earphones

Abstract

To provide earphones with superior noise cancellation accuracy compared to conventional models. [Solution] The earphone comprises an earphone body having a housing in which a speaker unit is incorporated, and an earpiece attached to a roughly cylindrical sound conduit protruding from the housing. The sound conduit has, as separate spaces from each other, sound emission holes for releasing sound emitted from the speaker unit to the earpiece, and a microphone housing for housing a noise-canceling microphone.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to earphones.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an earphone microphone including a main body housing having one speaker for outputting sound externally, and an ear pad covering an insertion portion formed in the main body housing. In this earphone microphone, the main body housing has first and second microphones for noise cancellation, and in the main body housing, the first and second microphones and the speaker are arranged in separate spaces.

[0003] Patent Document 2 discloses an earphone including a housing portion having a speaker for outputting sound externally, a protruding portion protruding to the external space side of the housing portion, and an ear tip engaging with the protruding portion. In this earphone, the housing portion has a microphone for noise cancellation, and in the housing portion, the microphone and the speaker are arranged in separate spaces.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Generally, to improve the accuracy of noise cancellation in earphones, it is preferable to position the noise-canceling microphone close to the external space of the earphone (the user's eardrum). However, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the microphone is positioned away from the external space, as the main housing (housing portion) contains the microphone, which is undesirable from the viewpoint of improving noise cancellation.

[0006] This disclosure was devised in light of the aforementioned conventional circumstances and aims to provide earphones with superior noise cancellation accuracy compared to conventional earphones. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] An earphone according to one aspect of the present disclosure comprises an earphone body having a housing in which a speaker unit is incorporated, and an earpiece attached to a substantially cylindrical sound conduit protruding from the housing, wherein the sound conduit has, as separate spaces from each other, sound-emitting holes for releasing sound emitted from the speaker unit to the earpiece, and a microphone housing for housing a noise-canceling microphone. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the earphones disclosed herein, the accuracy of noise cancellation is superior to that of conventional earphones. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Side view showing earphones according to Embodiment 1 [Figure 2] Schematic cross-section of the earphone shown in Figure 1. [Figure 3] Figure 1 shows a top view of the earphone (earpiece and laminated components are not shown). [Figure 4] Enlarged perspective view illustrating the closed section of the earphone shown in Figure 1. [Figure 5] Enlarged perspective view illustrating the earphone jig insertion opening shown in Figure 1. [Figure 6]Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the method of assembling the microphone into the microphone housing of the earphone shown. [Figure 7] A schematic cross-sectional diagram showing a conventional earphone. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] (Background leading to this disclosure) As mentioned earlier, to improve the accuracy of noise cancellation in earphones, it is preferable to position the noise-canceling microphone close to the external space of the earphone (the user's eardrum). This is because positioning the noise-canceling microphone close to the user's eardrum allows for highly accurate capture of the sound that actually reaches the user's eardrum. This enables high-precision detection of the difference between the captured sound (the sound that actually reaches the user's eardrum) and the sound emitted from the speaker unit, thereby improving the accuracy of noise cancellation and more effectively canceling out noise. For this reason, some conventional earphones place the microphone in the sound-emitting hole.

[0011] Figure 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a conventional earphone 200. Below, the problems of conventional earphones in which a microphone is placed in the sound-emitting hole will be explained with reference to Figure 7. The earphone 200 shown in Figure 7 has an earphone body 201 having a housing 210 that houses a speaker unit (not shown) inside, and an earpiece 202 that is attached to a sound conduit 213 protruding from the housing 210, and a noise-canceling microphone 217 is simply placed in the inner space of the sound conduit 213 (i.e., the sound-emitting hole 215).

[0012] The earphone 200 shown in Figure 7 has a microphone 217 positioned in the sound vent 215, resulting in superior noise cancellation accuracy compared to Patent Documents 1 and 2. However, the placement of the microphone 217 in the sound vent 215 creates resistance within the sound vent 215. This resistance can affect the sound clarity, particularly in the high-frequency range. In addition, the microphone 217 positioned in the sound vent 215 could cause sound emitted from the speaker unit to hit and reflect off the microphone 217, or disrupt the phase of sound propagating through the sound vent 215. In this case, the sound resolution may decrease, or the balance of sound quality may be disrupted. Thus, in conventional earphones, including those in Patent Documents 1 and 2 and the earphone 200 shown in Figure 7, there was a trade-off between noise cancellation and sound quality.

