Various electrical components of a hearing instrument can be situated on a module that plugs into an opening in the housing of the instrument. The module has latches protruding from the bottom of the module that mate with the housing. A door on the module permits access to a battery.
To remove the hearing instrument from the user's ear, the opened door may be used as a handle. The force applied to the door to achieve removal may be of such magnitude that the latches slip off the mating surfaces, dislodging the module from the hearing instrument housing. To prevent this from happening, a tab may be provided on the module near where the door attaches to a hinge on the module. When the module is inserted into the opening of the housing, the tab slips under the surface of the opening and the latches snap into place. The tab opposes the force applied to the battery door, assuring that the module will remain in place.
As can be seen in
To prevent an inadvertent dislodging of the module 100 when force is applied to the door 200, a tab 120 is provided on the lower surface or underside 104 of the module 100 near the hinge 220 (see
When the module 100 is seated in the opening 12, the top or upper surface 122 of the tab 120 is adjacent and parallel to the inside surface 20 of the housing 10. When the door 200 is opened, the force applied to the door 200 is also applied through the module 100 to the upper surface 122 of the tab 120 in opposition to the immediately-abutting inside surface 20 of the hearing instrument housing 10. The depth (the horizontal dimension in
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4598177 | McGroarty et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
5187746 | Narisawa | Feb 1993 | A |
5347584 | Narisawa | Sep 1994 | A |
5500901 | Geraci et al. | Mar 1996 | A |
5889874 | Schmitt et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
20010036288 | Robinson et al. | Nov 2001 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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WO 0021336 | Apr 2000 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040264722 A1 | Dec 2004 | US |