Patent Application
20080273729
The present invention is directed to an assembly method for custom hearing aids. Hearing aids are comprised of a shell into which various components, such as amplifying circuitry, transducers, etc. are placed.
Existing constructions of custom hearing aids do not provide a definite position of the components inside the shell. When assembling the hearing aid components, an assembly worker positions the faceplate components into the shell without seeing the results. The lack of control may cause a damage of the faceplate components, or may create a feedback situation when the hearing aid is in use due to an unexpected interaction of the faceplate components with the receiver.
One proposed construction and assembly method of a custom hearing aid is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0074138 (“the '138 Publication”), filed Sep. 21, 2004, herein along with its parent incorporated by reference. The 1138 Publication addresses the issues of assembling hearing instruments with conventional faceplates. In such instruments, the shell is widely open during the assembly, which allows for an easy access to the receiver component. The receiver position can be adjusted and the suspended peripheral components can be readily plugged into the matching cavities of the latches. However, this application does not address problems of assembling In-the-Ear (ITE) instruments with Semi-Modular (SM) inserts.
The goals of the present invention are to speed up the closing of custom hearing aids, to improve the consistency of performance, and to avoid damaging the components. The present method disclosed allows for a quick closing of a hearing instrument with the consistent results, and allows for a reliable assembly of an ITE instruments with an SM insert (where access to the receiver assembly is very limited) with all the benefits that the design according to the disclosure of the '138 Publication offers for conventional (non-SM) instruments.
Accordingly, a method is provided for assembling a hearing aid shell, comprising attaching a receiver tube to a receiver assembly; pulling the receiver tube through holes in a supporting plate and shell tip to its final pre-designated position; moving, during the pulling, a first stud of the receiver assembly into a cavity of a permanent latch of the shell, until the first stud is at its final pre-designated position; and inserting an external rail latch onto a rail, such that the latch secures a second stud of the receiver assembly, thereby securing the receiver assembly at the pre-designated position.
Additionally, a hearing aid is provided, comprising a shell; a receiver assembly that primarily resides within the shell, the receiver assembly comprising a first and second stud; a receiver tube connected to the receiver assembly and extending through a hole in a supporting plate and shell tip respectively; a permanent latch comprising a cavity into which the first stud of the receiver assembly is located when the receiver assembly is in its designated position; an external rail; and an external rail latch that slides on the external rail and secures the receiver assembly in its designated position by interfacing with the second stud.
The invention is described with reference to various preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings and described in more detail below.
Referring to
The challenge during the assembly of ITE instruments 10 with an SM insert is due to the fact that there is no access to the receiver assembly 20 for an adjustment—it is almost completely obstructed by the shell 40.
When the receiver 20 reaches its designated position, the right stud 32 will go into the matching cavity 34 of the permanent latch 36. As can be seen in
As can be seen in
As to the method for manufacturing, the actual assembly may be done in the following order, as illustrated in
The proposed construction and the assembly procedure ensures that there are no issues with component damage, mechanical feedback, spikes, etc. in custom instruments with an SM insert, where the access to the receiver assembly is limited.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended by this specific language, and the invention should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art.
The present invention may be described in terms of functional block components and various processing steps. Such functional blocks may be realized by any number of components configured to perform the specified functions. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the invention in any way. For the sake of brevity, conventional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in the various figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships, physical connections or logical connections may be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
