Headphone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9794677-B2
Application number	US-201614993607-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 12, 2016
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A headphone that has a support structure that is adapted to sit on a head or upper torso of a user, a first acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the first acoustic driver is located off of an ear of the user, wherein the first acoustic driver has front and rear sides and sound is radiated from both sides of the first acoustic driver, and a structure that defines a first acoustic chamber on the front side of the first acoustic driver and with at least one opening therein, and a second acoustic chamber on the rear side of the first acoustic driver and with at least one opening therein. At low frequencies a polar pattern of the first acoustic driver behaves approximately like a dipole, and at high frequencies a polar pattern of the first acoustic driver exhibits a higher order directional pattern. A second acoustic driver can be included.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A headphone comprising:
a support structure that is adapted to sit on a head or upper torso of a user;
a low frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the low frequency acoustic driver is located off of an ear of the user, wherein the low frequency acoustic driver has front and rear sides;
a high frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the high frequency acoustic driver is located off of the ear of the user and is located closer to the ear than the first acoustic driver, wherein the high frequency driver has front and rear sides; and
a controller that is configured to enable the low frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a first frequency range and enable the high frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a second frequency range, the second frequency range being higher than the first frequency range.

2. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein a polar pattern of the low frequency acoustic driver behaves approximately like a dipole.

3. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein a polar pattern of the high frequency acoustic driver exhibits a higher order directional pattern.

4. The headphone of claim 3 , wherein the higher order directional pattern comprises one of: a cardioid or a hypercardioid.

5. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency range comprises frequencies below about 500 Hz and the second frequency range comprises frequencies above about 500 Hz.

6. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the high frequency driver is enclosed by a housing defining a rear chamber acoustically coupled to the rear side of the high frequency driver.

7. The headphone of claim 6 , further comprising a port in the rear side of the housing acoustically coupling the rear chamber to an environment external to the headphone.

8. The headphone of claim 7 , further comprising an acoustic resistance material proximate to the port.

9. The headphone of claim 8 , wherein the acoustic resistance material comprises at least one of: a plastic, a textile, a metal, a permeable material, a woven material, a screen material, and a mesh material.

10. The headphone of claim 8 , wherein the acoustic resistance material has an acoustic impedance that ranges from about 5 MKS Rayls to about 500 MKS Rayls.

11. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the low frequency driver is enclosed by a housing defining:
a front chamber acoustically coupled to the front side of the low frequency driver; and
a rear chamber acoustically coupled to the rear side of the low frequency driver;
wherein the housing comprises a first port that is acoustically coupled to the front chamber and a second port that is acoustically coupled to the rear chamber.

12. The headphone of claim 1 , further comprising a baffle adjacent to the high frequency acoustic driver.

13. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the crossover frequency is selected based on a combination of an output of the low frequency driver and a higher order directional pattern from the high frequency driver.

14. The headphone of claim 1 , wherein the low frequency driver is located off an ear of the user and outside of the pinna when viewed in the sagittal plane.

15. The headphone of claim 14 , further comprising a body that covers a portion of the pinna when viewed from the sagittal plane.

16. The headphone of claim 15 , wherein the high frequency driver is carried by the body.

17. The headphone of claim 16 , wherein the body comprises a baffle.

18. A headphone comprising:
a support structure that is adapted to sit on a head or upper torso of a user;
a low frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the low frequency acoustic driver is located off of an ear of the user, wherein a polar pattern of the low frequency acoustic driver behaves approximately like a dipole;
a high frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the high frequency acoustic driver is located off of the ear of the user and is located closer to the ear than the first acoustic driver, wherein a polar pattern of the high frequency acoustic driver exhibits a higher order directional pattern comprising one of: a cardioid or a hypercardioid;
wherein the high frequency driver is enclosed by a housing defining a rear chamber acoustically coupled to a rear side of the high frequency driver, and further comprising a port in the rear side of the housing acoustically coupling the rear chamber to an environment external to the headphone; and
a controller that is configured to enable the low frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a first frequency range and enable the high frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a second frequency range, the second frequency range being higher than the first frequency range.

19. The headphone of claim 18 , further comprising an acoustic resistance material proximate to the port, wherein the acoustic resistance material has an acoustic impedance that ranges from about 5 MKS Rayls to about 500 MKS Rayls.

20. A headphone comprising:
a support structure that is adapted to sit on a head or upper torso of a user;
a low frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the low frequency acoustic driver is located off of an ear of the user, wherein a polar pattern of the low frequency acoustic driver behaves approximately like a dipole;
wherein the low frequency driver is enclosed by a first housing defining a front chamber acoustically coupled to a front side of the low frequency driver and a rear chamber acoustically coupled to a rear side of the low frequency driver, and wherein the first housing comprises a first port that is acoustically coupled to the front chamber and a second port that is acoustically coupled to the rear chamber;
a high frequency acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the high frequency acoustic driver is located off of the ear of the user and is located closer to the ear than the first acoustic driver, wherein a polar pattern of the high frequency acoustic driver exhibits a higher order directional pattern comprising one of: a cardioid or a hypercardioid;
wherein the high frequency driver is enclosed by a second housing defining a rear chamber acoustically coupled to a rear side of the high frequency driver, and further comprising a port in the rear side of the second housing acoustically coupling the rear chamber to an environment external to the headphone; and
a controller that is configured to enable the low frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a first frequency range and enable the high frequency driver to acoustically output sound in a second frequency range, the second frequency range being higher than the first frequency range.

21. The headphone of claim 20 , wherein the low frequency driver is located outside of the pinna when viewed in the sagittal plane.

22. The headphone of claim 21 , further comprising a body that covers a portion of the pinna when viewed from the sagittal plane.

23. The headphone of claim 22 , wherein the high frequency driver is carried by the body.

Assignees

• Bose Corp

Inventors

• Shetye Mihir D
• Silvestri Ryan C

Classifications

• H04R5/0335

  Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests (for monophonic headphones H04R1/105) · CPC title

• H04R2205/024

  Positioning of loudspeaker enclosures for spatial sound reproduction · CPC title

• H04R2205/022

  Plurality of transducers corresponding to a plurality of sound channels in each earpiece of headphones or in a single enclosure · CPC title

• H04R1/1075

  Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones · CPC title

• H04R1/1091 Primary

  Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083 · CPC title