In-Ear Hearing Housing Isolation for Cleaner Microphone Signals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current in-ear hearing devices face challenges with microphone placement due to receiver vibrations, requiring larger custom earbuds and reducing signal-to-noise ratio, and existing configurations fail to effectively isolate receiver vibrations from the microphone signal.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an isolator between the front and rear housings of the hearing device, featuring a body and a sleeve, which reduces receiver vibrations by separating the receiver and microphone, allowing for improved microphone placement and signal quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the microphone is placed closer to the receiver to reduce device size, then the device can be smaller, but the receiver vibrations will interfere with the microphone signal quality
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into two separate housing sections: a first housing containing the microphone and a second housing containing the receiver. This segmentation physically separates the microphone from the receiver vibrations while maintaining acoustic connectivity through the housing structure, allowing compact design without signal degradation.
2Device complexity
If the microphone is placed in the same housing as the receiver, then the device structure can be simpler, but the receiver vibrations will reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the microphone signal
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into a first housing and a second housing, with the microphone disposed in the first housing and the receiver in the second housing. This segmentation isolates the microphone from receiver-induced vibrations while preserving acoustic signal transmission paths, thereby improving signal-to-noise ratio without excessive structural complexity.
3Measurement precision
If the microphone is positioned to capture ambient sounds effectively, then speech detection capability is improved, but receiver vibrations will contaminate the microphone signal
Solution Approach 1:
The microphone is segregated into its own housing compartment, physically isolated from the receiver. This allows the microphone to capture ambient sounds and speech without contamination from receiver vibrations, as the segmented housing structure blocks vibration transmission while permitting acoustic signal passage.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing structure acts as an intermediary element between the microphone and receiver. It provides acoustic coupling for speech detection while simultaneously serving as a vibration barrier, mediating between the need for effective speech capture and the need to exclude receiver-induced vibrations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enhances microphone signal quality by reducing vibrations, enabling smaller earbud designs and supporting additional functionalities like active noise cancellation and health monitoring through improved acoustic information processing.
Implementation Method 1
the isolator can be adapted to reduce vibrations caused by the receiver that can affect a microphone signal produced by the microphone
Implementation Method 2
An acoustic port extends through the isolator body of the isolator between a receiver disposed within the rear housing and an opening disposed in a first end of the front housing. The acoustic port acoustically connects the receiver to the opening.
Implementation Method 3
a microphone port extends between a microphone disposed in the front housing and the opening. The microphone port acoustically connects the microphone to the opening.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments of a hearing device and a system including such device are disclosed. The hearing device can include an enclosure having a front housing and a rear housing, and an isolator disposed between the front housing and the rear housing. The isolator includes a body and a sleeve disposed on the body. The front housing and the rear housing are connected to the sleeve of the isolator. The device further includes a microphone disposed in the front housing, a receiver disposed in the rear housing, an acoustic port that extends through the isolator body between the receiver and an opening disposed in a first end of the front housing, and a microphone port that extends between the microphone and the opening disposed in the first end of the front housing.