LOUDSPEAKER ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

A loudspeaker arrangement for a plurality of MEMS loudspeakers for generating sound waves in the audible wavelength spectrum includes a housing, which has a sound conduction cavity and at least one sound outlet opening, and at least two MEMS loudspeakers, arranged in the interior of the housing opposite and spaced apart from each other by the sound conduction cavity. Each MEMS loudspeaker has a cavity in the region of their opposite faces. The loudspeaker arrangement includes a shielding wall for acoustically decoupling the two MEMS loudspeakers from each other. The shielding wall is arranged in the interior of the housing between the two MEMS loudspeakers such that the sound conduction cavity is subdivided into a first and a second a cavity region respectively associated with one of the two MEMS loudspeakers

Claims

1-16. (canceled)

17. Loudspeaker arrangement for multiple MEMS loudspeakers for generating sound waves in the audible wavelength spectrum, comprising: a housing defining an interior that includes a sound-conducting hollow, the housing defining at least one sound outlet at one end of the housing; at least two MEMS loudspeakers, which are arranged opposite each other and spaced apart from each other in the interior of the housing and extend longitudinally through the sound-conducting hollow, each MEMS loudspeaker includes a cavity facing away from the like cavity of the other MEMS loudspeaker; a shielding wall for acoustically decoupling the two MEMS loudspeakers from each other, the shielding wall being arranged in the interior of the housing between the two MEMS loudspeakers, in such a manner that the sound-conducting hollow is subdivided into a first hollow plenum and a second hollow plenum, each hollow plenum being disposed between the shielding wall and a respective one of the two MEMS loudspeakers.

18. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the sound-conducting hollow defines a first inner side surface at one end of the sound-conducting hollow disposed opposite to the sound outlet, wherein the shielding wall extends longitudinally in a direction generally parallel to the two MEMS loudspeakers and over a length extending from at least the first inner side surface of the sound-conducting hollow toward the sound outlet of the sound-conducting hollow.

19. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the sound-conducting hollow defines a first inner side surface at one end of the sound-conducting hollow disposed opposite to the sound outlet, wherein the shielding wall extends longitudinally in a direction generally parallel to the two MEMS loudspeakers and over a length extending from at least the first inner side surface of the sound-conducting hollow to at least beyond the ends of the two MEMS loudspeakers closest to the sound outlet of the sound-conducting hollow.

20. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein an edge area of the shielding wall is arranged on the inner surface of the sound-conducting hollow in an acoustically sealing manner.

21. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the housing defines a sound-conducting channel extending between the sound outlet and the two hollow plenums and configured so that the sound waves emanating from each respective MEMS loudspeaker are brought together.

22. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 21, wherein the sound-conducting channel is connected at its one end to the sound-conducting hollow, and at its other end to the sound outlet, and extends in a straight line therebetween.

23. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall extends from the first inner side surface to the sound-conducting channel.

24. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall extends from the first inner side surface and at least partially into the sound-conducting channel.

25. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein each of the shielding wall and the sound-conducting channel is arranged in the middle of the housing about an axis of symmetry of the housing.

26. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein each of the shielding wall and the sound-conducting channel is arranged in a manner coaxial relative to each other.

27. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the thickness of the shielding wall is smaller than the width of the sound-conducting channel.

28. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall and the housing are produced in one piece from silicon.

29. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall and the housing are separate components, and the edge area of the shielding wall is connected to the housing in a positively locking manner.

30. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall and the housing are separate components, and the edge area of the shielding wall is connected to the housing in a force-fitting and/or firmly bonded manner.

31. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the shielding wall and the housing are separate components, and the edge area of the shielding wall is connected to the housing in a firmly bonded manner.

32. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the material forming the shielding wall features a stiffness that is higher compared to the stiffness of the material forming the housing.

33. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 32, wherein the housing is made of silicon and the shielding wall is made of a material having a relatively higher stiffness and selected from the group consisting of: metal, aluminum, a ceramic material and a composite material.

34. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the cavity of at least one MEMS loudspeaker is formed by a carrier substrate hollow of the MEMS loudspeaker.

35. Loudspeaker arrangement for multiple MEMS loudspeakers for generating sound waves in the audible wavelength spectrum, comprising: a first housing defining an interior that includes a first sound-conducting hollow, the first housing defining at least one sound outlet at one end of the first housing; at least two MEMS loudspeakers, which are arranged opposite each other and spaced apart from each other in the interior of the first housing and extend longitudinally through the first sound-conducting hollow, each MEMS loudspeaker includes a cavity facing away from the like cavity of the other MEMS loudspeaker in the interior of the first housing; a first shielding wall for acoustically decoupling the two MEMS loudspeakers from each other in the interior of the first housing, the first shielding wall being arranged in the interior of the first housing between the two MEMS loudspeakers in the interior of the first housing, in such a manner that the first sound-conducting hollow is subdivided into a first hollow plenum and a second hollow plenum, each hollow plenum being disposed between the first shielding wall and a respective one of the two MEMS loudspeakers in the interior of the first housing; a second housing defining an interior that includes a second sound-conducting hollow, the second housing defining at least one sound outlet at one end of the second housing; at least two MEMS loudspeakers, which are arranged opposite each other and spaced apart from each other in the interior of the second housing and extend longitudinally through the second sound-conducting hollow, each MEMS loudspeaker includes a cavity facing away from the like cavity of the other MEMS loudspeaker in the interior of the second housing; a second shielding wall for acoustically decoupling the two MEMS loudspeakers from each other in the interior of the second housing, the second shielding wall being arranged in the interior of the second housing between the two MEMS loudspeakers in the interior of the second housing, in such a manner that the second sound-conducting hollow is subdivided into a first hollow plenum and a second hollow plenum, each hollow plenum being disposed between the second shielding wall and a respective one of the two MEMS loudspeakers in the interior of the second housing; and wherein the first shielding wall includes at least one through-channel extending in its longitudinal direction, through which sound waves of the MEMS loudspeakers in the interior of the second housing can be led through and to the sound outlet at the one end of the first housing.

36. Loudspeaker arrangement according to claim 35, wherein the second shielding wall extends through the at least one through-channel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Further advantages of the invention are described in the following embodiments. The following is shown:

[0023] FIG. 1 a perspective view of a first embodiment of the loudspeaker arrangement in which the smaller dashed lines schematically represent features otherwise hidden from the viewer's perspective and the larger dashed lines schematically represent the horizontally extending sectioning plane along which the sectional view depicted in FIG. 2 is taken,

[0024] FIG. 2 a side sectional view of the loudspeaker arrangement of the embodiment in FIG. 1 with two MEMS loudspeakers and a shielding wall,

[0025] FIG. 3 a second embodiment of the loudspeaker arrangement in a side sectional view with two loudspeaker units and

[0026] FIG. 4 a third embodiment of the loudspeaker arrangement in a side sectional view with two loudspeaker units and two through-channels separated from each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a first embodiment of a loudspeaker arrangement 1 in a schematic view (FIG. 1) and in a top view (FIG. 2) taken in a section cut by a horizontally extending plane schematically represented in FIG. 1 by the larger dashed lines. The loudspeaker arrangement 1 comprises a housing 2, two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b and a shielding wall 7. At this, the housing 2 comprises two housing halves 17a, 17b, each of which preferably receives a respective one of the two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b. Furthermore, the loudspeaker arrangement 1 features a sound-conducting hollow 3 and a sound outlet 4, which is arranged at the end of a sound-conducting channel 12.

