HEARING DEVICE INCLUDING AN EXTERNAL ANTENNA AND AN INTERNAL PARASITIC ELEMENT

Abstract

The disclosure presents a method and a hearing device comprising a first portion adapted for being arranged behind an ear of a user for providing a signal, an output transducer for converting the signal to an acoustic output, a coupling element coupling to the first portion, an antenna comprising an external antenna arranged at least externally to the first portion and an internal parasitic element, a feeding unit configured to supply a current to the external antenna, and the feeding unit is further configured to supply the current to the internal parasitic element via a wireless coupling, a wireless interface for receiving and/or transmitting data by means of the antenna, and wherein the coupling element comprises the external antenna.

Claims

1. A hearing device comprising; a first portion adapted for being arranged behind an ear of a user for providing a signal; a coupling element coupling to the first portion and to an external part, where the external part comprises an implant stimulator; wherein the external part is configured to be arranged distantly to the first portion, an antenna comprising an external antenna arranged at least externally to the first portion; an internal parasitic element within the first portion; a feeding unit configured to supply a current to the external antenna; and a wireless interface for receiving and/or transmitting data by means of the antenna, wherein the coupling element comprises the external antenna, and wherein the coupling element comprises an electrically conducting element coupled to the wireless interface, and wherein the electrically conducting element is at least a part of the external antenna, wherein the current within the feeding unit is magnetically coupled to the internal parasitic element.

2. A hearing device according to claim 1, comprising a second portion adapted for being arranged distantly from the first portion and for providing the acoustic output to the user, and wherein a second coupling element coupling the first portion and the second portion, and wherein the second coupling element is adapted for transmitting at least the signal and/or the acoustic output.

3. A hearing device according to claim 2, wherein the second portion is arranged in an ear canal of the user, and wherein the second portion includes the output transducer, and/or the external part is arranged on a skin part of the user.

4. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises a ground plane guiding the current from the feeding unit along a length of the ground plane, and wherein the internal parasitic element is positioned within the hearing device such that the current guided by the ground plane is coupled magnetically to the internal parasitic element.

5. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein an electrical length of the internal parasitic element is λ/4 or λ/4+x*λ/2, where x is an whole number.

6. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the external antenna is arranged within the first portion and the internal parasitic element is positioned such that a capacitive coupling is provided between the internal parasitic element and the external antenna.

7. A hearing device according to claim 2, wherein the second portion comprises the output transducer, and wherein the external antenna element is at least adapted for carrying the signal upon transmission to the output transducer.

8. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the external antenna comprises multiple electrically conducting elements, where two or more electrically conducting elements are connected to one or more electronic devices mounted within the second portion of the hearing device, and where each of the electrically conducting elements are at least adapted for carrying a signal provided by the first portion to the electronic devices within the second portion.

9. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the second part and/or the external part includes multiple acoustic sensors for acoustic signals, including transducers, microphones or speakers, and/or multiple sensors for monitoring the health of the user of the hearing device, where the multiple sensors may include an accelerometer, an electrode, a microphone, a light emitting diode, or a photodetector.

10. A hearing device according to claim 9, wherein the external part and/or the second part includes a memory and a processor for controlling sensors and/or processing signals to be detected or transmitted by the sensors.

11. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the two or more electrically conducting elements are terminated within the second portion or within the coupling element.

12. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless interface is adapted for receiving and/or transmitting data by electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range of about 2.45 GHz to about 5.5 GHz, or between 2.44 GHz to 5.5 GHz or about the frequency of 2.45 GHz or about the frequency of 5.5 GHz.

13. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the coupling element comprises one or more shield elements for shielding the external antenna.

14. A hearing device comprising; a first portion adapted for being arranged behind an ear of a user for providing a signal; an output transducer for converting the signal to an acoustic output; a coupling element coupling to the first portion; an antenna comprising an external antenna arranged at least externally to the first portion and an internal antenna element; an internal parasitic element within the first portion; a feeding unit configured to supply a current to the external antenna; and a wireless interface for receiving and/or transmitting data by means of the antenna, wherein the coupling element comprises the external antenna, and wherein the coupling element comprises an electrically conducting element coupled to the wireless interface, wherein the electrically conducting element is at least a part of the external antenna, wherein the coupling element comprises one or more shield elements for shielding the external antenna, and wherein the shield element is connected to the wireless interface via a bandpass filter, or the shield element is connected to a ground plane within the first portion.