[0013] The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below, with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, unnecessary details may be omitted. For example, detailed explanations of already well-known matters or redundant explanations of substantially identical configurations may be omitted. This is to avoid the following explanation becoming unnecessarily verbose and to facilitate understanding for those skilled in the art. The accompanying drawings and the following explanation are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand this disclosure and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

[0014] (Embodiment 1) Figure 1 is a side view showing an earphone 100 according to Embodiment 1. The earphone 100 comprises an earphone body 1 and an earpiece 2.

[0015] Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the earphone shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the earphone body 1 has a housing 10 and a speaker unit 12. The inside of the housing 10 is a housing space 11, in which the speaker unit 12 and other components (for example, a control board and a rechargeable battery) are housed. A roughly cylindrical sound conduit 13 is provided protruding from the housing 10, and an earpiece 2 is attached to the sound conduit 13.

[0016] In addition, in this specification, unless otherwise specified, the upper side refers to the side from which sound passing through the sound guide tube 13 is emitted from the sound emission hole 15 (corresponding to the upper side of the paper surface in FIG. 2), and the lower side refers to the side on which the speaker unit 12 is accommodated (corresponding to the lower side of the paper surface in FIG. 2).

[0017] FIG. 3 is a top view of the earphone shown in FIG. 1 (the illustration of the earpiece and the laminated member is omitted). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the sound guide tube 13 is provided with a partition wall 14 in its inner space, and the sound emission hole 15 and the microphone accommodation part 16 are partitioned by the partition wall 14. In other words, in the inner space of the sound guide tube 13, the sound emission hole 15 and the microphone accommodation part 16 are arranged side by side in the radial direction of the sound guide tube 13 as independent spaces from each other.

[0018] The sound emission hole 15 communicates with the accommodation space 11 and is a space for emitting the sound (vibration) emitted from the speaker unit 12 to the earpiece 2. Therefore, the speaker unit 12 is set to emit sound toward the sound emission hole 15.

[0019] The microphone accommodation part 16 is a space for accommodating the microphone 17 for noise cancellation. In the microphone accommodation part 16, the microphone 17 is accommodated so as to be assembled to the partition wall 14.

[0020] The microphone 17 is a known feedback microphone having a function of picking up the sound emitted from the speaker unit 12 and propagating through the sound emission hole 15. For this reason, the partition wall 14 is provided with a wall hole 14a that communicates the sound emission hole 15 and the microphone accommodation part 16 so that the microphone 17 can pick up the sound emitted from the speaker unit 12 and propagating through the sound emission hole 15.

[0021] A mesh material M is provided on the side of the partition wall 14 facing the sound-emitting hole 15, so as to block the hole 14a. The mesh material M has the same function as the acoustic mesh 32 (see below), namely, the function of damping (suppressing) sound vibrations transmitted from the sound-emitting hole 15. Therefore, by damping (suppressing) the sound vibrations transmitted from the sound-emitting hole 15 with the mesh material M, howling and other issues can be prevented, and stable noise cancellation can be achieved.

[0022] A known method can be used for noise cancellation of the earphones 100 using the microphone 17. An example of the noise cancellation function is described below. First, the microphone 17 picks up sound from the sound outlet 15 and transmits the sound pickup signal to a control board (not shown). Next, the control board analyzes the received sound pickup signal in real time to generate a correction signal for noise cancellation and transmits the correction signal to the speaker unit 12. Subsequently, the speaker unit 12 plays the received correction signal along with the audio signal to be played or currently being played. This realizes noise cancellation in the earphones.

[0023] Furthermore, the earphone body 1 may also have a noise-canceling microphone (i.e., a feedforward microphone) located outside the housing 10. In this case, combining the microphone 17 (feedback microphone) and the feedforward microphone can achieve more precise noise cancellation.

[0024] A locking claw 18 is provided at the protruding end (upper end) of the sound conduit 13 to prevent the earpiece 2 from coming off. The locking claw 18 is formed to expand in the radial direction relative to the outer surface of the sound conduit 13. In other words, the locking claw 18 is formed in a flange shape.

