HEARING AID, ANTENNA FOR A HEARING AID, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A HEARING AID

Abstract

A hearing aid has a housing and an antenna. The housing has a housing shell to be worn in the ear. The antenna is designed for signal transmission via a radio connection. The housing shell has an inner side. The antenna is inserted into the housing shell and extends along the inner side. There is also described a corresponding antenna and a method for producing a corresponding hearing aid.

Claims

1. A hearing aid, comprising: a housing having a housing shell to be worn in an ear of a user; an antenna disposed in said housing shell; said antenna being configured for signal transmission via a radio connection; said housing shell having an inner side; and said antenna being inserted into said housing shell and extending along said inner side of said housing shell.

2. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is an independent component, which is inserted into said housing shell.

3. The hearing aid according to claim 1, configured as a completely-in-the-canal device or as an invisible-in-the-canal device.

4. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is a flexible printed circuit board having a conductor track structure.

5. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is a wire or a stamped part produced from a conductive material.

6. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is bent at least once to follow a bent profile of said housing shell.

7. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is folded in a funnel shape to extend along said housing shell.

8. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is arranged completely inside said housing shell.

9. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is a dipole antenna having two arms, and wherein a capacitance or an inductance is formed at the ends of each of said arms.

10. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is a frame antenna having two arms, said two arms running together on a first side to form a transmitting and receiving point and being connected on a second side, opposite said first side, to a capacitance.

11. The hearing aid according to claim 1, wherein: said housing includes a pullout aid for pulling the housing out of the ear; and said antenna has a first arm arranged inside said housing shell and a second arm formed along said pullout aid.

12. The hearing aid according to claim 11, wherein said first arm of said antenna is a ground surface and forms a ground potential, so that said antenna is a monopole antenna with said second arm forming an antenna pole.

13. An antenna for a hearing aid according to claim 1.

14. A method for producing a hearing aid, the method comprising: providing a housing with a housing shell to be worn in the ear of a user; providing an antenna configured for signal transmission via a radio connection; and inserting the antenna into the housing shell such that the antenna extends along an inner side of the housing shell.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0041] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view a hearing aid;

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a housing shell and an antenna of the hearing aid from FIG. 1;

[0043] FIG. 3 shows another view of the housing shell and the antenna from FIG. 2;

[0044] FIG. 4 shows still another view of the housing shell and the antenna from FIG. 2;

[0045] FIG. 5 shows a variant of the antenna from FIG. 2;

[0046] FIG. 6 shows the antenna from FIG. 5 in the assembled state;

[0047] FIG. 7 shows a further variant of the antenna from FIG. 2;

[0048] FIG. 8 shows a further variant of the antenna from FIG. 2;

[0049] FIG. 9 shows a variant of a capacitance of the antenna from FIG. 8;

[0050] FIG. 10 shows a further variant of a capacitance of the antenna from FIG. 8;

[0051] FIG. 11 shows the hearing aid from FIG. 1 with a further variant of the antenna from FIG. 2; and

[0052] FIG. 12 shows an arm of the antenna from FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0053] Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, in particular, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a hearing aid 2, which is a CIC device here by way of example. The statements made here also apply similarly to other hearing aid types. The hearing aid 2 has a housing 4 and an antenna 6. The antenna 6 is only shown in cross section in FIG. 1. The housing 4 has a housing shell 8, which is also referred to as a “shell”. An exemplary embodiment of the housing shell 8 and the antenna 6 from FIG. 1 is shown in different perspective views in FIGS. 2-4; the special shape of the antenna 6 is also clear therefrom. The housing shell 8 is used to be worn in the ear, i.e., when the hearing aid 2 is used as intended, the housing shell 8 is inserted into the auditory canal of a user.

[0054] The housing 4 furthermore has a cover plate 10, which is also referred to as a “faceplate” and which closes the housing shell 8. When used as intended, the cover plate 10 faces out of the auditory canal and has, for example, an interface, for example one or more control elements 12, for operating the hearing aid 2. Moreover, the cover plate 10 is also removable, for example pivotable, to open the housing 4 and to allow access to the inside of the hearing aid 2, for example to change a battery 14. The cover plate 10 is attached to the housing shell 8, the two jointly form the housing 4 of the hearing aid 2.

