Claims
- 1. A method for fabricating a housing for a hearing instrument, comprising:
obtaining a digital representation of at least a portion of the ear canal and optionally a portion of the ear external to the ear canal; creating a digital representation of a shell conforming to at least a portion of the digital representation of the ear canal and optionally a portion of the ear external to the ear canal; and creating a digital representation of a monolithic housing, incorporating the digital representation of the shell.
- 2. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising fabricating a monolithic housing from the digital representation of the monolithic housing.
- 3. A method as set forth in claim 2, where the step of fabricating a monolithic housing comprises fabricating the housing by rapid prototyping or direct manufacture.
- 4. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising superpositioning a digital representation of an electronics module and a mating receptacle with respect to the digital representation of the shell.
- 5. A method as set forth in claim 4, where the step of superpositioning a digital representation of an electronics module and a mating receptacle comprises testing for collision avoidance between the electronics module and the digital representation of the shell.
- 6. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising creating a transition region between the digital representation of the shell and the receptacle, the step of creating a transition region comprising fixing a series of graduated contours between the receptacle and the digital representation of the shell.
- 7. A method as set forth in claim 6, where the step of fixing a series of graduated contours between the receptacle and the digital representation of the shell comprises fixing a plurality of radial lines between the receptacle and the digital representation of the shell.
- 8. A method as set forth in claim 7, where the step of fixing a plurality of radial lines between the receptacle and the digital representation of the shell comprises fixing a plurality of elliptical, straight, or curved lines.
- 9. A method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising creating an intermediate transition between the transition region and the digital representation of the shell, where the intermediate transition is rounded, elliptical, straight, curved, or of some other shape.
- 10. A method for fabricating a housing for a hearing instrument, comprising:
obtaining a digital representation of at least a portion of the ear canal and optionally a portion of the ear external to the ear canal; creating a digital representation of a shell conforming to at least a portion of the digital representation of the ear canal and optionally a portion of the ear external to the ear canal; superpositioning a digital representation of an electronics module and a mating receptacle with respect to the digital representation of the shell; creating a transition region between the digital representation of the shell and the receptacle, the step of creating a transition region comprising fixing a series of graduated contours between the receptacle and the digital representation of the shell; creating an intermediate transition between the transition region and the digital representation of the shell, where the intermediate transition is rounded, elliptical, straight, curved, or of some other shape; and creating a digital representation of a monolithic housing, incorporating the digital representation of the shell, the receptacle, the transition region, and the intermediate transition; and fabricating a monolithic housing from the digital representation of the housing by rapid prototyping or direct manufacture.
- 11. A monolithic hearing instrument housing.
- 12. A housing as set forth in claim 11, comprising a receptacle for an electronics module.
- 13. A monolithic hearing instrument housing fabricated utilizing rapid prototyping or direct manufacture.
- 14. A monolithic hearing instrument housing for insertion in the ear canal of a user, comprising:
a shell conforming to at least a portion of a digital representation of the ear canal and optionally a portion of the ear external to the ear canal; and a receptacle for an electronics module; where the housing is fabricated utilizing rapid prototyping or direct manufacture.
- 15. A monolithic hearing instrument housing fabricated utilizing the method of claim 10.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/887,939 filed Jun. 22, 2001, incorporated by reference herein.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09887939 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
Child |
10385593 |
Mar 2003 |
US |