15. A hearing device according to claim 1, wherein the feeding unit is configured to supply the current to a second antenna being at least part of the antenna, the second antenna being internal to the first part, and wherein the external antenna and the second antenna are electrically coupled together by a capacitive coupling or a magnetic coupling so that the second antenna is able to extend the operation of the external antenna.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0124] The aspects of the disclosure may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures. The figures are schematic and simplified for clarity, and they just show details to improve the understanding of the claims, while other details are left out. Throughout, the same reference numerals are used for identical or corresponding parts. The individual features of each aspect may each be combined with any or all features of the other aspects. These and other aspects, features and/or technical effect will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the illustrations described hereinafter in which:

[0125] FIGS. 1a-1c, illustrate an example of a hearing device and an example of the antenna within the hearing device,

[0126] FIG. 2, illustrates an example of the antenna within the hearing device,

[0127] FIGS. 3a-3d, illustrate an example of the hearing device,

[0128] FIGS. 4a-4c, illustrate a further example of the hearing device,

[0129] FIGS. 5a-5b, illustrate an example of the hearing device and a simulation of the resonance frequency,

[0130] FIG. 6, illustrates an example of a coupling element,

[0131] FIGS. 7a-7b, illustrate an example of the hearing device including a shield element,

[0132] FIG. 8, illustrates a flow diagram of a method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0133] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. Several aspects of the apparatus and methods are described by various blocks, functional units, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”). Depending upon particular application, design constraints or other reasons, these elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer program, or any combination thereof.

[0134] A hearing device may include a hearing aid that is adapted to improve or augment the hearing capability of a user by receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings, generating a corresponding audio signal, possibly modifying the audio signal and providing the possibly modified audio signal as an audible signal to at least one of the user's ears. The “hearing device” may further refer to a device such as an earphone or a headset adapted to receive an audio signal electronically, possibly modifying the audio signal and providing the possibly modified audio signals as an audible signal to at least one of the user's ears. Such audible signals may be provided in the form of an acoustic signal radiated into the user's outer ear, or an acoustic signal transferred as mechanical vibrations to the user's inner ears through bone structure of the user's head and/or through parts of middle ear of the user or electric signals transferred directly or indirectly to cochlear nerve and/or to auditory cortex of the user.

[0135] The hearing device is adapted to be worn in any known way. This may include i) arranging a unit of the hearing device behind the ear with a tube leading air-borne acoustic signals or with a receiver/loudspeaker arranged close to or in the ear canal such as in a Behind-the-Ear type hearing aid or a Receiver-in-the Ear type hearing aid, and/or ii) arranging the hearing device entirely or partly in the pinna and/or in the ear canal of the user such as in a In-the-Ear type hearing aid or In-the-Canal/Completely-in-Canal type hearing aid, or iii) arranging a unit of the hearing device attached to a fixture implanted into the skull bone such as in Bone Anchored Hearing Aid or Cochlear Implant, or iv) arranging a unit of the hearing device as an entirely or partly implanted unit such as in Bone Anchored Hearing Aid or Cochlear Implant.

[0136] A hearing device may be part of a “hearing system”, which refers to a system comprising one or two hearing devices, disclosed in present description, and a “binaural hearing system” refers to a system comprising two hearing devices where the devices are adapted to cooperatively provide audible signals to both of the user's ears. The hearing system or binaural hearing system may further include auxiliary device(s) that communicates with at least one hearing device, the auxiliary device affecting the operation of the hearing devices and/or benefitting from the functioning of the hearing devices. A wired or wireless communication link between the at least one hearing device and the auxiliary device is established that allows for exchanging information (e.g. control and status signals, possibly audio signals) between the at least one hearing device and the auxiliary device. Such auxiliary devices may include at least one of remote controls, remote microphones, audio gateway devices, mobile phones, public-address systems, car audio systems or music players or a combination thereof. The audio gateway is adapted to receive a multitude of audio signals such as from an entertainment device like a TV or a music player, a telephone apparatus like a mobile telephone or a computer, a PC. The audio gateway is further adapted to select and/or combine an appropriate one of the received audio signals (or combination of signals) for transmission to the at least one hearing device. The remote control is adapted to control functionality and operation of the at least one hearing devices. The function of the remote control may be implemented in a SmartPhone or other electronic device, the SmartPhone/electronic device possibly running an application that controls functionality of the at least one hearing device.

