Patent Application
20080240485
The present invention relates generally to audio monitors and, more particularly, to an earphone eartip.
Earphones, also referred to as in-ear monitors, canal phones and earpieces, are commonly used to listen to both recorded and live music. A typical recorded music application would involve plugging the earphone into a music player such as a CD player, flash or hard drive based MP3 player, home stereo, or similar device using the earphone's headphone jack. Alternately, the earphone can be wirelessly coupled to the music player. In a typical live music application, an on-stage musician wears the earphone in order to hear his or her own music during a performance.
Earphones are typically quite small and are worn just outside the ear canal. Prior art earphones use either one or more diaphragm-based drivers, one or more armature-based drivers, or a combination of both driver types. Broadly characterized, a diaphragm is a moving-coil speaker with a paper or mylar diaphragm. Since the cost to manufacture diaphragms is relatively low, they are widely used in many common audio products. In contrast to the diaphragm approach, an armature receiver utilizes a piston design. Due to the inherent cost of armature receivers, however, they are typically only found in hearing aids and high-end in-ear monitors.
Armature drivers, also referred to as balanced armatures, were originally developed by the hearing aid industry. This type of driver uses a magnetically balanced shaft or armature within a small, typically rectangular, enclosure. A single armature is capable of accurately reproducing low-frequency audio or high-frequency audio, but incapable of providing high-fidelity performance across all frequencies. To overcome this limitation, armature-based earphones often use two, or even three, armature drivers. In such multiple armature arrangements, a crossover network is used to divide the frequency spectrum into multiple regions, i.e., low and high or low, medium, and high. Separate armature drivers are then used for each region, individual armature drivers being optimized for each region. In contrast to the multi-driver approach often used with armature drivers, earpieces utilizing diaphragm drivers are typically limited to a single diaphragm due to the size of the diaphragm assembly. Unfortunately, as diaphragm-based monitors have significant frequency roll off above 4 kHz, an earpiece with a single diaphragm cannot achieve the desired upper frequency response while still providing an accurate low frequency response.
In addition to utilizing one or more high-fidelity drivers, professional-quality earphones are either custom molded or they use generic eartips, also referred to as sleeves. For a custom molded earphone, a mold is first taken of the intended user's ear canal for a single earphone, or both ear canals for a pair of earphones. The custom earphones are then constructed by positioning some or all of the audio components within the earphone shells, the shells being fabricated from the molds taken of the user's ear canals. As the outside of the earphone shell is designed to exactly complement the inside of the user's ear canals, such earphones are typically very comfortable. Generic eartips offer a less expensive alternative to custom molded earphones. Such eartips use soft, pliable materials such as foam or silicon to provide a snug, comfortable fit at a fraction of the cost of a custom molded earphone. In use, both generic eartips and custom molded earphones attempt to isolate the user by minimizing audio interference caused by competing background noise.
Although many users find that generic eartips provide a comfortable fit, some users, typically those with smaller ear canals, still find that even the smallest available eartips are too large to fit comfortably within their ears. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an easily replaceable generic eartip that can be sized to fit a wide range of users. The present invention provides such an eartip.
The present invention provides an integrated eartip that utilizes a one-piece, rather than a multi-piece, design. The one-piece design is comprised of a first portion that includes at least one, or at least two, sound delivery tubes and a second portion that is comprised of a compressible region. The integrated eartip of the invention also includes means for releasably attaching the eartip to an earphone in general, and a coupling member in particular, thus allowing the eartip to be replaced as desired. When attached, the sound delivery tube, or tubes, of the integrated eartip are aligned with the acoustic port, or ports, of the earphone/coupling member. The first and second portions of the integrated eartip may exhibit different rigidity and/or compressibility characteristics. The integrated eartip can be fabricated from a single material such as a natural or synthetic elastomer.
In one embodiment, an earphone is provided that is comprised of a coupling member, an earphone enclosure, signal receiving means, at least a pair of drivers disposed within the earphone enclosure, and an integrated eartip, the integrated eartip utilizing a one-piece design comprised of a first portion that includes at least a pair of sound delivery tubes and a second portion comprised of a compressible region. When attached, the sound delivery tubes of the integrated eartip are aligned with the acoustic ports of the earphone/coupling member. The signal receiving means can be comprised of a source input cable coupleable to an external source (e.g., music players, mixers, headphone amplifiers, etc.) and a circuit, the circuit being coupled to the source input cable and providing input signals to the drivers. The earphone enclosure and coupling member can be incorporated into a single component. The first and second portions of the integrated eartip may exhibit different rigidity and/or compressibility characteristics. The integrated eartip can be fabricated from a single material such as a natural or synthetic elastomer.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.
