RuntimeWire discovers Midjourney patent for an ultrasound collar that reads speech from your neck

RuntimeWire discovered a pending U.S. patent application from Midjourney, published June 18th, 2026, naming David Holz and former Tone builder Jackson Oswalt. The patent describes an open ultrasound collar worn around the shoulders that bounces sound off the neck to recover speech from skin vibrations, routing it to a language model. The filing claims to address two problems that have stalled AI wearables: microphones that pick up entire rooms and devices bystanders dislike. It also extends Midjourney's ultrasound work from the water-bath body scanner into a personal voice interface, involving an inventor who previously abandoned an always-listening pendant over privacy and social acceptance concerns. The article notes that a pending patent is only an option, not a product, and its value depends on sensing quality Midjourney has not publicly demonstrated.

(Source：RuntimeWire)