diff --git a/neo/rawio/openephysbinaryrawio.py b/neo/rawio/openephysbinaryrawio.py
index d2aefc5d7..097cac09b 100644
--- a/neo/rawio/openephysbinaryrawio.py
+++ b/neo/rawio/openephysbinaryrawio.py
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ def _parse_header(self):
                     # check that events have timestamps
                     assert "timestamps" in info, "Event stream does not have timestamps!"
                     # Updates for OpenEphys v0.6:
-                    # In new vesion (>=0.6) timestamps.npy is now called sample_numbers.npy
+                    # In new version (>=0.6) timestamps.npy is now called sample_numbers.npy
                     # The timestamps are already in seconds, so that event times don't require scaling
                     # see https://open-ephys.github.io/gui-docs/User-Manual/Recording-data/Binary-format.html#events
                     if "sample_numbers" in info:
@@ -382,25 +382,43 @@ def _parse_header(self):
                     else:
                         self._use_direct_evt_timestamps = False
 
-                    # for event the neo "label" will change depending the nature
+                    # for event the neo "label" will change depending on the nature
                     #  of event (ttl, text, binary)
-                    # and this is transform into unicode
-                    # all theses data are put in event array annotations
+                    # and this is transform into Unicode
+                    # all these data are put in event array annotations
+                    labels_text = None
                     if "text" in info:
-                        # text case
-                        info["labels"] = info["text"].astype("U")
+                        labels_text = info["text"]
                     elif "metadata" in info:
                         # binary case
-                        info["labels"] = info["channels"].astype("U")
+                        labels_text = info["metadata"]
                     elif "channels" in info:
                         # ttl case use channels
-                        info["labels"] = info["channels"].astype("U")
+                        labels_text = info["channels"]
                     elif "states" in info:
                         # ttl case use states
-                        info["labels"] = info["states"].astype("U")
+                        labels_text = info["states"]
                     else:
                         raise ValueError(f"There is no possible labels for this event!")
 
+                    # decode if unicode or string case
+                    if labels_text.dtype.kind in ["U", "S"]:
+                        info["labels"] = np.array([e.decode('utf-8') for e in labels_text], dtype='U')
+                    elif labels_text.dtype.names is not None:
+                        # structured dtype: unfold the named fields into a str per element
+                        labels = []
+                        for row in labels_text:
+                            parts = []
+                            for field_name in labels_text.dtype.names:
+                                value = row[field_name]
+                                if isinstance(value, bytes):
+                                    value = value.decode("utf-8")
+                                parts.append(f"{field_name}={value}")
+                            labels.append(";".join(parts))
+                        info["labels"] = np.array(labels, dtype="U")
+                    else:
+                        info["labels"] = labels_text.astype("U")
+
                     # # If available, use 'states' to compute event duration
                     info["durations"] = None
                     # 'states' was introduced in OpenEphys v0.6. For previous versions, events used 'channel_states'