In-the-ear hearing device

Abstract

An in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid has a housing that is designed for insertion into an ear canal of a hearing aid wearer. The housing has a housing shell. The housing shell has an antenna, in particular a folded, capacitively charged dipole antenna. The antenna is mounted in particular on an outer surface of the housing shell.

Claims

1. An in-the-ear (ITE) hearing device, comprising: a housing configured for insertion into an ear canal of a hearing device wearer; said housing having a housing shell and said housing shell having an antenna; said antenna, in an unfolded state thereof, having a central excitation point and two mutually opposite dipole arms extending from said central excitation point in and counter to an antenna longitudinal direction, and wherein angled endpieces are formed at ends of said dipole arms for capacitive charging.

2. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is mounted on an outer face of said housing shell.

3. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein said antenna has a conductor structure mounted on a film carrier, said film carrier being mounted on said housing shell.

4. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein said antenna is a dipole antenna.

5. The hearing device according to claim 4, wherein said antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

6. The hearing device according to claim 4, wherein said antenna is a capacitively charged dipole antenna.

7. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein said housing shell widens in a longitudinal direction and said antenna is mounted on said housing shell with a main radiating direction of said antenna oriented in the longitudinal direction.

8. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein each of said endpieces is U-shaped, with a pair of side limbs and a base limb.

9. The hearing device according to claim 8, wherein said mutually opposite pairs of side limbs are oriented toward each other.

10. The hearing device according to claim 1, wherein said two dipole arms, in a region of said central excitation point, are formed with subportions which, compared to other portions of the dipole arms, extend farther forward at an outer opening of said housing shell, as seen in the antenna longitudinal direction.

11. The hearing device according to claim 8, wherein said dipole arms run in a circumferential direction around said housing shell.

12. The hearing device according to claim 8, wherein said base limbs are arranged lying opposite each other on said housing shell.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D are perspective views of a housing shell of an ITE hearing aid with a mounted antenna in accordance with the invention; and

(2) FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the antenna in an unfolded starting state.

(3) Parts and elements having the same function and functionality are provided with the same reference signs throughout the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(4) Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail, the housing shell 2 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D forms a part of a housing 4 of an ITE hearing aid. The housing 4, especially the housing shell 2, is adapted in its outer shape, or exterior, to the typical geometry of an ear canal and is to this extent designed for insertion into the ear canal of a person, especially a hearing-impaired person. The housing shell 2 typically widens from an inner end region, and from an inner opening 6 of the housing shell 2 located there, to an outer end region, and to an outer opening 8 of the housing shell 2 located there. The terms inner and outer are used with reference to the insertion direction of the hearing device into the ear canal of the user. The housing shell 2 is thus open at both end faces of the end regions. In the finished hearing aid, a receiver (loudspeaker) is typically arranged in the inner opening 6. A faceplate (not shown here) is typically inserted at the opposite outer opening 8. In the illustrative embodiment, the outer opening 8 has an at least approximately rectangular shape with two long sides and two short sides, wherein the corner regions are rounded. The sides can also have a curved shape, as is shown by way of example for one of the short sides. The hearing aid components, for example a signal processor, a microphone, and a transmitter/receiver unit for transmitting/receiving wireless signals, etc., are arranged on the afore-mentioned faceplate, which is not illustrated here. The faceplate closes the outer opening 8 and is to this extent a part of the housing 4.

(5) The housing 4 extends generally in a longitudinal direction 12, which is oriented from the inner opening 6 to the outer opening 8. The longitudinal direction 12 is in particular oriented perpendicularly with respect to the surface area of the outer opening 8.

(6) In the illustrative embodiment, the housing shell 2, especially on account of the configuration of the outer opening 8 as a rectangular opening, has two mutually opposite main sides 14A, 14B and two mutually opposite secondary sides 16A, 16B.

(7) The housing shell 2 generally has an outer face 18. An antenna 20 is mounted on the latter, the antenna 20 being shown particularly in FIG. 2 in an unfolded starting state. This antenna 20 has a special conductor structure 22 which is formed by metal tracks, in particular copper conductor tracks. In a design variant, the conductor structure 22 is mounted on a film-like carrier 24, such that the antenna 20 is formed as a whole in the manner of a flexible printed circuit. The film-like carrier 24 is indicated for example in FIG. 2 by a dashed line.

(8) As can be seen from FIG. 2, in the unfolded starting state the antenna 20, especially the conductor structure 22, has two dipole arms 26 which, starting from a central excitation point 28, extend in a straight line in and counter to an antenna longitudinal direction 30. Parallel to these two dipole arms 26 in the illustrative embodiment, a parallel arm 32 is provided which likewise extends in the antenna longitudinal direction 30. The two dipole arms 26 are spaced apart from each other at the central excitation point 28. At the excitation point 28, the two dipole arms 26 are contacted via attachment lines 34 and are connected to a transmitter/receiver unit (not shown in detail here).

