Appeal No. 1998-0659
Application No. 08/264,527
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine it with
the enhanced hearing aid which Shannon teaches is for the 40
hearing impaired and is designed for use in high noise and
high-interference environments. As tinnitus patients suffer
from ringing and other noises, and as both patients of
Matsushima had hearing impairments in addition to tinnitus, 41
it would have been obvious to use both the apparatus for the
suppression of tinnitus as disclosed by Matsushima and the
apparatus for improved hearing of sound as disclosed by
Shannon for these patients.
III. CONCLUSION
This decision contains a new ground of rejection pursuant
to 37 CFR § 1.196(b). 37 CFR § 1.196(b) provides that ?[a]
new ground of rejection shall not be considered final for
purposes of judicial review.”
37 CFR § 1.196(b) also provides that the appellants,
WITHIN TWO MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise
one of the following two options with respect to the new
40 Column 3, lines 41-51.
41 Sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.2.
35
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