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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7670278 | Hearing aid system A direct bone conduction hearing aid system for generating direct bone conduction vibration includes a vibrator that is placed in an implanted vibrator unit and an implanted energy-receiving unit that has an energy-receiving inductive coil. A vibrator supply cable c... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7651460 | Totally implantable hearing system A totally implantable hearing system having a sound processing device, a coil assembly, and a magnet assembly. The magnet assembly is implanted in the middle ear of a user and is in contact with at least a portion of an ossicle of the middle ear. The sound processin... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7582052 | Implantable hearing aid actuator positioning Methods for assessing a position of an actuator of an implantable hearing aid transducer relative to an auditory component of a patient. According to one aspect of the invention, an implantable hearing aid transducer is located in proximity to the auditory component... | 09/01/2009 |
| 7566296 | Reducing effect of magnetic and electromagnetic fields on an implant's magnet and/or electronics An implantable magnet that can freely turn in response to an external magnetic field, thus avoiding torque and demagnetization on the implantable magnet. The implantable magnet can be combined with an electric switching function depending on the orientation of an ex... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7556597 | Active vibration attenuation for implantable microphone The invention is directed to an implanted microphone having reduced sensitivity to vibration. In this regard, the microphone differentiates between the desirable and undesirable vibration by utilizing at least one motion sensor to produce a motion signal when an imp... | 07/07/2009 |
| 7547275 | Middle ear implant transducer A middle ear implant transducer of a hearing aid includes: first and second permanent magnets arranged such that the same poles of the first and second permanent magnets face each other; first and second vibrating members attached to both edges of the respective fir... | 06/16/2009 |
| 7524278 | Hearing aid system and transducer with hermetically sealed housing A driver and sensor assembly that is hermetically sealed so that the assemblies may be fully implanted in a being. The assemblies employ a transducer that has a longitudinal axis and that vibrates or picks up vibration in a direction substantially transverse to its ... | 04/28/2009 |
| 7520851 | Tinnitus rehabilitation device and method A tinnitus method and device for providing relief to a person suffering from the disturbing effects of tinnitus is described. The method can be implemented entirely in software to spectrally modify an audio signal in accordance with a predetermined masking algorithm... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7488284 | Implantable prosthesis with direct mechanical stimulation of the inner ear A prosthesis for stimulation of the inner ear, comprising means for excitation which generate vibrations which can excite the ear of a patient, and an implantable part comprising a rod which can transmit vibrations and which is configured in such a way that it can d... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7481761 | Implantable converter for cochlea implants and implantable hearing aids The invention relates to an implantable electromechanical converter for receiving oscillations from an ear ossicle and for converting them into an electrical voltage, for use as a microphone for a cochlea implant or an implantable hearing aid, consisting of one or m... | 01/27/2009 |
| 7468028 | Implantable hearing aid transducer A variable reluctance motor is provided having a linear relationship between an input current and an output force. According to one aspect of the invention, the motor comprises a stator, an armature, and at least one magnetic member to provide a biasing force on the... | 12/23/2008 |
| 7442164 | Totally implantable hearing prosthesis The invention comprises a totally implantable hearing prosthesis for hearing impaired persons. An inertial vibrational element is hermetically sealed and implanted in bone between the lateral and superior semicircular canals without breaching the integrity of the ca... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7425196 | Balloon encapsulated direct drive The present invention relates to a receiver module adapted to be positioned in an ear canal. The receiver module comprises a receiver having a receiver housing and expansible arrangement surrounding at least part of the receiver housing, the expansible arrangement h... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7386143 | Retention apparatus for an external portion of a semi-implantable hearing aid A retention apparatus for a semi-implantable hearing aid. In one embodiment, the retention apparatus includes a first surface and a second surface. One of the first and second surfaces includes a first portion and a second portion having a rounded transition therebe... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7372970 | Pocket hearing aid Pocket hearing aids are to be designed to be more comfortable. To this end there is provision on one hand for a wireless communication connection to be established between the microphone part and the earpiece part. To this end the microphone device of the pocket hea... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7362875 | Balloon-expandable hearing device fitting system and self-expanding hearing device A self-expanding hearing device is disclosed. The device includes a body, a membrane coupled to the body, and a frame coupled to the body, so that a user can compress the frame for insertion into the user's ear canal, and when the user releases compression the frame... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7358759 | Semiconductor device with bus terminating function The distance between a drain contact and gate electrode in a terminating transistor, which couples a termination resistor connected to an output terminal to a power source node, is set shorter than in an output transistor, which drives an output node in accordance w... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7354394 | Soft tissue placement of implantable microphone Provided herein are systems and methods where an implantable microphone of an implantable hearing system is positioned at a location spaced from the surface of the patient's skull. More specifically, the microphone is mounted to soft tissue of the patient to at leas... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7344491 | Method and apparatus for improving hearing A system and method for affecting the function of a mammalian ear. The system and method uses an oscillating magnetic field to move nanospheres comprised of single-domain nanoparticles. In a preferred embodiment a receiving assembly detects sound waves and transmits... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7338028 | Fluid switch controlled trans-cutaneously via magnetic force A fluid switch or valve for an implantable fluid delivery system is provided. The fluid switch or valve includes a fluid chamber having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet and an internal magnet disposed within the fluid chamber. The internal magnet is moveable such th... