This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/857,462, filed Aug. 16, 2010, and 13/041,854, filed Mar. 7, 2011, which are a continuation-in-part and a continuation, respectively, of U.S. Pat. No. 7,916,888. The entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference.
This disclosure relates to exits for headphone ports. U.S. Pat. No. 7,916,888 describes an in-ear headphone design in which two acoustic ports, one acoustically reactive and one acoustically resistive, are provided to couple the cavity enclosing the back side of an electroacoustic transducer to the environment, as shown in
A reactive port like the port 26 is, for example, a tube-shaped opening in what may otherwise be a sealed acoustic chamber, in this case rear chamber 14. In the example of
In general, in one aspect, a headphone includes an electroacoustic transducer, a shell enclosing a back side of the electroacoustic transducer to define a back cavity, a first opening, and a second opening through the shell, each opening coupling the back cavity to an outer surface of the shell, and a plate attached to the shell, the plate having a bottom surface abutting the outer surface of the shell, and a top surface opposite the bottom surface. The plate includes an exit cavity defined by side walls interior to the plate, an upper aperture in the top surface of the plate, and a lower aperture in the bottom surface of the plate, the lower aperture corresponding in dimension to the first opening through the shell and aligned with the first opening through the shell. A channel in the bottom surface of the plate begins at a point aligned with the second opening through the shell and ends at an aperture through one of the side walls of the exit cavity. The channel and the outer surface of the shell together form a reactive port from the back cavity to the exit cavity, the first opening through the shell forms a resistive acoustic port from the back cavity to the exit cavity, and the exit cavity couples the reactive port and the resistive acoustic port to free space without introducing additional acoustic impedance. In some examples, a water-resistant screen is located on the top surface of the plate and covers the upper aperture of the exit cavity. A set of headphones includes two such headphones.
Implementations may include one or more of the following. The water-resistant screen may be acoustically transparent. The water-resistant screen may have a specific acoustic resistance less than 10 Rayls (MKS). The water-resistant screen may be heat-staked to the top surface of the plate to seal the screen to the top surface around the upper aperture of the exit cavity. The water-resistant screen may comprise polyester fabric coated with a hydrophobic coating. An acoustically-resistive screen may cover the first opening through the shell on an inner surface of the shell and provide the acoustic resistance of the resistive port. The acoustically resistive screen may be water-resistant. The acoustically resistive screen may have a specific acoustic resistance of 260±15% Rayls (MKS). The acoustically resistive screen may be heat-staked to the inner surface of the shell to seal the screen to the inner surface around the first opening through the shell. The plate may be bonded to the shell by an ultrasonic weld. The ultrasonic weld may seal the plate to the shell to prevent sound and water from passing between the environment and first and second openings in through shell.
The first opening through the shell may be characterized by a first area, and the aperture of the channel forming the reactive port into the exit cavity may be characterized by a second area, the first area being at least four times greater than the second area. The first opening through the shell may have a first width in a side corresponding to the side of the exit cavity where the aperture of the channel forming the reactive port may be located, and the aperture of the channel forming the reactive port into the exit cavity may be generally semi-circular having a diameter, the width of the first opening being about two times the diameter of the aperture. The side wall of the exit cavity where the aperture of the channel forming the reactive port may be located may be a first side wall, the exit cavity may be characterized by a first cross-sectional area in a plane parallel to the first opening through the shell, a first width and a first depth at the first side wall, and a second depth at a side wall opposite the first side wall, the aperture of the channel forming the reactive port into the exit cavity may be characterized by a second area, the first width being greater than the first depth, the first depth being greater than the second depth, and the first cross-sectional area being at least four times greater than the second area. A second shell may enclose a front side of the electroacoustic transducer to define a front cavity, with a first opening through the second shell coupling the front cavity to an outer surface of the shell and a second water-resistant screen on an inner surface of the second shell covering the first opening through the second shell. A third water-resistant screen may cover a second opening through the second shell coupling the front cavity to the outer surface of the shell; the first opening through the second shell forming a resistive acoustic port from the front cavity to free space, and the second opening through the shell providing an acoustic output from the headphone.
