Patent Application
20090041278
This application claims priority of German application No. 10 2007 037 660.1 DE filed Aug. 9, 2007, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a hearing apparatus with a housing, which has a predetermined form and at least one active, electronic component, which is arranged in the housing. The term hearing apparatus is understood here to mean in particular a hearing device. Furthermore, this term also includes other wearable and non-wearable acoustic devices such as headsets, earphones and such like.
Hearing devices are wearable hearing apparatuses which are used to assist the hard-of-hearing. In order to accommodate numerous individual requirements, various types of hearing devices are available such as behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing devices, hearing device with an external receiver (RIC: receiver in the canal) and in-the-ear (ITE) hearing devices, for example also concha hearing devices or completely-in-the-canal (ITE, CIC) hearing devices. The hearing devices listed as examples are worn on the outer ear or in the auditory canal. Bone conduction hearing aids, implantable or vibrotactile hearing aids are also available on the market. The damaged hearing is thus stimulated either mechanically or electrically.
The key components of hearing devices are principally an input converter, an amplifier and an output converter. The input converter is normally a receiving transducer e.g. a microphone and/or an electromagnetic receiver, e.g. an induction coil. The output converter is most frequently realized as an electroacoustic converter e.g. a miniature loudspeaker, or as an electromechanical converter e.g. a bone conduction hearing aid. The amplifier is usually integrated into a signal processing unit. This basic configuration is illustrated in
Modern hearing devices are nowadays no longer understood as purely hearing aids and voice amplifiers. Aside from the technical functionality and equipment, aspects such as the form factor, size and wearing comfort are gaining increasing significance. The creative freedom in respect of the form factor and size of hearing devices is significantly restricted by the arrangement, dimensions and form of the components arranged therein.
Hearing devices consist of a plurality of electronic and mechanical components, which have a specific minimum component volume due to their physical mode of operation, with it not being possible to exceed said component volume in the case of the current prior art without experiencing losses in terms of functionality. Many hearing device components may have been miniaturized in the past years, the majority of components like for instance, microphone, receiver, batteries were however hitherto only available in standard forms. With microphones and receivers, the predominant acoustic reasons for the minimal possible housing volume are decisive. The function-bound arrangement of the hearing device components in the hearing device thus results in a free volume in the hearing device, which results in an unnecessary enlargement of the hearing device. In particular, the creative freedom in respect of size and wearing comfort is restricted by the use of square and/or cylindrical components. This is particularly the case with high-performance hearing devices, which are necessary with a more significant hearing loss. With these hearing devices, the hearing device receiver requires a large part of the housing volume.
The above problem was previously only solved partially, e.g. by adjusting the components to be created freely, like the housing, reinforcers, component holders and printed circuit boards on the free residual volume present in the hearing device. A restriction to specific hearing device forms is also conventionally made in order as a result to minimize the free residual volume in the hearing device which is specified by the components. A removal of the components from the hearing device into the auditory canal represents a further partial solution to the above-cited problem. The device housing positioned behind the ear is thus minimized in the case of so-called receiver-in-the-canal-devices.
The publication DE 202004019744 U1 discloses a behind-the-ear hearing device with a housing, which has a battery compartment opening. The behind-the-ear hearing device includes a chassis arranged in the housing, which supports electrical components. The chassis is dimensioned here such that it can be inserted through the battery compartment opening together with the components fastened thereto.
An object of the present invention is to minimize an unusable residual volume in a hearing apparatus.
This object is achieved by a hearing apparatus with a housing, which has a predetermined form and at least one active, electronic component, which is a receiver or a microphone and which is arranged in the housing, with the component having a form which is adjusted to the form of the housing and/or to the form of another component of the hearing apparatus.
The unusable residual volume in the hearing apparatus can thus advantageously be minimized. A smaller housing form of the hearing apparatus can in general also be achieved by correspondingly molding the component and/or the component housing. The form of the electronic component of the hearing apparatus can now be selected such that its electrical and/or acoustic functionality remains complete, but a smaller or more variable housing form is possible by minimizing the remaining residual volume.
The component housing of the active, electronic component preferably has a trapezoidal, triangular or oval cross-section. The use of ergonomic forms of the component, as they are known above, allows the hearing apparatus to be better adjusted to the anatomical conditions of a person wearing the hearing apparatus.
The hearing apparatus can preferably be embodied as an in-the-ear hearing device, with the form of the active electronic component being adjusted to a shell of the hearing device and the shell being adjusted to the anatomy of an auditory canal of a person wearing the hearing apparatus. With in-the-ear hearing devices, the form of the housing is predetermined by the anatomy of the auditory canal. The diameter of the auditory canal reduces increasingly in the direction of the ear drum. By way of example, smaller devices can be realized by using a form of the component with a trapezoid-like cross-section. The smaller structure again allows the number of hearing-impaired persons, which can be supplied with hearing devices of this type, to be increased.
The hearing apparatus can preferably be embodied as a behind-the-ear hearing device, with the form of the active, electronic component being adjusted to a space between a concha and the head of a person wearing the hearing apparatus. A receiver in the case of behind-the-ear hearing devices is usually positioned in the upper part of the housing. In particular, with high-performance hearing devices with a large receiver, this results in an extension of the housing and thus in restricted wearing comfort. The use of receivers with a trapezoidal cross-section for instance allows behind-the-ear hearing devices to be better adjusted to the anatomy of the hearing device wearer and/or smaller devices to be manufactured.
In particular, by adjusting the components of the hearing apparatus to one another, the unusable residual volume in the hearing apparatus can be minimized. Several microphones can thus be provided in the hearing apparatus for instance, which have a trapezoidal cross-section in each instance and are arranged adjacent to one another. Such an arrangement of the microphone or also other components allows a smaller form of the housing to be achieved.
If the active, electronic component is arranged in direct proximity to an induction coil, it can be adjusted to the induction coil such that it surrounds the induction coil at least in sections. By surrounding the induction coil, the use of the volume which is available in the hearing apparatus can be improved further. If the component is a receiver, the dimensions of the receiver can as a result be increased, which can be used to increase the performance of the receiver.
The form of the active, electronic component can preferably be adjusted to the form of the housing of the hearing apparatus such that a rounded section of the component is formed at least in sections. The unusable volume in the housing can thus be reduced particularly with a hearing device which has a housing with an oval form. The housing can thus either be designed to be smaller for instance or the dimensions of the components are enlarged.
Examples of the present invention are described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which;
As
Referring to
Reference is made below to two different exemplary embodiments of an arrangement of several components in a behind-the-ear hearing device. These exemplary embodiments are shown in
Furthermore, the microphones 2 located in the housing 1 of the hearing device are not only adjusted to one another but instead also to the housing 1, in respect of form. It is apparent that one of the microphones 2 has a rounded section, which allows an exact adjustment of the microphone 2 to the housing 1. The free volume between the housing 1 and the microphones 2 is thus used optimally.
According to the second exemplary embodiment of an arrangement of several components in the behind-the-ear hearing device in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2007 037 660.1 | Aug 2007 | DE | national |
