Hearing instrument having a coupling unit for the vibration-damped mounting of a receiver

Abstract

A hearing instrument includes a housing, a receiver and at least one other component mounted in the housing, in particular a battery and/or an electronic frame. The hearing instrument also has a coupling unit for the vibration-reduced mounting of the receiver. The receiver is elastically coupled by the coupling unit to the at least one additional component.

Claims

1. A hearing instrument, comprising: a housing; a receiver; at least one additional component mounted in said housing; and a coupling unit providing a vibration-reduced mounting of said receiver, said coupling unit elastically coupling said receiver to said at least one additional component; said coupling unit including a damping body made of rubber or an elastomer material, said damping body being coupled to said receiver and to said at least one additional component; and said coupling unit including at least one fixing element for force-lockingly fixing said at least one additional component, said at least one fixing element being constructed integrally or in one piece with said damping body.

2. The hearing instrument according to claim 1, wherein said coupling unit includes a damping body made of rubber or an elastomer material, said damping body being coupled to said receiver and to said at least one additional component.

3. The hearing instrument according to claim 2, which further comprises: a cage; said damping body being fixed to said cage; and said coupling unit including, in addition to said damping body, an elastic damping element for mounting said receiver and said cage; said cage surrounding said elastic damping element.

4. The hearing instrument according to claim 3, wherein said elastic damping element and said damping body have a lower hardness than said cage.

5. The hearing instrument according to claim 4, wherein said elastic damping element has a lower hardness than said damping body.

6. The hearing instrument according to claim 3, wherein said elastic damping element has a lower hardness than said damping body.

7. The hearing instrument according to claim 1, which further comprises electrical contacts integrated into said coupling unit for contacting at least one of said battery or an electronic component.

8. A hearing instrument, comprising: a housing; a receiver; at least one electronic component including a signal processing unit; at least one additional component mounted in said housing, said at least one additional component being at least one of a battery or an electronic frame for supporting said signal processing unit; and a coupling unit providing a vibration-reduced mounting of said receiver, said coupling unit elastically coupling said receiver to said at least one additional component.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, longitudinal-sectional view of a hearing instrument with a housing, a receiver, a battery, a signal processing unit and a coupling unit which couples the receiver elastically to the battery and to the signal processing unit;

(2) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the coupling unit with the battery fixed thereto;

(3) FIG. 3 is a partially broken-away, side-elevational view of the coupling unit and the battery;

(4) FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, longitudinal-sectional view of the coupling unit and the battery as well as the receiver mounted in the coupling unit by an elastic damping element and a cage surrounding the same, which is taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3, in the direction of the arrows; and

(5) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the elastic damping element and the cage of the coupling unit as well as the receiver mounted therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) Referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings, in which corresponding parts are provided with identical reference numerals, and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen a basic diagrammatic illustration of a hearing instrument 2 in the form of a (BTE) hearing aid to be worn behind the ear by a hearing-impaired wearer.

(7) The hearing instrument 2 includes a housing 4, in which a receiver 6, two microphones 8, a signal processing unit 10 with a digital signal processor and/or a microcontroller, and a battery 12 are disposed as main components.

(8) A majority of the electrical and electronic components of the hearing instrument 2, in particular the signal processing unit 10 and the microphones 8, are mounted on an electronic frame 14. The electronic frame 14 is a structure manufactured separately from the housing 4, in particular of plastic, on which the associated electrical and electronic components, thus in particular the signal processing unit 10 and the microphones 8, can be pre-assembled outside the housing 4.

(9) The receiver 6, the battery 12 and the electronic frame 14, fitted with the signal processing unit 10 and the microphones 8, are in turn elastically coupled to each other by a coupling unit 16. The signal processing unit 10 also electrically contacts the receiver 6 and/or the battery 12 through electrical wires 18 and 20 due to the use of the coupling unit 16. The sound generated by the receiver 6 is routed by a sound tube 22 to an opening 24 at a tip of the housing 4. From there, the sound is directed through an extension of the tube 22, which is not explicitly shown, into the ear of the wearer.

(10) The coupling unit 16 is shown in detail in FIGS. 2 to 5. The internal structure of the receiver 6 and the battery 12 is not explicitly shown in the sectional drawings of FIGS. 3 and 4 for simplification purposes. It is apparent from FIGS. 2 to 5, in particular the sectional view according to FIG. 4, that the coupling unit 16 includes a damping element 26 for mounting the receiver 6, a cage 28 surrounding the damping element, and a damping body 30 disposed between the cage 28 and the battery 12. A cap 32 is additionally placed onto the cage 28 on the opposite side of the cage 28 from the battery 12. This cap 32 does not contribute directly to the elastic coupling between the receiver 6, the battery 12 and the signal processing unit 14. However, in a manner described in detail below, the cap 32 interacts with the damping element 26, the cage 28 and the damping body 30 to provide the sound damping of the receiver 6. In this respect it is also construed as a functional component of the coupling unit 16.

