Two new patents reveal that Apple working on hearing aids

[dgstorm]

Recent information has surfaced that the new iOS 6 will bring compatibility with the “Made for iPhone” hearing aids. Two recent patent applications published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week might shed a little light on what’s stored for us in this department.

The two patents are called "Hearing assistance system for providing consistent human speech" and "Providing notification sounds in a customizable manner" and they both deal with creating a mobile technology that will enhance the hearing experience for people who are phonically impaired.

The first patent tries to solve a pretty standard issue actually. We have all known people who have a distinctive indecipherable speech pattern, people we can’t seem to understand no matter how much we try. Add a foreign accent on top of that and we are as good as lost. To resolve it, Apple proposes a device (like the iPhone or iPad) capable of retrieving human speech, analyzing it and converting it to written messages (text). These messages are in turn sent to the hearing aid.

The second pattern is connected to a so called alarm system that will alert users using audio or visual queue of different events. An example is presented by Apple - an iPhone can pick up the existence of a doorbell via an internal microphone and signal back to the user by means of a flashing screen. The sounds of notifications can be amplified at will by the user. Notifications in form of text messages can be read out loud thanks to a speech engine.

By Radu

Source: United States Patent Application: 0120215532

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