In-ear receiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11178497-B2
Application number	US-201816624552-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2018
Priority date	Jun 23, 2017
Publication date	Nov 16, 2021
Grant date	Nov 16, 2021

Abstract

An in-ear receiver can be used in a headset and/or hearing aid and includes a housing in which at least one ear canal section is configured to be inserted into an ear canal of a wearer when the in-ear receiver is used as intended. The housing defines at least one outer contour that is configured with at least in one section adapted to the ear canal of the wearer. The in-ear receiver includes a sound transducer arranged in the housing, and at least one resonant cavity, which is formed in the housing and is divided by the sound transducer into a front volume and a rear volume. The sound transducer is a MEMS sound transducer, and the front volume and/or the rear volume have/has an inner contour adapted to the ear canal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An in-ear receiver for a headset and/or hearing aid that fits at least partially into an ear canal of a wearer when the in-ear receiver is used as intended, the in-ear receiver comprising:
a housing that includes an ear canal section, which is configured to be inserted into the ear canal of the wearer when the in-ear receiver is used as intended;
a resonant cavity, which is formed in the ear canal section and includes a front volume and a rear volume that is physically separated from the front volume by a physical separation that separates the front volume from the rear volume;
an inner contour section of the ear canal section faces inwardly toward the front volume and inwardly toward the rear volume, wherein the inner contour section of the ear canal section defines the front volume and the rear volume;
an outer contour section of the ear canal section faces away from the front volume and faces away from the rear volume, wherein the outer contour section of the ear canal section faces toward the ear canal of the wearer when the in-ear receiver is used as intended;
a MEMS sound transducer that is disposed in the resonant cavity and that forms the physical separation between the front volume and the rear volume of the resonant cavity; and
wherein with the exception of the MEMS sound transducer, the resonant cavity is devoid of structure depending from the inner contour section of the ear canal.

2. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the inner contour is essentially a negative shape of the outer contour section.

3. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the housing is produced in a 3D printing process and/or an injection molding process.

4. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ear canal section is rigidly designed.

5. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , the inner contour section that is delimiting the front volume and/or the rear volume and has a uniform thickness.

6. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the inner contour section comprises relatively thickened portions and relatively thinned portions in the front volume and/or rear volume.

7. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the MEMS sound transducer includes an edge region that is at least partially set into the inner contour section.

8. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a resonant element arranged in the housing and made of a different material as compared to the housing.

9. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ear canal section comprises a sound outlet defined in a first end.

10. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising operating means configured for operating the in-ear receiver, the operating means being disposed in a second end, which is positioned opposite the first end.

11. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising an interface arranged in a region of the second end.

12. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising an audio line extending between the interface, the operating means, and/or the MEMS sound transducer, wherein the audio line is embedded into the housing.

13. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising an audio line extending between the interface, the operating means, and/or the MEMS sound transducer, wherein the audio line is embedded into the housing.

14. The in-ear receiver as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the inner contour section and the outer contour section is composed of material that is deformable in the presence of body heat of the ear canal to automatically conform to an organic freeform geometry of the ear canal upon insertion into the ear canal.

Assignees

• USound GmbH

Inventors

• Bottoni Ferruccio
• Rusconi Clerici Beltrami Andrea

Classifications

• H04R2440/07

  Loudspeakers using bending wave resonance and pistonic motion to generate sound · CPC title

• H04R2201/003

  Mems transducers or their use · CPC title

• H04R1/2876

  by means of damping material, e.g. as cladding (damping material for tuning desired resonances H04R1/2807, e.g. in vents H04R1/2823, H04R1/2846) · CPC title

• H04R25/604

  of acoustic or vibrational transducers · CPC title

• H04R25/656

  Non-customized, universal ear tips, i.e. ear tips which are not specifically adapted to the size or shape of the ear or ear canal · CPC title