[0137] In general, a hearing device includes i) an input unit such as a microphone for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings and providing a corresponding input audio signal, and/or ii) a receiving unit for electronically receiving an input audio signal. The hearing device further includes a signal processing unit for processing the input audio signal and an output unit for providing an audible signal to the user in dependence on the processed audio signal.

[0138] The input unit may include multiple input microphones, e.g. for providing direction-dependent audio signal processing. Such directional microphone system is adapted to enhance a target acoustic source among a multitude of acoustic sources in the user's environment. In one aspect, the directional system is adapted to detect (such as adaptively detect) from which direction a particular part of the microphone signal originates. This may be achieved by using conventionally known methods. The signal processing unit may include amplifier that is adapted to apply a frequency dependent gain to the input audio signal. The signal processing unit may further be adapted to provide other relevant functionality such as compression, noise reduction, etc. The output unit may include an output transducer such as a loudspeaker/receiver for providing an air-borne acoustic signal transcutaneously or percutaneously to the skull bone or a vibrator for providing a structure-borne or liquid-borne acoustic signal. In some hearing devices, the output unit may include one or more output electrodes for providing the electric signals such as in a Cochlear Implant.

[0139] It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “an aspect” or features included as “may” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined as suitable in one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects.

[0140] The claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more.

[0141] Accordingly, the scope should be judged in terms of the claims that follows.

[0142] FIG. 1a-1c an example of a hearing device 1 and an example of the antenna 8 within the hearing device 1. FIG. 1a shows a hearing device 1 comprising a first portion 2 adapted for being arranged behind an ear of a user for providing a signal, an output transducer 10 for converting the signal to an acoustic output, a coupling element 6 coupling to the first portion 2, an antenna 8 comprising an external antenna 14 arranged at least externally to the first portion 2 and an internal parasitic element 12, a feeding unit 20 configured to supply a current to the external antenna 14, and the feeding unit 20 is further configured to supply the current to the internal parasitic element 12 via a wireless coupling (22, 23), a wireless interface 16 for receiving and/or transmitting data by means of the antenna 8, and wherein the coupling element 6 comprises the external antenna 14. In this specific example, the hearing device 1 further comprises a second portion 4 adapted for being arranged distantly from the first portion 2 and for providing the acoustic output to the user, where the second portion 4 includes the output transducer 10. The coupling element 6 is coupling the first portion 2 and the second portion 4, and wherein the coupling element 6 is adapted for transmitting at least the signal to the output transducer 10, and wherein the coupling element 6 comprises an electrically conducting element 18 coupled to the wireless interface 16, and wherein the electrically conducting elements 18 is at least a part of the external antenna 14.

[0143] FIG. 1b illustrates the antenna 8 comprising the internal parasitic element 12 and the external antenna (14, 18). In this particular example, the antenna 8 comprises a main plane 11 wherein the internal parasitic element 12 is part of the main plane 11 and connected to a ground plane 26. Furthermore, the main plane 11 comprises an extended ground plane 26, and the main plane 11 comprises the external antenna 14 with multiple electrically conducting elements 18A-18E. Each of the electrically conducting elements 18A-18E are coupled to a decoupler (not shown) and the feeding unit 20. The coupling between the electrically conducting elements 18A-18E are provided beneath the main plane 11. The internal parasitic element 12 is wireless coupled, via magnetic coupling 22 and/or capacitive coupling 23, to the feeding unit 20.

[0144] FIG. 1c illustrates the antenna 8 where the internal parasitic element is not part of the main plane 11 but instead is mounted distantly from the external antenna 14, for example on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) 3 within the first portion 2. The internal parasitic element 12 receives the current 24 from the feeding unit 20 via a wireless coupling (22, 23) between the ground plane 26 and the internal parasitic element 12.

