An embodiment of the invention provides a wireless in-ear utility device that rests in the user's ear canal near the user's eardrum. The in-ear utility device may be configured in a variety of ways, including, but in no way limited to a smart in-ear utility device, a flexible personal sound amplification product, a personal music player, a “walkie-talkie” and the like.

An embodiment of the invention provides a wireless in-ear utility device that rests in the user's ear canal near the user's eardrum. The in-ear utility device may be configured in a variety of ways, including, but in no way limited to a smart in-ear utility device, a flexible personal sound amplification product, a personal music player, a “walkie-talkie” and the like.

Hearing instruments, such as hearing aids, may improve a quality of presented audio through the use of a binaural application, such as beamforming. The binaural application may require communication between the hearing instruments so that audio from a left hearing instrument may be combined with audio from a right hearing instrument. The combining at a hearing instrument can require synchronizing audio sampled locally with sampled audio received from wireless communication. This synchronization may cause a noticeable delay of an output of the binaural application if the latency of the wireless communication is not low (e.g., a few samples of delay). Presented herein is a low-latency communication protocol that communicates packets on a sample-by-sample basis and that compensates for delays caused by overhead protocol data transmitted with the audio data.

The present disclosure describes examples of systems and methods of wireless remote control of appliances and medical devices using a canal hearing device upon manual activation of a switch placed in the concha cavity behind the tragus. The manual activation of the switch may be by applying a force to the tragus by a finger of a user of the canal hearing device. In one embodiment the lateral end comprises one or more manually activated switches, a wireless antenna, and a battery cell. In some examples, the wireless electronics include low energy Bluetooth. The appliance may be any device with wireless capabilities, for example an electronic lock, a thermostat, an electronic lighting, a telephone, a kitchen appliance, a medical alert system, a television, a medical device, and a smart glass. The inconspicuous and secure wear of the hearing device allows for active lifestyle, including exercise, and more discrete communications.

An illustrative cochlear implant system is disclosed herein. The cochlear implant system comprises a microphone assembly including a microphone and a retention device configured to hold the microphone near an entrance to an ear canal of an ear of a recipient. The cochlear implant system further comprises an off-the-ear (OTE) sound processor that includes a housing configured to be worn off the ear of the recipient and further configured to physically attach to the microphone assembly so as to allow the microphone assembly to be worn off the ear when the microphone assembly is not being worn at the ear using the retention device. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

The invention relates to a hearing aid a cochlear implant comprising a) at least one input transducer for capturing incoming sound and for generating electric audio signals which represent frequency bands of the incoming sound, b) a sound processor which is configured to analyze and to process the electric audio signals, c) a transmitter that sends the processed electric audio signals, d) a receiver/stimulator, which receives the processed electric audio signals from the transmitter and converts the processed electric audio signals into electric pulses, e) an electrode array embedded in the cochlear comprising a number of electrodes for stimulating the cochlear nerve with said electric pulses, and f) a control unit configured to control the distribution of said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes. The control unit is configured to distribute said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes by applying one out of a plurality of different coding schemes, and wherein the applied coding scheme is selected according to characteristics of the incoming sound.

Various embodiments of a hearing device and a system of using such device are disclosed. The hearing device includes a housing, electronic components disposed within the housing, and an earpiece adapted to be disposed in an ear canal of the ear of the wearer. The device also includes a sensor adapted to be in contact with a portion of the ear of the wearer, where the sensor is further adapted to detect a physiological characteristic of the wearer and generate a sensor signal based on the physiological characteristic that is received by a controller of the electronic components disposed within the housing; and a cable that operatively connects the sensor to the earpiece, where the cable is biased to maintain contact between the sensor and the portion of the ear of the wearer when the earpiece is disposed in the ear canal of the wearer.

A hearing assistance system and method are described herein. The system includes a first ear-worn device, a second ear-worn device, and a case. The system is configured to detect a vibration sequence at an IMU and decide whether to pair wireless communication devices of the first and second ear-worn devices based on the vibration sequence detected at the IMU.

A method of providing hearing assistance to a at least one user wearing at least one receiver hearing assistance device from at least one audio transmission device worn by a another user, involving: automatically pairing and connecting the audio transmission device with the receiver hearing assistance device to form an ad-hoc network for exchanging network and/or control information, estimating at least one of an angular direction of the audio transmission device with regard to a viewing direction of the user of the receiver hearing assistance device and an angular direction of the receiver hearing assistance device with regard to a viewing direction of the user of the audio transmission device, admitting the audio transmission device to a wireless local acoustic area network for exchanging audio signals only if, as a predefined admission rule, the transmission device is within a field of view of one of the users.

The application relates to a hearing device, e.g. a hearing aid, comprising a first part for being inserted in an ear canal or fully or partially implanted in the head of a user, the first part comprising at least one electrode unit, termed a PR-electrode unit, for making contact to skin or tissue of a user when mounted or implanted in an operational condition, the at least one PR-electrode unit being configured to pick up a physiological response from the user, and wherein the at least one PR-electrode unit comprises an electrically conductive material, e.g. a shape memory alloy. The first part may comprise an implanted part, e.g. in combination with an external part adapted for being located in an ear canal, wherein both parts comprise one or more PR-electrode units. The invention may e.g. be used hearing aids, headsets, ear phones, active ear protection systems, or combinations thereof, e.g. to control processing of the hearing device or to monitor a condition of the user wearing the hearing device.