[0055] The antenna 6 is designed for signal transmission via a radio connection. The specific embodiment of the radio connection is initially also incidental. Various exemplary embodiments of the antenna 6 are shown in FIGS. 5-8, 11 and 12. The antenna 6 is bidirectional in each case here, i.e., both a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna. In operation, the antenna 6 generally emits electromagnetic radiation and/or receives it, especially via a transmitting and receiving point 16 of the antenna. The transmitting and receiving point 16 is also referred to as an excitation point.

[0056] The housing shell 8 has an inner side 18. The inner side 18 faces inward, into the inside of the housing 4, and encloses an interior 20 of the housing 4. One or more components of the hearing aid 2 are housed in this interior 20, for example, at least one microphone 22, a receiver 24, a battery 14, and a control unit 26 here.

[0057] As can be seen from FIGS. 2-4, the antenna 6 is inserted into the housing shell 8 and extends along the inner side 18. Each of FIGS. 2-4 do not yet show the final state as in FIG. 1, but rather the insertion of the antenna 6 into the housing shell 8. The antenna 6 follows an inside profile of the housing shell 8 and presses against the inner side 18 of the housing shell 8 in the inserted state. In the present case, the antenna 6 presses in a form-fitting manner against the inside of the housing shell 8 and follows it. The antenna 6 moreover forms a separate layer or ply inside the housing shell 8 and along the inner side 18 and extends around the remaining components. The antenna 6 in the interior of the housing 4 is also the component located farthest outward, i.e., all other components inside the housing shell 8 are also enclosed by the antenna 6. This can be seen particularly well in FIG. 1. The antenna 6 thus more or less forms a partition layer between housing shell 8 and other components therein. The antenna 6 is also an independent component, which is inserted into the housing shell 8, in the exemplary embodiments shown. The antenna 6 is produced separately from the housing shell 8. The housing shell 8 is a standard component in the present case, for mass production, and is fundamentally suitable for use in various auditory canals and is accordingly in particular not a component produced individually for a single user.

[0058] The hearing aid 2 is used to output an audio signal to a user of the hearing aid. The output takes place by means of an output transducer, here by means of the receiver 24. The hearing aid 2 shown here is moreover especially designed to care for a user having a hearing deficit and for this purpose has at least one acoustic input transducer, the microphone 22 here, and the control unit 26, which is designed to process an input signal, which is generated by the input transducer from ambient sound, and output it via the output transducer, to thus at least partially compensate for the hearing deficit of the user. However, the statements made here also apply to other devices, e.g., so-called tinnitus maskers, headsets, headphones, and the like. The hearing aid 2 shown here is especially a CIC (“completely-in-canal”) device, but the statements also apply similarly to an IIC (“invisible-in-canal”) device and to other hearing aid types.

[0059] In the various embodiments shown here, the antenna 6 is designed as a flexible printed circuit board having a conductor track structure 28. The flexible printed circuit board is also referred to as a “flex PCB” (PCB=“printed circuit board”). The flexible printed circuit board has a carrier layer 30, which is sufficiently thin to be flexible, for example, the carrier layer 30 is between 20 μm and 200 μm thick. The printed circuit board is also flexibly elastic and reversibly deformable. The conductor track structure 28 implements those electrical properties of the printed circuit board which are required for an antenna 6. The conductor track structure 28 is therefore also referred to as an antenna structure. The conductor track structure 28 is applied to the carrier layer 30 or embedded therein. The conductor track structure 28 consists here of a conductive material or a combination of conductive materials.

[0060] In one alternative, the antenna 6 is a wire or a stamped part, produced from a conductive material. The wire is accordingly brought into shape suitably to implement an antenna 6. This applies similarly to the stamped part, which is stamped out in a suitable shape to implement an antenna 6. The stamped part is stamped out, for example, from a metal foil or metal-coated film. The wire or the stamped part then replaces the above-mentioned conductor track structure 28 and also does not require an additional carrier layer. The wire or the stamped part emulates the described conductor track structure 28 here, is thus identical thereto in shape. The statements on the conductor track structure 28 accordingly apply similarly to a wire or a stamped part.

[0061] The same shape is fundamentally suitable for the conductor track structure 28, the wire, and the stamped part for implementing an antenna 6, the respective antennas 6 essentially differ due to the different production. In principle, a conductor track structure 28, a wire, and/or a stamped part can be combined with one another as desired, so that then different parts of the antenna 6 are produced in different ways and formed differently.

