characteristics of the dangerous sound; and a communicator configured to transmit the setting value to the hearing aid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dae Kwon Jung, Yun Tae Lee, Jung Sun Kwon, Ho Kwon Yoon, Bang Chul Ko
  • Patent number: 11185257
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to communication devices. Such devices may comprise input for receiving sound signal to be processed and presented to a user, and output for outputting the processed signal to a user perceivable as sound. Such processing may be performed by use of a processor for processing the sound signal in dependence of a setting or a set of setting to compensate a hearing loss profile. Further, the communication device may comprise a bio-signal acquisition and amplifier component in communication with a user interface for providing the bio-signals as input to the user interface, the user interface controlling the setting or set of setting for operation of the communication device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: OTICON A/S
    Inventors: Niels Henrik Pontoppidan, Thomas Lunner, Michael Syskind Pedersen, Lars Ivar Hauschultz, Povl Koch, Graham Naylor, Eline Borch Petersen
  • Patent number: 11190888
    Abstract: A tool for replacing a cerumen filter in a sound conduit of a hearing aid. The tool is designed to position a cerumen filter along the sound conduit and to couple with and remove a cerumen filter that has been positioned along the sound conduit. The tool comprises an insertion tip and an removal tip, both configured to fit inside the sound conduit and to couple or engage with an engagement body extending centrally from the cerumen filter. The tool may be in the form of a stylus with the insertion tip on one and the removing tip on the other end. The tool may also be in the form of a disc dispenser with a plurality of insertion and removal tips attached to the dispenser and accessible for use by rotating plates making up the disc dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Sonova AG
    Inventors: Martyn Beedham, Erich Dittli, Andre Ochsenbein, George Meier, Christoph Bosshard, Josef Müller, Marius Ruefenacht, Erdal Karamuk, Markus Muller