[0025] An annular recess 19 is provided at the protruding end of the sound conduit 13, formed by expanding the inner diameter of the sound conduit 13. The annular recess 19 is an annular recess in which the inner circumferential surface of the protruding end of the sound conduit 13 is recessed in the radial direction over the entire circumferential area. A laminated member 30 (see below) is provided in this annular recess 19.

[0026] The laminated member 30 comprises a dustproof sheet 31, an acoustic mesh 32, and double-sided tapes 33 and 34. The dustproof sheet 31 is a sheet-like member for preventing foreign matter from entering the interior of the housing 10. The acoustic mesh 32 is a mesh-like or porous plate-like member for damping (suppressing) sound vibrations transmitted from the sound emission holes 15. The double-sided tape 33 is a tape-like member for attaching the dustproof sheet 31 and the acoustic mesh 32. The double-sided tape 34 is a tape-like member for attaching the laminated member 30 to the annular recess 19.

[0027] In other words, the laminated member 30 is constructed by laminating a dustproof sheet 31, double-sided tape 33, acoustic mesh 32, and double-sided tape 34 in that order from top to bottom, and is attached to the annular recess 19 via the double-sided tape 34.

[0028] Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating the occlusion portion of the earphone shown in Figure 1. Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating the jig insertion opening of the earphone shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating the method of assembling the microphone into the microphone housing portion of the earphone shown in Figure 1.

[0029] As shown in Figures 2 and 4, the sound conduit 13 has a closure portion 21 on its peripheral wall that closes a jig insertion opening 20 (see also Figure 5) into which a special jig J for assembling the microphone 17 into the microphone housing portion 16 can be inserted.

[0030] For example, the microphone 17, positioned in the microphone housing 16, is assembled to the partition wall 14 by a jig J inserted into the microphone housing 16 through a jig insertion opening 20, as shown in Figure 6. After the assembly of the microphone 17 to the partition wall 14 is complete, if the jig insertion opening 20 is left open, the microphone 17 will pick up sounds from outside the housing 10, impairing its function. Therefore, after the assembly is complete, the jig insertion opening 20 is closed with a predetermined material such as adhesive to form a closed section 21. This ensures the function of the microphone 17.

[0031] As shown in Figure 2, the earpiece 2 integrally comprises a base portion 2a and an umbrella portion 2b.

[0032] The base portion 2a is formed in a roughly cylindrical shape and has a through-hole 2c that extends through its entire axial direction (up and down in the figure). By inserting the sound conduit 13 of the earphone body 1 into this through-hole 2c, the earpiece 2 is attached to the sound conduit 13. As a result, the through-hole 2c communicates with the sound emission hole 15, and the sound (vibration) emitted from the speaker unit 12 is released through the sound emission hole 15 to the through-hole 2c (earpiece 2).

[0033] The inner diameter of the base 2a is formed to be equal to or smaller than the outer diameter of the sound conduit 13. As a result, when the earpiece 2 is attached to the sound conduit 13, the inner surface of the base 2a and the outer surface of the sound conduit 13 are in close contact.

[0034] The umbrella portion 2b is connected to the upper end of the base portion 2a along its entire circumference and extends toward the lower end of the base portion 2a so as to cover the outer circumference of the base portion 2a. As a result, substantially the entire outer surface of the base portion 2a is covered by the umbrella portion 2b. When the user is wearing the earphone 100, the umbrella portion 2b has the function of contacting the user's ear canal and sealing the ear canal.

[0035] Furthermore, earpiece 2 may be any known type other than the configuration described above, and its configuration is not particularly limited.

[0036] As explained above, in the earphone 100, the microphone 17 is positioned closer to the user's eardrum than in conventional designs, as it is located in the microphone housing 16 of the sound conduit 13, resulting in superior noise cancellation accuracy. In addition, in the earphone 100, the sound emission hole 15 and the microphone housing 16 are formed as independent spaces, enabling both high-precision noise cancellation and high-precision sound quality.

[0037] Furthermore, in the earphone 100, the internal space of the sound conduit 13 is divided by a partition wall 14 into a sound emission hole 15 and a microphone housing 16, allowing the sound emission hole and the microphone housing 16 to be formed as independent spaces with a simple structure.

[0038] Furthermore, in the earphone 100, a hole 14a is provided in the partition wall 14, allowing the sound emission hole 15 and the microphone housing 16 to be in separate spaces while still enabling the microphone 17 to accurately capture sound propagating through the sound emission hole 15.