As illustrated, the output from driver 101 is acoustically coupled to sound delivery member 105, member 105 including a sound delivery tube 107 that delivers the audio from driver 101 to the user. Sound delivery member 105 is designed to fit within the outer ear canal of the user and as such, is generally cylindrical in shape.
An outer earphone enclosure 109 attaches to sound delivery member 105. Earphone enclosure 109 protects the driver from damage while providing a convenient means of securing cable 103, or a cable socket, to the earphone. Enclosure 109 can be attached to member 105 using interlocking members (e.g., groove 111, lip 113). Alternately, an adhesive or other means can be used to attach enclosure 109 to member 105. Enclosure 109 can be fabricated from any of a variety of materials, thus allowing the designer and/or user to select the material's firmness (i.e., hard to soft), texture, color, etc.
Attached to the end portion of sound delivery member 105 is an eartip 115, also referred to as an eartip sleeve or simply a sleeve. Eartip 115 can be fabricated from any of a variety of materials including foam, plastic and silicon-based material. Sleeve 115 can have the generally cylindrical and smooth shape shown in
The use of a replaceable eartip is not limited to diaphragm-based earphones or earphones that use a single driver. For example,
It will be appreciated that although a single sound delivery tube 107 is shown in the earphone illustrated in
Regardless of the configuration, earphones often utilize internal dampers, also commonly referred to as acoustic filters. Although not shown in
Although eartip 115, as illustrated in the cross-sectional views of
As illustrated in
It will be appreciated that the invention, i.e., an integrated eartip, can be coupled to an earphone in a variety of ways and that the invention is not limited to one method in particular. In the preferred embodiment, integrated eartip 501 is coupled to the earphone in general, and to a coupling member 503 in particular, by a temporary means, thus allowing the integrated eartip to be easily replaced, for example with an integrated eartip of a different size. Preferably integrated eartip 501 includes a lip portion 505 which fits within a corresponding channel or groove 507 in coupling member 503 when the two components are coupled together. It will be appreciated that other eartip mounting methods can be used to couple the integrated eartip to the earphone, for example pressure fittings or semi-permanent adhesives.
In the preferred embodiment shown in
For purposes of clarity,
It should be appreciated that the integrated eartip of the present invention can be embodied in a variety of different configurations. For example, the sound delivery tubes of the integrated eartip (e.g., sound delivery tubes 513/515 in
Due to the potential for achieving smaller overall diameters, the integrated eartip of the invention can use much larger sound delivery tubes than would be practical with the prior art eartip.
As previously noted, one of the primary advantages of the present invention is that it allows much smaller diameter eartips to be used with the earphone, thus fitting a wider range of users.
The integrated eartip of the invention is not limited to flanged or finned designs. For example,
It should be understood that the invention is not limited to earphones utilizing a coupling member such as that shown in FIGS. 5 and 10-13. For example, exemplary embodiments coupling members 503 and 1303 not only provide a means for attaching the integrated eartip and the enclosure, but also include means for securing drivers 201/203 and dampers 309/311 to the assembly. In alternate embodiments, other means such as a separate boot member can be used to secure the drivers and dampers to the assembly. Similarly, the invention is not limited to the use of dampers, to a specific driver type (i.e., armature and/or diaphragm drivers can be used with the invention), or to a specific number of drivers (i.e., single or multiple drivers can be used with the invention). Similarly, the invention is not limited to earphones that utilize an enclosure which is separate from the coupling member, i.e., the functions of the enclosure and the coupling member can be combined into a single component.
Regardless of the configuration of the coupling member, enclosure, and the integrated eartip, it will be appreciated that the integrated eartip must be properly positioned relative to the coupling member to insure alignment of the output ports of the coupling member and the input ports of the integrated eartip. There are countless techniques for achieving such alignment. In at least one preferred embodiment, the integrated eartip and the coupling member are keyed to insure proper alignment.
It will be appreciated that there are many well-known techniques that can be used to fabricate the integrated eartip of the invention. Accordingly, a detailed description of such techniques is not provided herein. Preferred materials for the integrated eartip include both natural (e.g., rubber) and synthetic elastomers (e.g., silicone, neoprene, nitrile rubber, butyl, polyurethane foam, etc.). In at least one preferred embodiment, the integrated eartip is fabricated using a two step insert molding process that allows the material of the inner portion (e.g., surrounding the sound delivery tubes) of the integrated eartip to exhibit more rigid, less compressible characteristics than that of the outer portion, the output portion being compressed during user fitting.
As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, the disclosures and descriptions herein are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention which is set forth in the following claims.
