In-ear housing with customized retention

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11317225-B2
Application number	US-201716641269-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2017
Priority date	Aug 24, 2017
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

A custom fit hearing device that includes an in-ear housing designed to fit at least partially in a hearing device user's ear canal. The in-ear housing includes one or more areas on its outer-surface that are designed to provide retention of the in-ear housing in the ear canal. The one of more area may be rougher than the rest of the outer-surface of the in-ear housing, may have greater a friction coefficient than the rest of the outer-surface of the in-ear housing, may be made of a different material than the rest of the outer-surface of the in-ear housing, may contain granular material and/or may include surface features such as shapes extending outward from the outer-surface or undulations/ripples in the outer-surface. The in-ear housing may be produced using virtual designs and a 3D scan of the ear canal and may be manufactured using additive manufacturing or 3D printing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An in-ear housing configured for at least partial insertion into an ear canal of a user of a hearing device, the in-ear housing comprising:
an outer-surface having a shape based upon at least a part of the ear canal of the user and comprising a plurality of contact areas configured to at least partially contact the ear canal of the user,
wherein:
contact areas included in the plurality of contact areas are configured to provide the outer-surface with at least one of varying roughness and varying friction properties, and
the plurality of contact areas comprises a first contact area having a first texture pattern and a second contact area having a second texture pattern that is different than the first texture pattern.

2. The in-ear housing according to claim 1 , wherein a location of the plurality of contact areas and/or an amount of increased roughness and/or varying friction properties with respect to at least a part of a remainder of the outer-surface is selected to improve retention of the in-ear housing in the ear canal.

3. The in-ear housing according to claim 1 , wherein a location of the plurality of contact areas and/or an amount of increased roughness and/or the varying friction properties with respect to at least a part of a remainder of the outer-surface is selected to reduce adverse effects of the increased roughness and/or the varying friction properties on inserting or removing the in-ear housing.

4. The in-ear housing according to claim 2 , wherein the location of the plurality of contact areas and/or an amount of the increased roughness and/or the varying friction properties with respect to at least a part of a remainder of the outer-surface is selected based upon a radial pressure at the plurality of contact areas.

5. The in-ear housing according to claim 4 , wherein a contact area included in the plurality of contact areas is located at a location where the in-ear housing is configured to produce an increased radial pressure on the ear canal with respect to the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface.

6. The in-ear housing according to claim 5 , wherein a roughness of the contact area is greater by an amount in a range from about 50% to 200% compared with a roughness of the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface.

7. An in-ear housing configured for at least partial insertion into an ear canal of a user of a hearing device, the in-ear housing comprising:
an outer-surface having a shape based upon at least a part of the ear canal of the user and comprising a contact area configured to at least partially contact the ear canal of the user, wherein:
the contact area comprises at least one of increased roughness and increased friction properties with respect to at least a part of a remainder of the outer-surface;
a location of the contact area and/or an amount of the increased roughness and/or increased friction properties with respect to the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface is selected to improve retention of the in-ear housing in the ear canal;
the location of the contact area is positioned where the in-ear housing is configured to produce an increased radial pressure on the ear canal with respect to the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface;
the location of the contact area and/or an amount of the increased roughness and/or increased friction properties with respect to the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface is selected based upon a radial pressure at the contact area;
a roughness of the contact area is greater by an amount in a range from about 50% to 200% compared with a roughness of the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface; and
an arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) according to DIN EN ISO 4287 of the contact area is in a range from about Ra=0.7 μm to Ra=1.8 μm.

8. The in-ear housing according to claim 7 , wherein the in-ear housing is made of at least one of: a metal, a vinyl, a resin, a silicon, or a plastic.

9. The in-ear housing according to claim 8 , wherein the in-ear housing is made of at least on of titanium, cobalt, chrome, or stainless steel.

10. The in-ear housing according to claim 5 , wherein the contact area comprises at least one of: a plurality of surface features extending outward from the outer-surface, a plurality of undulations in the outer-surface, or a plurality of granularities on the outer-surface.

11. The in-ear housing according to claim 10 , wherein the contact area comprises a material having an increased friction coefficient compared to the at least a part of the remainder of the outer-surface.

12. A method for designing an in-ear housing, the method comprising:
creating a digital model of an ear canal;
using the digital model to process a virtual model of the in-ear housing; and
using at least one of the digital model or the virtual model to design properties of a plurality of contact areas, the plurality of contact areas comprising a first contact area and a second contact area,
wherein:
the designing of the properties of the plurality of contact areas comprises designing a first texture pattern of the first contact area and a second texture pattern of the second contact area;
the second texture pattern is different than the first texture pattern; and
the designing of the properties of the plurality of contact areas further comprises at least one of:
designing a location of each of the plurality of contact areas;
designing a roughness of each of the plurality of contact areas;
designing surface features for inclusion in each of the plurality of contact areas;
selecting a contact material of each of the plurality of contact areas;
selecting a friction property or friction coefficient of each of the plurality of contact areas; or
designing granulation properties of each of the plurality of contact areas.

13. A method of manufacturing an in-ear housing configured to be worn at least partly in an ear canal, comprising:
using at least one of additive manufacturing or 3D printing to produce the in-ear housing, wherein:
the manufactured in-ear housing comprises a plurality of contact areas configured in use to contact the ear canal and exert a radial pressure on the ear canal;
the plurality of contact areas comprises a first contact area having a first texture pattern and a second contact area having a second texture pattern that is different than the first texture pattern; and
the plurality of contact areas comprise at least one of: a greater roughness than at least a part of a remaining area of an outer surface of the in-ear housing; a greater friction properties/friction coefficient than the at least a part of the remaining area; a different material than the at least a part of the remaining area; a series of undulations; a plurality of surface structures; or granulations.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the in-ear housing comprises at least one of an earmold or a part of a hearing device.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the in-ear housing is manufactured in accordance with a virtual design of the in-ear housing.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the virtual design of the in-ear housing includes at least one of a location of the plurality of contact areas or properties of the plurality of contact areas.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the virtual design is generated from a 3D model of the ear canal.

18. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
obtaining radial pressure calculations associated with the

Assignees

• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• Karamuk Erdal
• Schwarzlos-Sooprayen Jana-Kosima
• Thumm Natasha
• Vonlanthen Andi

Classifications

• H04R25/658

  Manufacture of housing parts · CPC title

• H04R25/652 Primary

  Ear tips; Ear moulds (hybrid ear moulds or post-processing thereof for their customisation H04R25/659) · CPC title

• H04R2225/77

  Design aspects, e.g. CAD, of hearing aid tips, moulds or housings · CPC title

• A61F11/08

  internal, e.g. earplugs · CPC title

• H04R1/1058

  Manufacture or assembly · CPC title