In general, in one aspect, assembling a headphone comprising an electroacoustic transducer, a shell, and a plate, includes coupling the shell to a back side of the electroacoustic transducer to form a back cavity, aligning an exit cavity in the plate, defined by side walls interior to the plate, an upper aperture in a top surface of the plate, and a lower aperture in a bottom surface of the plate opposite the top surface, with a first opening through the shell from the back cavity to an outer surface of the shell, the first opening corresponding in dimension to the lower aperture of the exit cavity, aligning a first end of a channel through a bottom surface of the plate with a second opening through the shell from the back cavity to the outer surface of the shell, a second end of the channel opening into the exit aperture, pressing the plate against the shell such that an energy director on the bottom surface of the plate is in contact with the outer surface of the shell, and applying ultrasonic energy to the plate, such that the energy director forms an ultrasonic weld between the plate and the shell. A water-resistant screen may be affixed on the top surface of the plate, covering the upper aperture of the exit cavity.
Implementations may include one or more of the following. The water-resistant screen may be acoustically transparent. Affixing the screen may include heat-staking the screen to the top surface of the plate to seal the screen to the top surface around the upper aperture of the exit cavity. An acoustically resistive screen may be affixed to an inner surface of the shell, covering the first opening through the shell. Affixing the screen may comprise heat-staking the screen to the inner surface of the shell to seal the screen to the inner surface around the first opening through the shell. A water-resistant screen may be affixed over apertures in a second shell, and the second shell may be coupled to a front side of the electroacoustic transducer to form a front cavity.
Advantages include simplifying the mechanical construction of an in-ear headphone having parallel reactive and resistive acoustic ports, and waterproofing such a headphone to prevent water intrusion through those and other ports.
Other features and advantages will be apparent from the description and the claims.
In the example discussed above, a reactive port exits a headphone through a hole in the side of the shell forming the outer casing of the headphone, while a resistive port exits in a separate location. The improvement discussed below involves forming the ports in a different manner that allows them to share an opening to the environment. The disclosed construction is easier to assemble in general and it facilitates providing the additional feature of protecting the headphone against water intrusion through the ports.
As shown in
The headphone also includes a lower shell 126 which encloses the front side of the transducer to form a front cavity 128. In some examples, the front shell is open to the user's ear canal through a nozzle 130; in other examples, the front shell is open to the ear through conventional holes in the shell, not shown. In some examples, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/857,462, additional ports 132 are provided in the front shell to control the acoustic response of the headphone. To provide water resistance for the front cavity, the opening of the nozzle and the additional ports are also covered with water resistant screens 134, 136.
In some examples, as shown in
The resistive port is formed by attaching a screen 150 having the desired specific acoustic resistance to the inside surface of the upper shell 100, covering the opening 108. In some examples, screen made of polyester fabric and having a specific acoustic resistance of 260±15% Rayls (MKS) is preferred. In some examples, as shown in
Also in
In some examples, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C, the sizes and positions of the port openings 114 and 108 are selected to not only provide the desired acoustic impedances, but also to avoid the two ports interacting, given their proximity to each other within the exit chamber 116. In
Locating the reactive port exit 114 on the side of the exit chamber 116, perpendicular to the resistive port 108, helps avoid interactions between the two ports. In some examples, the mass port exit (and the mass port throughout its length) is a semi-circle with a radius RMP of less than 1 mm and a cross-sectional area AMP of a little over 1 mm2; in such examples, the port may have a total length LMP of 11-12 mm. Also, as noted, the exit chamber 116 is sized to avoid adding any additional acoustic impedance to the ports. The depth of the exit chamber is determined by the thicknesses of the back cover 100 (not shown in
In general, the area of the resistive port is about four times greater than the area of the reactive port, and the side of the exit chamber and resistive port where the reactive port enters the exit chamber is about twice as wide as the diameter of the semi-circular reactive port. In addition, the exit chamber is wider than it is deep at the deeper side. In one particular example, the reactive port opening 114 is a semi-circle with radius of 0.85 mm for an area of 1.135 mm2, the resistive port opening 108 is 3.623 mm wide at the side corresponding to the reactive port exit with a total area of 5.018 mm2, and the exit chamber is 2.698 mm deep at the deeper side 162 and 1.731 mm deep on the shorter side 160.
Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims and other claims to which the applicant may be entitled.
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