[0039] (Summary of Embodiment 1) Based on the description of Embodiment 1 above, the following technology is disclosed.

[0040] <Technology 1> The earphone body (1) has a housing (10) into which a speaker unit (12) is incorporated, An earpiece (2) is attached to a roughly cylindrical sound conduit (13) that protrudes from the housing (10), The earphones (100) are equipped with The sound conduit (13) is The speaker unit (12) has a sound-emitting hole (15) for releasing sound emitted from the speaker unit (12) to the earpiece (2), and a microphone housing (16) for housing a noise-canceling microphone (17), as separate spaces from each other. Earphones (100).

[0041] In this configuration, the noise-canceling microphone is positioned in the microphone housing of the sound conduit, resulting in a microphone that is closer to the user's eardrum than in conventional designs, thus improving the accuracy of noise cancellation. In addition, in this configuration, the microphone housing and the sound emission holes that release sound emitted from the speaker unit to the earpiece are formed as independent spaces, enabling both high-precision noise cancellation and high-precision sound quality.

[0042] <Technology 2> The sound conduit (13) has a partition wall (14) that divides the inner space into the sound emission hole (15) and the microphone housing (16). The earphones (100) described in Technical 1.

[0043] With this configuration, the internal space of the sound conduit is divided into a sound emission hole and a microphone housing by a partition wall, allowing the sound emission hole and the microphone housing to be formed as independent spaces with a simple structure.

[0044] <Technology 3> The partition wall (14) is provided with a wall opening (14a) that connects the sound emission hole (15) and the microphone housing (16) so that the microphone (17) can pick up sound emitted from the speaker unit (12) and propagating through the sound emission hole (15). The earphones (100) described in Technical 2.

[0045] With this configuration, by providing holes in the partition wall, the sound emission holes and the microphone housing are kept in separate spaces, while the microphone can accurately capture sound propagating through the sound emission holes.

[0046] <Technology 4> The sound conduit (13) is provided with a jig insertion opening (20) into which a jig (J) for assembling the microphone (17) into the microphone housing (16) is inserted. The sound conduit (13) has a closing portion (21) that closes the jig insertion opening (20), Earphones (100) described in any one of Technology 1 to Technology 3.

[0047] With this configuration, even if the sound emission hole and the microphone housing are formed as independent spaces, the microphone can be easily assembled into the microphone housing from outside the sound conduit via the jig insertion opening. In addition, after the microphone is assembled into the microphone housing, the jig insertion opening is closed by the closure, thereby ensuring the microphone's functionality.

[0048] While embodiments have been described above with reference to the attached drawings, this disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear to those skilled in the art that various modifications, alterations, substitutions, additions, deletions, and equivalents can be conceived within the scope of the claims, and these are also understood to fall within the technical scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, the components of the embodiments described above can be combined in any way without departing from the spirit of the invention. [Industrial applicability]

[0049] The technology disclosed herein is useful for earphones having a noise-canceling microphone (feedback microphone). [Explanation of Symbols]

[0050] 1. Earphone body 2 eartips 10 cabinets 12 speaker units 13 Sound conduit 14 Bulkhead 14a wall hole 15 Sound-emitting holes 16 Microphone housing 17 Microphone 20 Jig insertion opening 21 Occlusion 100 earphones

Claims

1. The earphone body has a housing that incorporates a speaker unit inside, An earpiece attached to a roughly cylindrical sound conduit protruding from the housing, Earphones equipped with, The aforementioned sound conduit is It has, as separate spaces from each other, a sound-emitting hole for releasing sound emitted from the speaker unit to the earpiece, and a microphone housing for housing a noise-canceling microphone. Earphones.

2. The sound conduit has a partition wall that divides the inner space into the sound emission hole and the microphone housing. The earphone according to claim 1.

3. The partition wall is provided with a hole in the wall that connects the sound emission hole and the microphone housing so that the microphone can pick up sound emitted from the speaker unit and propagating through the sound emission hole. The earphone according to claim 2.

4. The sound conduit is provided with a jig insertion opening into which a jig for assembling the microphone into the microphone housing is inserted. The sound conduit has a closing portion that closes the jig insertion opening. The earphone according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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