[0028] The two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b are arranged opposite to each other and spaced apart from each other through the sound-conducting hollow 3 in the interior of the housing 2, in particular in each case in a housing half 17a, 17b. The sound-conducting hollow 3 is subdivided into a first and second hollow plenum 8, 9, each of which is disposed between the shielding wall 7 and a respective one of the two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b. Furthermore, the sound-conducting hollow 3 is arranged centrally on an axis of symmetry 16 of the housing 2.

[0029] The two hollow plenums 8, 9 are separated from each other by the shielding wall 7. The sound-conducting channel 12 is arranged in the area of a first opening 13 of the first hollow plenum 8 and a second opening 14 of the second hollow plenum 9. Thus, the two hollow plenums 8, 9 open into the common sound-conducting channel 12 through their respective openings 13, 14. The sound-conducting channel 12 is connected at its one end to the sound-conducting hollow 3, in particular to the two hollow plenums 8, 9, and at its other end to the sound-outlet opening 4. Accordingly, each of the two housing halves 17a, 17b receives one of the two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b, which in each case has one of the two hollow plenums 8, 9. The shielding wall 7 is connected to the housing halves 17a, 17b in particular in a positively locking, firmly bonded and/or force-fitting manner. Alternatively, however, the housing 2 can also be formed as a single part, whereas the shielding wall 7 is preferably fixed in the housing as an inlay by means of a layer-like structure of the housing 2.

[0030] A cavity 6 is assigned to the two MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b; of these, only one is provided with a reference sign for reasons of clarity. In each case, the cavity 6 is formed by a carrier substrate hollow 18 and a cavity hollow 19 of the housing 2. The carrier substrate hollow 18 is arranged on the side of the MEMS loudspeakers 5 turned away from the sound-conducting hollow 3. In the illustrated first embodiment, the cavity hollow 19 of the housing 2 directly adjoins the carrier substrate hollow 18.

[0031] The shielding wall 7 extends from the first inner side surface 10 of the sound-conducting hollow 3, starting through the two MEMS loudspeakers 5, beyond a second inner side surface 15 of the sound-conducting hollow 3. The first inner side surface 10 is arranged on the side of the housing 2 opposite the sound-conducting channel 12. The second inner side surface 15 faces the first inner side surface 11 and is arranged in particular in the area of the first and second openings 13, 14 of the first and second hollow plenums 8, 9. As shown in FIG. 1, the shielding wall 7 extends across the entire height and width of the housing 2, such that the sound waves emerging from the MEMS loudspeakers 5a, 5b have no possibility of arriving beyond the shielding wall 7 into the hollow plenums 8, 9 of the other MEMS loudspeaker. For this purpose, the shielding wall 7 is furthermore connected to the housing 2 in a positively locking, force-fitting and/or firmly bonded manner.

[0032] FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show a second and third embodiment of the loudspeaker arrangement 1. Therein, the loudspeaker arrangement 1 comprises two loudspeaker units 20, 21, a first and second shielding wall 23, 24, at least one with the sound-conducting channel 12 and at least one through-channel 22. Both loudspeaker units 20, 21 are constructed essentially like the loudspeaker arrangement 1 described in FIGS. 1 and 2. Accordingly, two housing halves 17 each form one loudspeaker unit 20, 21. The housing halves 17 are connected to each other in a positively locking, force-fitting and/or firmly bonded manner through the first and/or second shielding wall 23, 24, in such a manner that the MEMS loudspeakers 5 arranged therein are opposite to each other. The two loudspeaker units 20, 21 are likewise connected to each other in the longitudinal direction, in particular in a coaxial manner, in a positively locking, force-fitting and/or firmly bonded manner.

[0033] On the side opposite the second loudspeaker unit 21, the first loudspeaker unit 20 features the sound outlet 4 and the sound-conducting channel 12 connected to the sound outlet 4. As in the first embodiment, the plenums 8, 9 of the MEMS loudspeakers 5 together form a sound-conducting hollow 3, in the area of which the first shielding wall 23 is formed. The first shielding wall 23 extends from the first inner side surface 10 to the second inner side surface 15, in particular up to the sound outlet 4. The cavity 6 of the MEMS loudspeakers 5 is formed by the cavity hollow 19 of the housing 2. The carrier substrate hollow 18 is arranged on the side of the MEMS loudspeakers 5 turned away from the cavity hollow 19, whereas the orientation of the MEMS loudspeaker 5 shown in FIG. 2 is also conceivable.

