Elastic damping element for hearing instrument receiver and hearing instrument with such a damping element

Abstract

An elastic damping element provides a vibration-damping mounting of a receiver inside a hearing instrument. The damping element contains a hollow base body, from the inner surface of which a plurality of retaining projections project, and each retaining projection has at its distal end a contact surface for the receiver that will be mounted there. A recess, which is formed in an outer surface of the base body in alignment with the associated retaining projection in order to achieve a reduced material thickness, corresponds with at least one of the retaining projections.

Claims

1. An elastic damping element for a vibration-damping mounting of a receiver inside a hearing instrument, the elastic damping element comprising: a hollow base body having an inner surface and a plurality of retaining projections projecting from said inner surface, each of said retaining projections having at a distal end a contact surface for the receiver that will be mounted, said hollow base body further having an outer body with at least one recess formed therein, wherein at least one of said retaining projections corresponding to said recess which, in order to achieve a reduced material thickness, is formed in said outer surface of said hollow base body in alignment with said at least one retaining projection; said retaining projections being formed from a softer material than said hollow base body; and said hollow base body having an opening formed therein and at least one of said retaining projections is inserted into said opening in said hollow base body.

2. The elastic damping element according to claim 1, wherein said retaining projections are respectively formed in a shape of a conical knob.

3. The elastic damping element according to claim 1, wherein said hollow base body is in a form of a tube that encloses the receiver completely circumferentially.

4. The elastic damping element according to claim 1, wherein said recess is one of two recesses formed in said outer surface of said hollow base body and respectively correspond to two of said retaining projections, and wherein said recesses have different depths.

5. The elastic damping element according to claim 1, wherein said hollow base body and said retaining projections are formed as a two-component injection-molded part.

6. The elastic damping element according to claim 1, wherein said at least one retaining projection is injected into said opening in said hollow base body.

7. A hearing instrument, comprising: a housing; a receiver; an elastic damping element containing a hollow base body having an inner surface and a plurality of retaining projections projecting from said inner surface, wherein each of said retaining projections having at a distal end a contact surface for assisting in mounting said receiver, said hollow base body further having an outer body with at least one recess formed therein, wherein at least one of said retaining projections corresponding to said recess which, in order to achieve a reduced material thickness, is formed in said outer surface of said hollow base body in alignment with said at least one retaining projection, wherein said retaining projections being formed from a softer material than said hollow base body, wherein said hollow base body having an opening formed therein and at least one of said retaining projections is inserted into said opening in said hollow base body; and said receiver mounted inside said housing in a vibration-damping manner by means of said elastic damping element.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a first embodiment of an elastic damping element for the vibration-damping mounting of a receiver of a hearing instrument;

(2) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the elastic damping element with the receiver as shown in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is a perspective view as shown in FIG. 1 of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(4) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 2 of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(5) FIG. 5 is a perspective view as shown in FIG. 1 of a second embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(6) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 2 of the second embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(7) FIG. 7 is a perspective view as shown in FIG. 1 of a third embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(8) FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 2 of the third embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(9) FIG. 9 is a perspective view as shown in FIG. 1 of a fourth embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(10) FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 2 of a fourth embodiment of the elastic damping element with the receiver mounted therein;

(11) FIG. 11 is a section view, analogous to FIG. 6, of the damping element therein in a rest state and a state loaded by the receiver; and

(12) FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a hearing instrument with the receiver mounted by the elastic damping element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(13) Components that correspond to each other are always assigned the same reference signs in all drawings.

(14) Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown an elastic damping element 1 that is used for mounting a receiver 2 (FIG. 3) in a vibration-damping manner, inside a hearing instrument 3 (FIG. 12) that is configured as a hearing aid.

(15) The elastic damping element 1 contains an elastic tubular base body 5 made of a fluorosilicone elastomer (in particular Viton) with an approximately square cross-section. The damping element 1 also contains a plurality of retaining projections 6 in the form of conical knobs that protrude from an inner surface 7 of the base body 5 into the interior that the base body encloses. Each of the retaining projections 6 has a contact surface 8 at its distal end (i.e. facing away from the inner surface 7), for the receiver 2 that will be mounted there.

(16) In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each retaining projection 6 corresponds to a recess 9 that is formed in an outer surface 10 of the base body 5 in alignment with the respective retaining projection 6. As a result of the corresponding recesses 9, the retaining projections 6 thus each respectively form a hollow shape that is open toward the outer surface 10 (approximately in the manner of a perforated dent).

