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July 19th, 2012, 14:15 GMT · By

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Apple Files for Technology that Could Help the Hearing Impaired

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Apple hearing aid patent 1 Enlarge picture - Apple hearing aid patent 1
AppleInsider has discovered a couple of patent applications that may make Apple devices helpful to people with hearing disabilities.

The two filings, expected to complement the "Made for iPhone" hearing aid support, describe hardware accessories that will wirelessly connect to tablets and phones, including the iPhone 4S.

They are called Social Network for Sharing a Hearing Aid Setting and Remotely Updating a Hearing Aid Profile.

More than just an individual accessory, Apple envisions a system where hearing impaired people could communicate with each other and share configuration settings, or store them on computers, TVs or other devices.

"With the advent of programmable hearing aids whose signal processing can be at least partially modified, what is desired is providing a hearing aid user the ability to modify the audio processing of the programmable hearing aid in the context for which the hearing aid will be used," the filing reads.

APPLE HEARING AID PATENTS - PHOTO GALLERY:

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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Dream Beliver on 25 Jul 2012, 16:26 UTC reply to this comment

As someone that has done a little research because of my Dad's recent hearing loss... this idea is not new. Yes, it is very innovative, but I know of at least one company, Audiotoniq, that plans on releasing a hearing aid that can be customized via bluetooth and smart phone application. I'm real curious to see how this plays out.


Comment #2 by: CuernyBoard on 25 Jul 2012, 20:23 UTC reply to this comment

Wow! I think that's really cool! There is a company in Texas, Audiotoniq, that has been developing the same concept.....guess its a pretty good idea.


Comment #3 by: Heybuddy on 25 Jul 2012, 20:41 UTC reply to this comment

As innovative as this seems, I know for a fact that it isn't groundbreaking. I've been researching hearing aids for my father and have come across a company called Audiotoniq. They claim to have a programmable, blue tooth, customizable hearing aid that will use a smart phone interface. Not sure what this means for Apple, but it sure looks like the industry is about to change. A lot.

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