[0034] The second loudspeaker unit 21 also features two openings 13, 14 on the side opposite the first side inner surface 10, and is connected to the sound-conducting channel 12 through this, in particular by means of a through-channel 22. The through-channel 22 extends from the two openings 13, 14 of the second loudspeaker unit 21 up to the sound-conducting channel 12.

[0035] In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the through-channel 22 is formed in the first shielding wall 23. In contrast to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 features two through-channels 22, which are separated from each other. With both embodiments, the second loudspeaker unit 21 features a second shielding wall 24, as has already been described in FIG. 1. In accordance with the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, it extends, starting from the first inner side surface 10 of the second loudspeaker unit 21, up to the sound-conducting channel 12, which is arranged on the first loudspeaker unit 20. As a result, the shielding wall 24 of the second loudspeaker unit 21 forms the two through-channels 22 separated from each other.

[0036] In contrast to this, with the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the sound waves of the second loudspeaker unit 21 are combined in the single through channel 22 and are conducted up to the sound-conducting channel 12.

[0037] The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 therefore corresponds to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, except for the formation of the shielding wall 7, 24. However, the shielding wall 7 extends from the first inner side surface 10 of the second loudspeaker unit 21 continuously to the sound-conducting channel 12, which is connected to the sound outlet 4 of the first loudspeaker unit 20 and is formed by the first and second shielding walls 23, 24.

[0038] At this, the shielding wall 7 can be integrated into the loudspeaker arrangement 1 in the layer-by-layer manufacturing method, for example, in the form of an inlay. The two mutually separated through-channels 22 extend parallel to the shielding wall 7 from the sound outlet 4 of the second loudspeaker unit 21, in particular the first inner side surface 10 of the first loudspeaker unit 20, down to the sound-conducting channel 12. The sound waves of the second loudspeaker unit 21 are conducted in a manner decoupled from each other through the first or second hollow plenum 8, 9 of the MEMS loudspeaker 5 up to the respective opening 12, 13 in the area of the sound outlet 4 of the second loudspeaker unit 21. From there, the sound waves arrive in the adjacent through-channel 22 and are conducted up to the sound-conducting channel 12. The sound waves of the first loudspeaker unit 20 are likewise guided in a manner decoupled from the shielding wall 7 or the through-channel 22 up to the sound-conducting channel 12. In the sound-conducting channel 12, in particular in the area adjoining the sound outlet 4, the sound waves of the four MEMS loudspeakers 5 meet each other, and are guided out of the housing 2 in a bundled manner.

[0039] This invention is not limited to the illustrated and described embodiments. Variations within the scope of the claims, just as the combination of characteristics, are possible, even if they are illustrated and described in different embodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0040] 1 Loudspeaker arrangement [0041] 2 Housing [0042] 3 Sound-conducting hollow [0043] 4 Sound outlet [0044] 5 MEMS loudspeaker [0045] 6 Cavity [0046] 7 Shielding wall [0047] 8 First hollow plenum [0048] 9 Second hollow plenum [0049] 10 First inner side surface [0050] 11 Inner surface of the sound-conducting hollow [0051] 12 Sound-conducting channel [0052] 13 First opening [0053] 14 Second opening [0054] 15 Second inner side surface [0055] 16 Axis of symmetry [0056] 17 Housing halves [0057] 18 Carrier substrate hollow [0058] 19 Cavity hollow [0059] 20 First loudspeaker unit [0060] 21 Second loudspeaker unit [0061] 22 Through-channel [0062] 23 First shielding wall [0063] 24 Second shielding wall