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7328080 | Manufacturing methods and systems for rapid production of hearing-aid shells Methods, apparatus and computer program products provide efficient techniques for designing and printing shells of hearing-aid devices with a high degree of quality assurance and reliability and with a reduced number of manual and time consuming production steps and... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7326171 | Adjustable bone bracket An improved apparatus and method is provided for supportably mounting an implantable hearing aid device to a patient's skull. The apparatus includes a support member adapted for supporting a hearing aid device and a plurality of mounting legs extending laterally fro... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7322930 | Implantable microphone having sensitivity and frequency response Implantable microphone devices that may be utilized in hearing systems are provided. An implantable microphone device allows the implantable microphone's frequency response and sensitivity to be selected. A microphone device with an increased membrane flexibility an... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7319771 | Vibrator for bone conducted hearing aids A vibrator for a bone conduction type hearing aid device. The vibrator includes a coil for generating a dynamic magnetic field and two permanent magnets for generating a static magnetic field. The two permanent magnets are working independently from each other in th... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7317945 | Method and system to convey the within-channel fine structure with a cochlear implant The present invention provides a cochlear stimulation system and method for capturing and translating fine time structure (“FTS”) in incoming sounds and delivering this information spatially to the cochlea. The system comprises a FTS estimator/analyzer and a cur... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7317807 | Apparatus for communication coupling with a hearing aid An improved communication coupling device having a coupler coil with about 125 turns of wire about a core having a hole for use with a hearing aid having a hearing aid coil to accommodate individuals with various degrees of hearing loss to use a sound generation dev... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7315761 | Electrical stimulation system and method for treating tinnitus According to one aspect, an electrical stimulation system for treating tinnitus is provided. The system includes an electrical stimulation lead adapted for implantation into the person's skull for electrical stimulation of target brain tissue located in the person's... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7302748 | Linkage assembly for an acoustic transducer A linkage assembly (140) is used for mechanically coupling an armature (124) and a diaphragm (118) of a balanced receiver (100), the linkage assembly (140) formed from a first linkage member (822) displaced from a strip of s... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7302069 | Hearing aid and method for adjusting a hearing aid The process of adapting a hearing aid to its wearer is to be simplified. To this end the acoustic conditions in the auditory canal, especially the acoustic impedance, are estimated by measuring the input impedance of the earpiece on the hearing aid. For adjusting th... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7297101 | Method and apparatus for minimally invasive placement of sensing and driver assemblies to improve hearing loss Methods and structures for placing sensing and driver assemblies in a middle ear of a patient are disclosed. Methods and structures according to various embodiments of the invention provide minimally invasive techniques and devices that facilitate placement of sensi... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7288057 | Method for conditioning to prevent motion sickness Easily performed exercises quickly raise the tolerance to motion sickness and do not require supervision. The exercises are comprised of a warm-up phase and a conditioning phase. The warm-up phase includes a series of rotation and tilting exercises which both warm-u... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7288113 | Titanium incudo-stapedial joint prosthesis A titanium incudo-stapedial joint prosthesis comprises a body including a generally tubular wall defining a first cavity for receiving a head of a stapes. A generally U-shaped wall is connected to the tubular wall defining a second cavity extending generally perpend... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7289639 | Hearing implant The present invention relates to a hearing aid system comprising a hearing implant and a method of powering a hearing implant, the system comprising an external ear canal module and an implant, wherein the signalling and/or powering of the ear implant is by way of a... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7283861 | Methods for modifying electrical currents in neuronal circuits Disclosed herein are methods for modifying electrical currents in brain circuits through the simultaneous use of focused ultrasound pulse (FUP) and an existing brain-imaging system, such as a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) system. The methods are used ... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7283876 | Electrical stimulation of the acoustic nerve based on selected groups In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a method of activating electrodes in a multichannel electrode array is provided. Each channel is associated with a different electrode in the array. At least two groups of channels in the multichannel electrode arr... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7278963 | Implantable hearing aid transducer with advanceable actuator to facilitate coupling with the auditory system A hearing aid transducer that includes an actuator advanceable relative to the transducer to couple with a middle ear component. In one aspect of the invention, the actuator is a separate structure from the transducer that is insertable into an aperture defined betw... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7273447 | Implantable hearing aid transducer retention apparatus A transducer mounting system including a retention apparatus to provide an efficient detachable interconnection between a pivotable member and the mounting system. According. to one aspect, the retention apparatus is configured to travel along a predetermined path b... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7272449 | Cochlear implant electrode array A cochlear implant electrode assembly (10) comprising an elongate electrode carrier member (11), a bioresorbable stiffening element (15) and an outer layer (16) surrounding the stiffening element (15). The carrier member (11... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7272446 | Power efficient electrical stimulation A method and device are disclosed for neural stimulation with improved power consumption and/or effectiveness. The stimulus generator is arranged, for example via a look up table, to recognize proposed stimuli which will be masked by earlier or simultaneous stimuli.... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7272447 | Electrode arrangement for electrical stimulation of biological material, and a multi-electrode array for use in such an electrode arrangement An electrode arrangement for electrical stimulation of biological material has at least one stimulation electrode via which the biological material can be fed a stimulus signal. Furthermore, a counter electrode is present which forms a counter pole to the stimulatio... | 09/18/2007 |