Patent Application
20070286442
For purpose of facilitating and understanding of the invention, an exemplary embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings to be considered in connection with the following description. Thus the invention may be readily understood and appreciated, but not limited to this embodiment.
Referring to
The shell 1 of the hearing instrument, e.g. an ITE custom built hearing instrument, is closed by a cover plate 2. The cover plate 2 comprises some apertures or openings, that are filled with a battery door 3, a push-button 4 and a volume control 5 to be handled manually by the user of the hearing instrument. Furthermore, a microphone opening 6 is covered by a microphone cover. The shell 1 comprises as well openings, like a vent 7, for conducting the ear canal with the exterior.
In known hearing instruments, said visible components are usually attached directly to the cover plate 2, called the faceplate. A big disadvantage results from transferring all tensile and compressive forces to the shell by said faceplate. Those forces will be produced for instance by opening and closing of the battery door, by activating a push-button or a volume control by the user of the hearing instrument. Thus, the cover plate must be provided with a sufficient support structure or wall thickness that increases the volume and size of such a faceplate.
The exact position of those support elements 4′, 5′ has been digitally generated based on the virtual arrangement of all components within a computerized model of the shell of the hearing instrument. Such a model can be generated after having recorded the data of the individual shape of the ear or the ear canal of the person determined to wear the hearing instrument. Such a recording may be done either by making impressions of the ear canal or by using optical or acoustical scanning processes.
Those data may be processed by a computer for digitally designing the shape of the individual shell of the hearing instrument and thus receiving a computerized model of the shell.
The virtual arrangement of all necessary components for the hearing instruments may be done by a specialist using a computer with stored geometrical data of those components. By virtually arranging all those components within the digital shape of the shell, the final location of all those components may be found, taking into account additional needs or parameters for some or any of the components.
Thus, the final shape of the inside of the shell 1 comprising all support elements may be digitally stored and used for manufacturing, i.e. by using a digital printing technique.
It can easily be seen that all tensile and compressive forces produced by activating the respective components will be transferred directly through the sidewalls of the support elements into the wall of the shell 1. Thus, cover plate 2 will be free of such forces or strength from the functional components of the hearing instrument. The wall thickness of the cover plate 2 may thus be smaller with respect to known faceplates and there is no need for additional support structure on the cover plate 2.
The battery carrier 9 receives as well a battery door 3. The hinge of the battery door 3 is provided at the battery carrier 9 to receive the tensile forces activated by the user by opening or closing the battery door 3. The series of
In
In a next step, as shown in
The cover plate 2 may now be attached to the shell 1 to close its opening. Cover plate 2 may be fixed to shell 1 by means of adhesive. That means that the cover plate 2 is directly glued or welded to the rim of the shell 1. Otherwise, the cover plate 2 may be snapped onto the shell 2 by means of mechanically interlocking tongues by pressing cover plate 2 onto the rim of shell 1 until the tongues, either arranges at cover plate 2 or shell 1 or both, snap into their respective receiving openings.
Furthermore, cover plate 2 may be attached to shell 1 by means of screws or the like, thereby achieving a strong but easy detachable connection between cover plate 2 and shell 1.
The cover plate 2 not only serves as a cover for the opening of shell 1 but also as holding or clamping mean for the components arranged in their proper support elements within shell 1. Thus, the components do not need to be fixed by any other means or fixation elements.
Finally, the battery door 3 may be inserted into its position within the battery carrier 9 and the hearing instrument is ready for use, as depicted in
The individual placement of the components within the shell 1 of the hearing instrument allows the building of even smaller hearing instruments compared to the known hearing devices with a faceplate. Individually shaped hearing devices will thus be available even for persons having small or heavily convoluted ear canals.
The time consuming and costly step of cutting and grinding a faceplate may advantageously be omitted. Thus, the overall production time for such a hearing instrument may be reduced.
The manufacturing costs may as well be reduced, as the production of the faceplate is replaced by an individually configurable assembly of components wired to the battery carrier.
Furthermore, the mechanical stability of hearing instruments may be enhanced as the components are mechanically decoupled and supported directly to the shell of the hearing instrument.
The top view and bottom view onto the cover plate 2 is depicted in
It will be clear to one skilled in the art that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