(11) The cage 28, which is particularly visible in FIGS. 4 and 5, is formed by a tubular or pipe-like body 34 made from a dimensionally stable plastic, namely polyamide or polycarbonate, reinforced or unreinforced. In an alternative configuration the main body 34 is formed of a metal, for example a steel plate. The main body 34 has a roughly rectangular cross section, matched to the receiver 6, and encloses the side faces of the receiver 6 over their full extent. A sound outlet 35 of the receiver 6, and a rear side of the receiver 6 opposite the sound outlet 35, on the other hand, are disposed on the open sides of the main body 34. According to FIG. 5, all four side faces of the cage 28 are provided with breakthroughs 36 (i.e. openings which extend from the inner periphery or circumference of the main body 34 to its outer periphery or circumference).

(12) In the illustrated embodiment, the damping element 26 is formed of a number of unconnected retaining tabs in the form of hollow conical studs 38, having distal ends (i.e. those facing away from the inner periphery or circumference of the main body 34) each of which form one contact surface 40 for the receiver 6. The conical studs 38 are formed of an elastic material (for example, a fluoroelastomer and/or a fluorosilicone elastomer), which is softer than the material of the cage 28 and, for example, has a Shore hardness (Shore A) of 20-25, in particular 23.

(13) One of the studs 38 is introduced, in particular injected, into each breakthrough 36 of the cage 28. Preferably, the cage 28 and the damping element 26 are produced together in a two-component injection molding process.

(14) The damping body 30 is also made of an elastic material (for example, “Viton”). This material is preferably chosen in such a way that the damping body 30 is harder than the studs 38 of the damping element 26, but softer than the cage 28. For example, the material of the damping body 30 has a Shore hardness (Shore A) of 50-70, in particular 65.

(15) The cap 32 is preferably made of a harder material than the damping body 30, e.g. from a dimensionally stable plastic. In an alternative configuration it is manufactured from the same material as the damping body 30.

(16) The damping body 30 and the cap 32 are placed onto the cage 28 in such a way that they form a seal, so that they form a closed airtight shell or box around an air space, in which the receiver 6 is mounted. The cap 32 in this case has a through hole 41, through which the sound tube 22 connected to the sound outlet 35 of the receiver 6 is passed.

(17) Two fixing elements in the form of braces 42 (i.e., web-like protrusions), which are formed at one end of the damping body 30 facing the battery 12, face each other at a distance and clamp the battery 12 between them. The battery 12 is thus fixed to the damping body 30 by the braces 42 with a force-locking connection (and hence free of play).

(18) Electrical contacts 44, for contacting the battery 12, are integrated on the inner surfaces facing each other of the braces 42. The contacts are in turn connected to the wire 20 indicated in FIG. 1.

(19) In addition, a further fixing element in the form of a plug or a pin 46 with a T-shaped cross section is formed on the damping body 30. The pin 46 is used to mount the electronic frame 14 on the damping body 30, and in order to do so it is inserted into a corresponding non-illustrated T-groove of the electronic frame 14. The pin 46 is manufactured with a predefined excess over the T-groove of the electronic frame 14, so that the pin 46 pressurizes the walls of the T-groove and fixes the electronic frame 14 to the damping body 30, not only with a form-locking connection, but also with a force-locking connection (and thus again without play). Optionally, electrical contacts are integrated into the pin 46 and the corresponding T-groove, through which the wires 18 and 20 indicated in FIG. 1 contact the signal processing unit 10.

(20) A small projection 47, which is made of a soft material and is formed on a rear wall of the damping body 30 facing the battery 12, acts as a tolerance compensation in order to be able to securely accommodate batteries 12 with varying sizes due to manufacturing tolerances.

(21) Through the use of the damping element 26, the cage 28 and the damping body 30, the receiver 6 is elastically coupled to the battery 12 and to the electronic frame 14. Due to this connection within the housing 4 a coherent assembly with relatively large mass is formed. In this composite structure, the receiver 6, the battery 12 and the electronic frame 14 react much more robustly against vibrations, particularly in the higher frequency range, than if they were individually mounted on the housing 4. Due to the high total weight of this module, the hearing instrument 2 also experiences effective vibration damping in the lower and middle frequency range. In particular, the vibrational energy emitted by the receiver 6 is dissipated effectively by the elastic damping element 26 and the elastic damping body 30.

(22) The invention is particularly clearly described in the exemplary embodiments described above, but at the same time it is not limited to these exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, further embodiments of the invention can be derived from the claims and the above description.

(23) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

(24) 2 hearing instrument 4 housing 6 receiver 8 microphone 10 signal processing unit 12 battery 14 electronic frame 16 coupling unit 18 wire 20 wire 22 sound tube 24 opening 26 damping element 28 cage 30 damping body 32 cap 34 main body 35 sound outlet 36 breakthrough 38 stud 40 contact surface 41 through hole 42 brace 44 contact 46 pin 47 projection