(17) As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the receiver 2 is properly inserted into the interior of the damping element 1 so that its outer circumference 11 contacts the contact surfaces 8 of the retaining projections 6. The tubular base body 5 of the damping element 1 completely encloses the side surfaces of the receiver 2. A connection 12 of the receiver 2 for a sound tube, and a rear side of the receiver 2 opposite this connection 12, are arranged on the open sides of the tubular base body 5.

(18) FIGS. 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the elastic damping element 1. This differs from the damping element 1 made from a single material in one piece as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, in that the base body 5 and retaining projections 6 are prepared from different materials 13 and 14. The material 13 used for the base body 5 is harder than the material 14 from which the retaining projections 6 are prepared. In a preferred embodiment, the material 13 and material 14 are fluorosilicone elastomers (in particular Viton) with different hardnesses.

(19) In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the base body 5 that consists of the comparatively hard material 13 is furnished with openings 15, and a retaining projection 6 of the comparatively soft material 14 is respectively injected into each opening 15, including the associated recess 9. The damping element 1 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is in particular prepared in a two-component injection-molding process.

(20) FIGS. 7 and 8 show a third variant of the elastic damping element 1, which is manufactured in one piece from a single material as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. However, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 differs from the damping element 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 in that the recesses 9 have different depths. Correspondingly, the corresponding retaining projections 6 are filled to a different extent and thus have different elasticities.

(21) In the example shown, the degree of filling of the retaining projections increases towards the bottom, so that the receiver 2 is mounted more softly in the upper region of the damping element 1 than in the lower region. In this case, the retaining projections 6 that are arranged on a bottom 16 of the base body 5 are completely filled. These retaining projections 6 that are arranged on the bottom 16, are therefore not associated with a corresponding recess on the outer surface 8 of the base body 5. Instead, the outer surface 8 is flat in the area of the bottom 16. The terms bottom and above and below refer only to the orientation of the damping element 1, in the drawing and do not describe the orientation of the damping element 1 in the surrounding space when the damping element 1 has been installed in a hearing aid 3.

(22) The degree of filling of the individual retaining projections 6 is selected to match the vibration behavior of the receiver 2 in such a way that a particularly effective acoustic damping of the receiver 2 is achieved, thus particularly effectively suppressing transmission of vibrations from the receiver 2 to other components of the hearing aid 3 that contains the receiver 2 and damping element 1.

(23) FIGS. 9 and 10 show a fourth variant of the elastic damping element 1, in which the design features of the damping elements 1 shown in FIGS. 5 to 8 are combined. Specifically, the damping element 1 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 has the two-component structure of the damping element 1 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, made up of different hard materials 13 and 14, in combination with the varying degree of filling of the retaining projections 6 of the damping element shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

(24) FIG. 11 shows, by means of two distinguished partial views analogous to FIG. 5, how the retaining projections 6 of the damping element 1 (here, for example, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6) deform from their rest position (left half of the drawing) when subjected to a load from the vibrating receiver 2 (right half of the drawing; strongly exaggerated here for purposes of illustration). The illustration here shows in particular that the retaining projections 6 may expand under load over the outer surface 10 of the base body 5, even the base body 5 remains largely stable in shape.

(25) FIG. 12 shows a hearing aid 3 with a housing 20 in which the receiver 2 mounted inside the damping element 1 is installed. The hearing aid 3 also has two microphones 21, a battery 22 and a signal processing unit 23.

(26) As a result of the retaining projections 6 of the damping element 1, the receiver 2 is mounted so that it may move comparatively freely in its main direction of vibrationparallel to the axis of the base body 5.

(27) The invention is particularly clear in the exemplary embodiments described above, but is not limited to these exemplary embodiments. Rather, additional embodiments of the invention may be derived from the claims and the above description.

(28) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: 1 Damping element 2 Receiver 3 Hearing instrument 5 Base body 6 Retaining projection 7 Inner surface (of the base body) 8 Contact surface 9 Recess 10 Outer surface (of the base body) 11 Outer circumference (of the receiver) 12 Connection 13 Material 14 Material 15 Opening 16 Bottom 20 Housing 21 Microphone 22 Battery 23 Signal processing unit