Earphones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016066081-A1
Application number	US-201514938297-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 11, 2015
Priority date	Jun 30, 2006
Publication date	Mar 3, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A headphone includes a housing defining an enclosed volume, an electro-acoustic transducer dividing the enclosed volume into a front volume and a rear volume, a first port in the housing coupling the front volume to an ear canal of a user, a second port in the housing coupling the front volume to space outside the ear, a third port in the housing coupling the rear volume to space outside the ear, and an ear tip configured to surround the first port and seal the ear canal from space outside the ear. The second port has a diameter and a length that provide an acoustic mass with an acoustic impedance with a high reactive component and a low resistive component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A headphone comprising:
a housing defining an enclosed volume; an electro-acoustic transducer dividing the enclosed volume into a front volume and a rear volume; a first port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to an ear canal of a user when the headphone is worn; a second port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn; a third port in the housing arranged to couple the rear volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn; and an ear tip configured to surround the first port and seal the ear canal from space outside the ear when the headphone is worn; wherein the second port has a diameter and a length that provide an acoustic mass with an acoustic impedance with a high reactive component and a low resistive component.

2 . The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the second port has a diameter and a length that provide the second port with a low acoustic impedance at low frequencies and a high acoustic impedance at high frequencies.

3 . The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the ear tip is formed from materials having at least two different hardnesses.

4 . The headphone of claim 1 , further comprising a fourth port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn, wherein the fourth port has a diameter and a length that provide the fourth port with a high acoustic impedance with a large resistive component and a low reactive component.

5 . The headphone of claim 4 , wherein the second port and fourth port are arranged in a parallel configuration.

6 . The headphone of claim 1 , further comprising a fourth port in the housing arranged to couple the rear volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn, wherein the third port is a resistive port and the fourth port is a reactive port.

7 . The headphone of claim 6 , wherein the third port and fourth port are arranged in a parallel configuration.

8 . The headphone of claim 7 , wherein the third port and fourth port are positioned in the housing at approximately radially opposite positions.

9 . The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the second port is positioned such that it will not be blocked when the headphone is worn.

10 . A headphone comprising:
a housing defining an enclosed volume; an electro-acoustic transducer dividing the enclosed volume into a front volume and a rear volume; a first port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to an ear canal of a user when the headphone is worn; a second port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn; a third port in the housing arranged to couple the rear volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn; and an ear tip configured to surround the first port and form a seal between the housing and the ear canal when the headphone is worn.

11 . The headphone of claim 10 , wherein the ear tip is formed from materials having at least two different hardnesses.

12 . The headphone of claim 10 , wherein the second port is positioned such that it will not be blocked when the headphone is worn.

13 . The headphone of claim 10 , wherein the second port has a diameter and a length that provide the second port with a low acoustic impedance at low frequencies and a high acoustic impedance at high frequencies.

14 . The headphone of claim 10 , further comprising a fourth port in the housing arranged to couple the front volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn, wherein the fourth port has a diameter and a length that provide the fourth port with a high acoustic impedance with a large resistive component and a low reactive component.

15 . The headphone of claim 14 , wherein the second port and fourth port are arranged in a parallel configuration.

16 . The headphone of claim 10 , further comprising a fourth port in the housing arranged to couple the rear volume to space outside the ear of the user when the headphone is worn, wherein the third port is a resistive port and the fourth port is a reactive port.

17 . The headphone of claim 16 , wherein the third port and fourth port are arranged in a parallel configuration.

18 . A headphone comprising:
an ear tip configured to seal the headphone to an ear canal of a user to form an enclosed volume including the ear canal and a front cavity of the headphone, a front reactive port coupling the otherwise-sealed front cavity to space outside the headphone, to provide a consistent response across the audible spectrum, and a rear reactive port and a rear resistive port in parallel coupling a back cavity of the headhpone to space outside the headphone, to provide a high level of output for a given input signal level in combination with the seal.

19 . The headphone of claim 18 , further comprising a front resistive port coupling the front cavity to space outside the headphone in parallel to the front reactive port.

20 . The headphone of claim 18 , wherein the ear tip is formed from materials having at least two different hardnesses.

21 . The headphone of claim 18 , wherein the front reactive port is positioned such that it will not be blocked when the headphone is worn.

22 . A headphone comprising:
an ear tip configured to seal the headphone to an ear canal of a user to form an enclosed volume including the ear canal and a front cavity of the headphone, a front reactive port and a front resistive port coupling the otherwise-sealed front cavity to space outside the headphone in parallel, to provide a consistent response across the audible spectrum.

23 . The headphone of claim 22 , further comprising:
a rear reactive port and a rear resistive port in parallel coupling a back cavity of the headphone to space outside the headphone, to provide a high level of output for a given input signal level in combination with the seal.

Assignees

• Bose Corp

Inventors

• Annunziato Kevin P
• Harlow Jason
• Collier Ian M
• Monahan Michael
• Sapiejewski Roman

Classifications

• H04R1/24

  Structural combinations of separate transducers or of two parts of the same transducer and responsive respectively to two or more frequency ranges · CPC title

• H04R1/2846 Primary

  Vents, i.e. ports, e.g. shape thereof or tuning thereof with damping material · CPC title

• H04R1/1016 Primary

  Earpieces of the intra-aural type · CPC title

• H04R2420/07

  Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones · CPC title

• H04R1/2849

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title