[0062] The housing shell 8 is fundamentally formed like a shell, having a base 32, which extends into the auditory canal when used as intended, and having an opening 34, which then faces outward and is closed using the cover plate 10. For general adaptation to the auditory canal, the housing shell 8 is formed tapered in the direction of the base 32. Moreover, a sound outlet 36 is arranged on the base 32, via which sound is output from the receiver 24 in the direction of the eardrum. In this meaning, the housing shell 8 is, roughly speaking, formed like a tunnel having a tapering diameter, as is also recognizable in FIGS. 2-4. Viewed in cross section, the housing shell 8 is then formed ring-shaped. Moreover, the housing shell 8 and thus also its inner side 18 are formed bent or curved, thus have a bent profile. To follow this bent profile of the housing shell 8, the antenna 6 is bent at least once and thus adapted to a bend or curve of the inner side 18. The antenna 6 thus not only extends in a small and possibly planar subsection along the housing shell 8, but rather is dimensioned so that a bend or curve is also covered. In the exemplary embodiments shown here, the antenna 6 even extends completely around the interior 18 and for this purpose is accordingly guided completely around along the inner side 18 once, as is recognizable particularly well in FIGS. 2-4.

[0063] Furthermore, it is evident from FIGS. 2-4 that the antenna 6 is folded into a funnel shape here in order to extend along the housing shell 8. The funnel shape of the antenna 6 is also recognizable in FIG. 6, in which the antenna 6 from FIG. 5 is shown in a folded state. The antenna 6 is more or less rolled together starting from a planar state as in FIGS. 5, 7, 8, 12 to form a funnel as in FIG. 6 and is then inserted into the housing shell 8. As can be seen from FIGS. 5, 7, 8 and 12, the antenna 6 is generally formed strip-shaped, even U-shaped here, having two ends which are guided toward one another during the folding and then possibly also overlap. The antenna 6 extends at most once around the interior 18, thus no longer being folded in multiple plies in particular. In general, the folded antenna 6 then has two openings 38, which face approximately in the direction of the auditory canal. One opening 38 faces in the direction of the opening 34 of the housing shell 8, the other in the direction of the base 32.

[0064] In the embodiments of FIGS. 1-8, the antenna 6 is arranged completely inside the housing shell 8. The antenna 6 thus in particular does not protrude out of the housing 4 and is also not visible from the outside.

[0065] In the embodiments of FIGS. 5 and 7, the antenna 6 is a dipole antenna, having two arms 40, each forming one antenna pole. The antenna poles are used for transmitting and/or receiving signals. The two arms 40 are each manufactured from an electrically conductive material.

[0066] In the embodiment of FIG. 5, a capacitance 42 or capacitive structure 42 is formed at the end of each of the arms 40, which are each formed here by a metal surface, which is attached to the respective arm 40, so that in each case a capacitor is formed in particular. The antenna 6 shown here is a folded dipole. For this purpose, a respective arm 40 is formed from two conductors 44, which extend adjacent to one another. The two conductors 44 are approximately equal in length (i.e., at most 20% difference). One of the two conductors 44 of the arm 40 begins at the transmitting and receiving point 16 and ends at the capacitance 42. The other of the two conductors 44 begins at the capacitance 42 and ends at a corresponding conductor 44 of the other arm 40. The other arm 40 having capacitance 42 is designed similarly thereto. A respective capacitance 42 is especially formed U-shaped here, having a middle leg 46, starting from which two side legs 48 extend. The two conductors 44 of an arm 40 are then attached to the middle leg 46. The two side legs 48 each extend in the direction of the two conductors 44, even in parallel thereto here, and on opposite sides of the two conductors 44, so that the two conductors 44 are located at the ends between the side legs 48. This applies similarly to the other arm 40. In FIG. 5, the conductors 44 and the capacitances 42 form a conductor track structure 28, which is applied to a carrier layer 30.

[0067] In the embodiment of FIG. 7, an inductance 50 or inductive structure 50 is formed at the end of each of the arms 40. In the present case, a respective arm 40 is formed from a single conductor 44, having a meandering profile, so that the respective arm 40 at the same time forms an inductance 50. In the present case, the inductance 50 has eight bends. The same applies similarly to the other arm 40. The two arms 40 are moreover galvanically isolated from one another and run together at the transmitting and receiving point 16 of the antenna 6, which also marks a point of the least distance of the two conductors 44 in relation to one another. In FIG. 7, the conductors 44, which are inductances 50 at the same time, form a conductor track structure 28, which is applied to a carrier layer 30.

