Cross-cut: `hearing-aid`

Axis: form_factor

4 corpus entries disclose this tag.

Earliest disclosure: 1976-01-14

Listed in chronological order. Each entry’s prior_art_notes and disclosure_citation constitute the citeable prior art material.

The Bionic Woman — bionic ear (augmented, frequency-selective hearing) (1976-01-14)

id: bionic-woman-bionic-ear
corpus: fictional
form factor: hearing-aid
creator: Kenneth Johnson / Universal Television
disclosure: The Bionic Woman (ABC, premiered January 14, 1976) — a prosthetic ear giving the wearer greatly amplified hearing with the ability to tune to and isolate specific sound sources and frequencies at a distance.
ip status: fictional
sensors: sensor-microphone-air
prior art notes: Discloses a prosthetic hearing device providing amplified hearing plus directional/frequency-selective listening — the wearer can steer toward and isolate a chosen sound source or band. Relevant to hearing-device claims combining ‘a worn or implanted hearing prosthesis’, ‘amplification’, and ‘beamforming / frequency-selective source isolation’ (modern hearable and hearing-aid ‘focus’ / ‘conversation isolation’ features). § 103 motivation that the steerable, frequency-selective augmented-hearing device was an articulated objective by 1976. Non-enabling; pair with enabling beamforming-hearing-aid art.

id: looney-mandic-2012-in-ear-eeg
corpus: academic
form factor: earbud
creator: David Looney / Preben Kidmose / Danilo P. Mandic et al.
disclosure: Looney D, Kidmose P, Park C, Ungstrup M, Rank ML, Rosenkranz K, Mandic DP. ‘The in-the-ear recording concept: user-centered and wearable brain monitoring.’ IEEE Pulse 2012;3(6):32-42. (See also Kidmose P, et al. ‘A study of evoked potentials from ear-EEG.’ IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2013;60(10):2824-2830.)
ip status: public-domain
sensors: sensor-dry-eeg-electrode, sensor-eeg
algorithms: algo-drowsiness-detection, algo-sleep-staging, algo-bci-ssvep, algo-erp-classification
prior art notes: Discloses recording EEG from electrodes placed inside the ear canal / concha of an individually-fitted earpiece — i.e. EEG in an earbud / hearing-aid form factor, demonstrated to capture alpha modulation, auditory steady-state and evoked responses. Any wearable claim reciting ‘EEG electrodes disposed on an in-ear earpiece to measure an electroencephalographic signal of the wearer’ reads on Looney et al. 2012. Anchor for the earbud/hearing-aid × EEG cross-cut; complementary to [[debener-2015-ceegrid-around-ear-eeg]] and [[zanetti-aminifar-atienza-eglass-2025]] (around-ear / temporal pickup).

id: eargo-otc-hearing-aid-2017
corpus: private
form factor: hearing-aid
creator: Eargo, Inc.
disclosure: Eargo, Inc. ‘Eargo Plus’ (and successor models — Eargo Neo, Eargo 5, Eargo 7, Eargo 8), launched 2015–2017 in the US as a direct-to-consumer rechargeable invisible-in-canal hearing aid sold without an audiologist gatekeeper, with self-fit via a mobile app — predating the 2022 FDA OTC hearing-aid final rule (21 CFR 800.30) and the [[apple-airpods-pro-2-hearing-health-2024]] entry by years.
ip status: patented
prior art notes: Discloses a direct-to-consumer rechargeable invisible-in-canal hearing aid with self-fitting via a mobile app, sold and adjusted by the wearer without an audiologist — i.e. consumer-grade self-fit hearing aid years before the FDA’s 2022 OTC hearing-aid rule. Anticipates self-fitting and direct-to-consumer hearing-aid claims from 2015–2017. Product-side anchor for the hearing-aid cross-cut on the real side (the only fictional entry is [[bionic-woman-bionic-ear]]).

id: apple-airpods-pro-2-hearing-health-2024
corpus: private
form factor: earbud
creator: Apple Inc.
disclosure: Apple Inc. ‘AirPods Pro 2’ Hearing Health features, announced 9 September 2024 (FDA-authorized hearing-aid software, October 2024) — the earbuds perform an audiogram-style hearing test, then function as a software over-the-counter hearing aid (frequency-specific amplification tuned to the test result, with real-time conversation enhancement), plus passive/active hearing protection that attenuates loud environmental sound.
ip status: patented
sensors: sensor-microphone-air
prior art notes: Discloses consumer earbuds that (a) administer an audiogram-style pure-tone hearing test to the wearer, (b) operate as a software over-the-counter hearing aid applying the resulting frequency-specific gain (with conversation/speech enhancement and directional processing), and (c) provide loud-sound hearing protection. Anticipates earbud/hearing-aid claims combining ‘a self-administered hearing assessment by the worn device’, ‘configuration of the device’s amplification from that assessment’, and ‘protective attenuation of loud environmental sound’ from 2024. Product-side anchor for the earbud-as-hearing-aid cross-cut; cf. [[bionic-woman-bionic-ear]] (the fictional antecedent of steerable/frequency-selective augmented hearing).