Patent ID: 8180080

Claim:
An apparatus for use in a hearing aid, the hearing aid including a housing portion for holding at least some electronics of the hearing aid, the apparatus comprising: communication electronics configured such that at least a portion of the communication electronics are placed in the housing portion of the hearing aid, and the communication electronics are configured such that at least some of the communication electronics are mounted on a substrate; and an antenna including one or more metallic traces connected to the communication electronics, the antenna configured for placement relative to the substrate of the at least some of the communication electronics such that the antenna includes at least one substantially planar portion that is perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to a plane of the substrate on which the at least some of the communication electronics are mounted and the antenna includes another portion connected to the substantially planar portion that is not parallel to the at least one substantially planar portion, wherein the communication electronics is configured to provide radio frequency communications using the antenna for the hearing aid.