[0068] In FIGS. 5 and 7, the arms 40 each follow the strip-shaped profile of the antenna 6, so that in the inserted state, the arms 40 accordingly enclose the interior 18 of the housing shell 8. The two arms 40 and the two capacitances 42 or inductances 50 are moreover mirror symmetrical to one another. A nonsymmetrical design is also possible in principle, however, in this case the antenna 6 optionally also has a symmetry element (not explicitly shown).

[0069] Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 8, in which the antenna 6 is a frame antenna, having two arms 40, which run together on a first side to form the transmitting and receiving point 16 and which are connected on a second side, which is opposite to the first side, to a capacitance 52. The capacitance 52 is formed by a capacitor, having two electrodes 54, each of which is connected to one of the arms 40.

[0070] In FIG. 8, the capacitance 52 is simply formed by two opposing ends of the arms 40 and an interposed gap 56. In FIG. 9, a variant of the capacitance 52 is shown, which is formed in a single ply here, having two electrodes 54 which are jointly located in one ply of the antenna 6 and each have multiple fingers 58, wherein the fingers 58 of the two electrodes 54 intermesh. In FIG. 10, a further variant of the capacitance 52 is shown, which is formed in two plies here, having two electrodes 54 which are arranged in different plies of the antenna 6. One of the electrodes 54 is then connected by means of a through contact 60 to one of the arms 40.

[0071] Independently of the embodiment of the antenna 6, its two arms 40 are located jointly in one plane or also ply in the exemplary embodiments shown. Also independently of the embodiment of the antenna 6, the capacitances 42, 52 or inductances 50 possibly used in each case are each either embodied as a separate component, which is inserted into the antenna 6, or—as shown here— is already integrated into the antenna 6 during its production, for example printed on.

[0072] As an alternative to an antenna 6, which is arranged completely inside the housing shell 8, in an alternative embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the antenna 6 has a first arm 62 and a second arm 64, wherein only the first arm 62 is arranged inside the housing shell 8. In contrast, the second arm 64 is formed along a pullout aid 66 of the housing 4. For both arms 62, 64, but particularly for the first arm 62, primarily the statements above on the arms 40, capacitances 42, 52, and inductances 50 apply accordingly. The pullout aid 66 is, for example, a thread or handle, for example made of plastic, and extends toward the outside and away from the housing 4, so that the pullout aid 66 can be grasped by the user in the inserted state to then pull the entire hearing aid 2 out of the auditory canal by pulling. The antenna 6 is then a nonsymmetrical antenna 6 here. The second arm 64 is, for example, a single wire or is printed as a conductor track on the pullout aid 66 or is applied in another way to the pullout aid 66 or integrated therein.

[0073] The antenna 6 which has an arm 64 along the pullout aid 66 is formed either as a dipole antenna or as a monopole antenna. An embodiment as a monopole antenna is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, an embodiment as a dipole antenna results, for example, upon combination with the statements on FIGS. 5, 7 and 8. In FIGS. 11 and 12, the first arm 62 is formed as a ground surface and forms a ground potential, so that the antenna 6 is then a monopole antenna, having the second arm 64 as an antenna pole. In this case, a symmetry element is not necessary. Since the ground surface is arranged inside the housing shell 8, it also forms a shielding layer around the remaining components, which are arranged inside the housing shell 8, so that these components are shielded against interference from the outside. As can be seen from the planar state of the ground surface shown in FIG. 12, it has two ends 68 here, which are connected to one another in the inserted state of the antenna 6, so that the ground surface is made ring-shaped or tunnel-like.

[0074] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0075] 2 hearing aid [0076] 4 housing [0077] 6 antenna [0078] 8 housing shell [0079] 10 cover plate [0080] 12 control element [0081] 14 battery [0082] 16 transmitting and receiving point [0083] 18 inner side [0084] 20 interior [0085] 22 microphone [0086] 24 receiver [0087] 26 control unit [0088] 28 conductor track structure [0089] 30 carrier layer [0090] 32 base [0091] 34 opening (of the housing shell) [0092] 36 sound outlet [0093] 38 opening (of the antenna) [0094] 40 arm [0095] 42 capacitance [0096] 44 conductor [0097] 46 middle leg [0098] 48 side leg [0099] 50 inductance [0100] 52 capacitance [0101] 54 electrode [0102] 56 gap [0103] 58 finger [0104] 60 through contact [0105] 62 first arm [0106] 64 second arm [0107] 66 pullout aid [0108] 68 ends (of the ground surface)