[0145] FIG. 2 illustrates the antenna 8 within the hearing device 1. This specific example is similar to FIG. 1b, however, in this example the internal parasitic element 12 comprises an extended part 12A, i.e. an extended internal parasitic element 12a which is not part of the main plane 11. The extended internal parasitic element 12a is mainly capacitive coupled 23 to the external antenna (14; 18, 18B) and magnetically coupled 22 with the feeding unit 20. The electrical length of the internal parasitic element is λ/4 or x*λ/4+/−λ/2, where x is an odd number such as 3, 5, 7 etc.

[0146] FIGS. 3a-3d illustrate the hearing device 1 worn by a user 30. FIG. 3a illustrates a behind-the ear hearing aid 1, where the first portion 2 is positioned between the pinna of the ear of the user 30 and the skull of the user 30. The second portion 4 is positioned within the ear canal of the user 30. The first portion 2 and the second portion 4 are coupled via a coupling element 6. FIG. 3b illustrates a cochlear hearing aid 1 where the first portion 2 is connected 6 to both the second portion 4 and an external part 4b, where the external part 6 is an implant stimulator. The connection 6 comprises a first and a second coupling element. FIG. 3c illustrates a cochlear hearing aid 1 where the first portion 2 is connected 6 to the external part 4b only. FIG. 3d illustrates a hearing device 1 where the coupling element 6 is an earhook.

[0147] FIGS. 4a-4c illustrate multiple different examples of the hearing device 1, where the coupling element 6 is either a hollow tube including one or more electrically conductive elements or a hollow tube including an inner core and outer core, where the outer core encircles the inner core. The inner core may comprise air configured to guide the acoustic output and the outer core may comprise the electrically conducting element(s) 18, i.e. the external antenna 14. FIG. 4a illustrates that the electrically conductive elements 18 are terminated within the second portion 4 and connected to an output transducer 10. FIG. 4b illustrates that the electrically conductive elements 18 are terminated within the coupling element 6. The first portion comprises the output transducer. FIG. 4c illustrates multiple electrically conductive elements (18A-18C) within the coupling element 6, wherein each of the conductive elements (18A-18C) are connected to a sensor 10A-10C within the second portion.

[0148] FIG. 5a-5b illustrate a simulation of the hearing device 1 as described in FIG. 2, where the external antenna 14 comprises six electrically conductive elements 18A-18E. The simulation shows clearly the advantage of applying an internal parasitic element 12 to the antenna 8. FIG. 5a illustrates the hearing device 1, and FIG. 5b illustrates the simulation result of the hearing device 1 with and without the internal parasitic element 12. The result shows that the 10 dB bandwidth of the antenna without the internal parasitic element 12 is less than the 10 dB bandwidth of the antenna 8 with the internal parasitic element 12. This clearly shows that the solution with multiple electrically conductive elements 18A-18E, acting as the external antenna 14, has an improved bandwidth when including the internal parasitic element 12 into the design of the antenna 8.

[0149] FIG. 6 illustrates the coupling element 6 including a shield element 32 twisted around the electrically conductive elements (18A, 18B).

[0150] FIGS. 7a-7b illustrates different example of the shield element 32. FIG. 7a shows the shield element 32 being terminated to ground 34 within the first portion 2. FIG. 7b shows the shield element 32 being connected to the wireless interface 16 via a bandpass filter 32.

[0151] FIG. 8 illustrates a method 100 for a wireless receiving and/or transmitting of audio/data in the hearing device 1 comprising the coupling element 6 coupling to the first portion 2, where the first portion 2 providing a signal, and an output transducer 10 configured to convert the signal to an acoustic output. The method 100 comprising the steps of providing an external antenna 14 in the coupling element 6 and at least externally to the first portion 2 (Step A), supplying a current to the external antenna 14 by a feeding unit 20 (Step B), providing an internal parasitic element 12 internally in the first portion 2 (Step C), supplying the current to the internal parasitic element 12 via a magnetic coupling or a capacitive coupling (Step D), arranging the first portion 2 behind an ear of a user of the hearing aid (Step E), and receiving and/or transmitting data by means of the external antenna 14 (Step G). Optionally, the method 100 is further comprising arranging a second portion 4 in an ear canal of the user and where the second portion 4 is coupled to the coupling element 6, and/or arranging an external part 4b on the skin of the user, and connecting the external part 4b to the first portion 2 via another coupling element 6 (Step F).