Flanged Earbud Wax Bridge for Seal and Acoustic Port Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ear-wearable electronic devices face challenges in maintaining an effective seal of the ear canal while preventing debris, such as wax, from occluding the acoustic port, which affects sound quality and device functionality.
Innovation Solution
The earbud design includes an elongated body with a flange and a wax bridge on its outer surface to collect debris, ensuring an effective seal of the ear canal and preventing occlusion of the acoustic port, allowing for targeted sound adjustment and easy cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the earbud is designed to completely occlude the ear canal for targeted sound adjustment, then sound quality is improved, but debris such as wax can occlude the acoustic port and affect device functionality
Solution Approach 1:
A wax bridge is introduced as an intermediary component between the earbud's acoustic port and the ear canal. This wax bridge acts as a mediator that allows sound to pass through while blocking debris such as wax from reaching and occluding the acoustic port, thus resolving the contradiction between maintaining sound quality and preventing debris occlusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The earbud system is segmented into distinct functional components: the main earbud body for sound delivery, the flange for sealing, and the separate wax bridge for debris protection. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally - the earbud maintains the seal for sound quality while the wax bridge independently handles debris prevention.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the earbud includes a flange and wax bridge structure for debris collection, then debris prevention is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wax bridge is integrated with the flange structure, combining two functional elements into a single unified component. This merging reduces the number of separate parts that would need to be manufactured and assembled, thereby reducing device complexity while still providing both sealing and debris prevention functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The flange-wax bridge combination serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the seal against the ear canal wall, collects and blocks debris such as wax, and maintains the acoustic pathway. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby reducing overall structural complexity.
3Reliability
If the earbud uses an occluded design to seal the ear canal, then sound delivery is improved, but cleaning and maintenance become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The wax bridge is designed as a removable component that can be easily extracted from the earbud assembly. This extraction capability allows users to remove the wax bridge for cleaning without disassembling the entire earbud, making maintenance easier while the earbud remains in the occluded design for optimal sound delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The wax bridge is positioned to collect debris before it can reach and clog the acoustic port. This preliminary action of debris collection at the wax bridge allows for easier cleaning - users only need to clean the accessible wax bridge rather than reaching into the internal acoustic pathways of the sealed earbud.
Data Source
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AI summary
Various embodiments of an earbud and an ear-wearable electronic device that includes such earbud are disclosed. The earbud includes an elongated body having a first end, a second end, a cavity extending along a body axis between the first end and the second end of the elongated body, and a body acoustic port disposed in the first end of the body and acoustically coupled to the cavity of the body. A portion of the cavity adjacent the body acoustic port includes a cross-sectional area in a plane orthogonal to the body axis that increases in a direction from the second end of the body to the first end of the body. The earbud further includes a flange connected to the elongated body and a wax bridge disposed on an outer surface of the flange along the body axis and over the body acoustic port.