AudioEye ended Q3 with about 22,000 customers, a 500% increase from a year earlier and more than triple its customer accounts since Dec. 31, said Executive Chairman Carr Bettis on a Thursday investor call. The company markets online accessibility tools for the visually impaired and certifies websites for American With Disabilities Act compliance. Though demand for digital accessibility is strong, AudioEye has had new customer deals delayed because of COVID-19, said Bettis. “We've also continued to extend some more flexible pricing and other options to our customers on a case-by-case basis, to help them manage through the impact on their own businesses from the pandemic.” Customer renewals are down “substantially due to events that are out of our control, such as bankruptcy proceedings or outright business closures,” he said.

The rapid growth of true wireless headphone sales is driving innovation in the hearables category which, enabled by SoC designs, will develop into a platform that’s less dependent on the smartphone, said a Friday SAR Insight report. “Headphones will eventually become separate untethered devices, rather than conduits for other devices,” and increased functionality will lead to new applications in entertainment and healthcare, it said. “We will see much more processing power encapsulated within the headphones than we do now,” said analyst Joe Hoffman. Services that require low latency, such as noise cancellation and wake word identification, will reside in the earbud, while the heavy processing takes place “in a mobile phone or even the cloud.” Much of the headphone ecosystem is in place as consumers have embraced true wireless earbuds and shown a willingness to “talk to their devices with digital assistants,” Hoffman said. “The earbud is a perfect place to install the biosensors for health monitoring applications, with temperature and motion sensing in the ear canal, providing more intimate and accurate detection than on the wrist,” he said.

The FCC Connected Care Pilot Program application filing window opens at noon EST Friday and runs through Dec. 7, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday that provided guidance on submissions. Chairman Ajit Pai said the $100 million program for providing connected care services "explores how universal service support can provide next-level health care to our nation’s most vulnerable populations, including low-income Americans and veterans." Commissioner Brendan Carr said the pilot "is the healthcare equivalent of shifting from Blockbuster to Netflix," as connected devices eliminate the need to travel for healthcare. The pilot "can ensure that Americans receive quality care while continuing to maintain physical separation [and] be used to treat a wide range of health conditions," he said.

Over $5 billion of ear-worn products with biosensors will be sold by 2030, after a gradual introduction starting with conventional sensors such as heart rate devices, said IDTechEx Monday. Penetration by unit volume will be relatively small, but biometric sensor integration will be a premium feature addition to higher-value products with potential for “substantial” revenue, it said. The ear is an ideal location for biosensors because it's close to many useful, high-quality biometric signals, said the report, noting the ear canal has a “shallow, rich capillary bed which makes it suitable for non-invasive monitoring,” such as heart rate. Sensors in the ear are closer to the body’s core, giving optimum measurements for body temperature; the ear is also close to important signals such as brainwaves, eye movement, speech recognition and head tracking, it said. The wider hearables market faces challenges, including impact of the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act and the new category it creates, the duration of current market conditions and dominance of particular brands, failed products in a developing category, and the pace of technological advances. In August, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged missing its statutory deadline under the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 for proposing the rule to create a category of OTC hearing aids for people with mild or moderate hearing loss, citing the “urgent needs of COVID-19 patients” (see 2008200024). There’s no definitive schedule for the FDA to release the proposed rule. A spokesperson said in September it could be after the fall (see 2008310007).

Forty-nine percent of iPhone owners who are heads of U.S. broadband households own at least one connected health product, versus 34% of Android owners, Parks Associates reported Monday. The most commonly adopted connected health wearables are smartwatches, fitness trackers and GPS sports watches. Consumers also report high demand for connected blood pressure cuffs, Wi-Fi weight scales and connected thermometers. COVID-19 has had a “dramatic impact” on consumer health and fitness markets, said analyst Kristen Hanich.

Some 42% of U.S. broadband households own at least one connected health device, 28% own a wearable and 15% have a connected medical device such as a smart thermometer or wireless continuous positive airway pressure machine, said Parks Associates Monday. The next generation of healthcare innovation will be driven by the development of “a virtual consumer-centric health home” and an ecosystem of clinical and non-clinical services, said Mark Francis, chief digital health integration officer, Electronic Caregiver. Parks plans a virtual event on connected health Wednesday at noon EDT.

A quarter of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a connected health device in the next 12 months, blogged Parks Associates Monday. Big tech brands -- including Apple with the Watch and Amazon with Halo -- will expand the market for wellness solutions at home and among healthcare providers with telehealth and independent living services, said President Elizabeth Parks. A third of consumers are interested in having wearables monitor their health, 20% are “very interested.” A majority of consumers “find virtual care solutions that incorporate data from their connected health devices appealing,” Parks said.

Walmart scheduled an online wellness event Friday-Sunday to give consumers tips on improving their nutritional, heart and mental health, it said Monday. As part of the three-day event, singer Patti LaBelle will discuss how to manage diabetes through diet and exercise; Univision medical correspondent Juan Rivera will discuss ways to lower blood pressure; and Christine Crawford, assistant psychiatry professor at Boston University, will address managing anxiety. The goal is to help customers improve their health from home, said Walmart Chief Medical Officer Tom Van Gilder. Walmart operates 4,700 pharmacies nationwide.

Some 54% of Americans opted for virtual medical visits during the coronavirus pandemic, and 70% plan to continue them, but privacy and data protection are major concerns, said a Tuesday report from CynergisTek. Telehealth was the preferred alternative to in-person visits and elective care during the pandemic, but half of survey respondents said they would limit use if a telehealth data breach occurred. “Major vulnerabilities are emerging around privacy and security standards for video conferencing and messaging apps when used for telehealth (such as consumer technologies like Zoom), which can be easily infiltrated -- providing hackers with additional opportunities to breach highly-sensitive information,” said CynergisTek CEO Caleb Barlow. Of those who have used telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, 73 percent report they'll continue virtual visits after the pandemic passes, said the cybersecurity firm. Nearly 80% of men who have used a telehealth solution during the pandemic will continue using them post-COVID-19 vs. 67% of women. Among age groups, 81% of millennials plan to continue using telehealth options post-pandemic, 79% of Gen Xers.

Samsung’s South Korean parent company applied July 28 to trademark “Sound Visualizer” for downloadable software that aids TV-viewing for the hearing-impaired, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The software is used for “visualizing sound for people with hearing difficulties by generating graphic images in response to sound waves,” said Samsung. It filed a similar application July 23 with U.K. trademark authorities, said PTO. Samsung TVs already deploy several technologies for viewers with hearing loss, including a feature called multi-output audio that enables consumers to pair Bluetooth headphones with TV sound. Samsung didn’t comment Monday.