ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,432,508, issued on Sept. 30, was assigned to MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH (Innsbruck, Austria).
"Passive hearing implant" was invented by Geoffrey R. Ball (Axams, Austria) and Alexander Hofer (Absam, Austria).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A middle ear implant system includes a disc-shape vibration surface that is configured for implantation within skin lying over skull bone of a patient, with the disc-shape vibration surface parallel to an outer surface of the skin and to the skull bone so that sound vibrations striking the outer surface of the skin create corresponding vibrations in the disc-shape vibration surface within th...