Headphone and acoustic characteristic adjustment method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10117017-B2
Application number	US-201715830056-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2017
Priority date	Nov 19, 2013
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

There is provided a headphone including: a driver unit including a vibration plate; a housing configured to house the driver unit, to form an air-tightened front air chamber of which a part except for an opening for sound output is spatially blocked from the outside on a front side on which the vibration plate of the driver unit is provided, and to form a rear air chamber that has a predetermined capacity on a rear side that is the opposite side to the front side; and an acoustic tube provided in a partial region of a partition wall of the housing that constitutes the rear air chamber and configured to spatially connect the rear air chamber and the outside of the housing through a tube.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A headphone, comprising:
a driver unit that includes a vibration plate; and
a housing configured to house the driver unit,
wherein the vibration plate is on a first side of the housing, and
wherein the housing comprises:
an air-tight first air chamber,
wherein a part of the air-tight first air chamber, except for an opening for sound output, is spatially blocked from an outside of the housing, and
wherein the air-tight first air chamber is on the first side of the housing;
a second air chamber on a second side of the housing,
wherein the second side of the housing is an opposite side to

the first side of the housing; and
an acoustic tube in a partial region of a partition wall of the housing,
wherein the housing constitutes the second air chamber,
wherein the acoustic tube is configured to spatially connect the second air chamber and the outside of the housing,
wherein an acoustic capacity of the headphone is based on a capacity component of the second air chamber and an acoustic inductance of the acoustic tube,
wherein a value of the acoustic inductance is determined based on a length of the acoustic tube and an inner cross-sectional area of the acoustic tube, and
wherein a ratio of the length of the acoustic tube to the inner cross-sectional area of the acoustic tube is at least 13 (1/mm).

2. The headphone according to claim 1 ,
wherein an acoustic equivalent circuit of the headphone comprises a parallel resonance circuit configured for anti-resonance at a resonance frequency,
wherein an acoustic capacity of the parallel resonance circuit corresponds to the capacity component of the second air chamber, and
wherein an acoustic inductance of the parallel resonance circuit corresponds to an inductance component of the acoustic tube.

3. The headphone according to claim 1 , wherein the acoustic capacity further includes a capacity component of a driver unit air chamber, and wherein the driver unit air chamber is between a frame and the vibration plate.

4. The headphone according to claim 2 , wherein the resonance frequency is determined based on a value of the acoustic inductance of the parallel resonance circuit and a value of the acoustic capacity of the parallel resonance circuit.

5. The headphone according to claim 1 , further comprising
a driver unit air chamber between a frame of the driver unit and the vibration plate,
wherein the frame comprises a vent hole that spatially connects the driver unit air chamber and the second air chamber,
wherein the vent hole comprises a ventilation resistor configured to serve as a resistance in an acoustic equivalent circuit of the headphone,
wherein a sound pressure level of the headphone in a frequency band is determined based on a value of an acoustic resistance that corresponds to a resistive component of the ventilation resistor in the acoustic equivalent circuit.

6. The headphone according to claim 5 , wherein the sound pressure level of the headphone in the frequency band is determined based on a value of the acoustic capacity of the headphone, and
wherein the acoustic capacity is based on at least one of the capacity component of the second air chamber, a value of the acoustic inductance of the acoustic tube, or a value of the acoustic resistance.

7. The headphone according to claim 1 , wherein the second air chamber is spatially blocked from the outside of the housing except for a ventilation in the acoustic tube.

8. The headphone according to claim 4 , wherein the resonance frequency has a value from 350 (Hz) to 650 (Hz), based on the length of the acoustic tube and the inner cross-sectional area of the acoustic tube.

9. The headphone according to claim 1 , wherein the housing is integrated to the acoustic tube.

10. The headphone according to claim 1 ,
wherein the partial region of the partition wall comprises an opening that spatially connects the second air chamber and the outside of the housing, and
wherein a tubular member is connected to the opening based on a configuration of the acoustic tube.

11. The headphone according to claim 1 , wherein the driver unit is a dynamic driver unit.

12. The headphone according to claim 1 , further comprising
a sound guiding tube, wherein the sound guiding tube is a tubular portion that projects toward the outside of the housing,
wherein the sound guiding tube is in one portion of a region that constitutes the air-tight first air chamber of the housing,
wherein the opening for sound output is at a tip of the sound guiding tube, and
wherein the headphone is a canal earphone, wherein a tip of the sound guiding tube is configured to be inserted into an external auditory canal of a user.

13. The headphone according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a pair of housings configured to house the driver unit,
wherein a first housing of the pair of housings is linked to a second housing of the pair of housings based on a supporting member that curves in an arch shape,
wherein the headphone is an overhead headphone configured to be worn on a head of a user based on the supporting member, and
wherein the opening for sound output of the housing is configured to face an ear of the user.

14. The headphone according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an acoustic characteristic adjustment mechanism configured to adjust an acoustic characteristic of the headphone based on a change of a characteristic of the acoustic tube.

15. The headphone according to claim 14 , wherein the characteristic of the acoustic tube comprises a ventilation in the acoustic tube.

16. The headphone according to claim 15 ,
wherein the acoustic characteristic adjustment mechanism comprises a switch member,
wherein the switch member comprises a boss configured to insert into and remove from the acoustic tube, and
wherein the boss is inserted into and removed from the acoustic tube based on a parallel movement of the switch member, wherein an insertion of the boss into the acoustic tube and a removal of the boss from the acoustic tube is configured to adjust the ventilation in the acoustic tube.

17. The headphone according to claim 16 ,
wherein a partial region of the acoustic tube is an elastic body, and
wherein the boss is press-fitted to the partial region of the acoustic tube, to obstruct the ventilation in the acoustic tube.

18. The headphone according to claim 16 ,
wherein a first projecting part that projects in a radial direction is in a partial region of the boss in a longitudinal direction,
wherein a second projecting part that projects in the radial direction is in a partial region on an inner wall of the acoustic tube in the longitudinal direction, and
wherein the first projecting part is configured to engage and rub against the second projecting part, based on the insertion of the boss into the acoustic tube and the removal of the boss from the acoustic tube.

19. An acoustic characteristic adjustment method, comprising:
housing a driver unit that includes a vibration plate in a housing,
wherein the vibration plate is on a first side of the housing;

forming an air-tight first air chamber,
wherein a part of the air-tight first air chamber, except for an opening for sound output, is spatially blocked from an outside of the housing,
wherein the air-tight first air chamber is on the first side of the housing; forming a second air chamber on a second side of the housing,
wherein the second side of the housing is an opposite side to the first side of the housing; and

providing an

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Kuwahara Eiji
• Suzuki Takahiro

Classifications

• G10K11/178

  by electro-acoustically regenerating the original acoustic waves in anti-phase · CPC title

• H04R3/04

  for correcting frequency response · CPC title

• H04R1/2849

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/2811 Primary

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/1008

  Earpieces of the supra-aural or circum-aural type · CPC title