(9) A capacitive charge of the antenna 20 is formed at the ends of the dipole arms 26. For this purpose, the end of each dipole arm 26 is adjoined by a U-shaped endpiece 36 which, in the illustrative embodiment, has a base limb 38 and two side limbs 40. The side limbs 40 preferably each extend parallel to the dipole arms 26 and thus parallel to the antenna longitudinal direction 30. The side limbs 40 of the two endpieces 36 are oriented toward each other, i.e. the U-shaped conductor track structures each formed by the endpieces 36 are oriented with their open ends toward each other and to this extent are arranged with mirror symmetry to each other. The side limbs 40 preferably extend over a relatively great length of the entire antenna structure, for example over a length in the region of between 0.25 times and 0.4 times the entire length L of the antenna 20. In the illustrative embodiment, the length L of the antenna 20 is defined by the distance in antenna longitudinal direction 30 between the two base limbs 38.

(10) The arrangement of this antenna, shown in FIG. 2, on the housing shell 2 is shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D. The antenna 20 is generally wound around the housing shell 2, i.e. it is placed in a circumferential direction 42 around the housing shell 2. The circumferential direction 42 runs approximately perpendicularly with respect to the longitudinal direction 12. It corresponds substantially or exactly to the antenna longitudinal direction 30.

(11) The antenna 20 overall has a length L which corresponds almost to the circumference of the housing shell 2 and, for example, lies in the range between 70% and 95% of the housing circumference.

(12) As can be seen from FIG. 1A, which shows a view of the first main side 14A and the first secondary side 16A, the end regions of the antenna 20, especially the endpieces 36, lie opposite each other on the housing shell 2. The two base limbs 38 are therefore oriented toward each other, and the respective side limbs 40 are oriented away from each other. Between the two base limbs 38, a free space is formed in which no conductor tracks are arranged. The side limbs 40 and also the dipole arms 26 run in the circumferential direction 42, at least in the region of the main sides 14A, 14B.

(13) FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of the housing shell 2, directed to the second main side 14B and partially also to the first secondary side 16A. It will be seen that the dipole arms 26 and also the parallel arm 32 likewise run, on the first main side, parallel or at least substantially parallel to the circumferential direction 42. In a transition region, preferably in the region of the secondary sides 16A, 16B, the dipole arms 26 are extended forward in the longitudinal direction 12, i.e. in the transition region the portions of the dipole arms 26 do not run perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. This has the effect that, with respect to the longitudinal direction 12, subportions of the dipole arms run at different length levels perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 12. The forwardly extended subportion 26A preferably runs at least approximately at the same axial height as a respective forward side limb 40, as viewed in the longitudinal direction 12.

(14) The side limbs 40 no longer run in the region of the forwardly extended subportions 26A. The forwardly extended subportions 26A lie in the middle region of the antenna, where the excitation point 28 is arranged. In particular, these forwardly extended subportions 26A of the dipole arms 26 run near and parallel to the outer opening 8. The central excitation point 28 is therefore also arranged very near to the outer opening 8 and thus directly adjacent the faceplate. The electrical connection and contacting of the two dipole arms 26 at the excitation point 28 is provided, for example, by attachment lines which are contacted from outside or alternatively are also guided through the housing shell 2.

(15) FIG. 1C lastly shows a view of the second secondary side 16B and the second main side 14B. FIG. 1D shows in turn a perspective view directed to the first secondary side 16A and the second main side 14B. It will be clearly seen from these two figures that the dipole arms 26 and the parallel arm 32 are each guided forward in longitudinal direction 12 in the region of the secondary sides 16A, 16B. That is to say, in the region of the secondary sides 16A, 16B, the dipole arm and the parallel arm are oriented obliquely with respect to the longitudinal direction 12.

(16) With the antenna 20 arranged as described here on the outer face 18 of the housing shell 2, in conjunction with the special structure of the antenna 20, it is possible to obtain an antenna 20 which on the whole is efficient and sensitive and which has a main radiating direction and main receiving direction in and respectively counter to the longitudinal direction 12. The antenna 20 is distinguished by the capacitive charging through the arrangement of the endpieces 36. By virtue of the arrangement on the outer face 18, the greatest possible physical length of the folded dipole antenna 20 is obtained.

(17) The invention is not limited to the illustrative embodiment described above. Rather, other embodiments are also possible within the scope defined by the claims.

(18) The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: 2 housing shell 4 housing 6 inner opening 8 outer opening 12 longitudinal direction 14A first main side 14B second main side 16A first secondary side 16B second secondary side 18 outer face 20 antenna 22 conductor structure 24 film-like carrier 26 dipole arm 26A subportion 28 excitation point 30 antenna longitudinal direction 32 parallel arm 34 attachment line 36 endpiece 38 base limb 40 side limb 42 circumferential direction L length