Intraoral Audio Player via Bone Conduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional MP3 players are cumbersome and can obstruct activities during intense workouts, as they need to be held or wrapped around the arm or leg, and headphones may fall out during exercise, posing a risk of injury and discomfort.
Innovation Solution
A mouth-wearable digital audio player that uses a data storage device and transducer mounted on a mouth appliance, allowing audio content to be played through vibrations transmitted to the teeth, eliminating the need for headphones and providing a hands-free, inconspicuous entertainment solution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional MP3 players are held or wrapped around the arm or leg, then audio playback is enabled, but the device obstructs physical activities and causes discomfort during intense workouts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the audio player from conventional external placement (arm/leg) to an intraoral dimension, utilizing the mouth cavity as a new spatial location for device placement, thereby achieving hands-free operation without obstructing physical activities
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes the user's own mouth and teeth as the mounting structure, eliminating the need for separate headbands, arm bands, or other external support mechanisms, thus simplifying device placement while achieving secure hands-free wear
2Reliability
If headphones are used for audio playback, then audio quality is improved, but headphones may fall out during exercise posing injury risk and discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent relocates the audio device from the external headphone position to the intraoral dimension, where the device is secured within the mouth using tooth engagement, eliminating the risk of headphones falling out during exercise while maintaining secure audio delivery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical headphone earcup-and-ear canal system with a bone conduction transducer system that directly couples to the skull through the teeth, providing secure mechanical attachment that cannot detach during physical activity
3Object-affected harmful factors
If headphones cover the ears for audio playback, then audio isolation is improved, but environmental sounds cannot be heard and hearing damage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the audio transducer from the ear canal location and places it in the intraoral position, allowing the ears to remain uncovered and open to environmental sounds while still delivering audio content through the bones of the skull to the inner ear
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the skull bones as an intermediary medium for sound transmission, using bone conduction to transfer audio vibrations from the intraoral transducer directly to the inner ear, bypassing the need for ear canal occlusion and allowing simultaneous environmental sound awareness
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
The mouth-wearable digital audio player offers a secure, wireless, and multi-purpose entertainment platform that is easy to use, minimizing weight and size discomfort, while allowing users to hear environmental sounds and preventing hearing damage from loud noises, providing high-quality audio during outdoor activities.
Implementation Method 1
a transducer mounted on the mouth wearable housing and in vibratory communication with one or more teeth
Data Source
AI summary
A digital audio player device can be attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a removable oral appliance or other oral device to form an intraoral MP3 player. In another embodiment, the device provides an electronic and transducer device that can be attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a removable oral appliance or other oral device to form a DAP. Such an oral appliance may be a custom-made device fabricated from a thermal forming process utilizing a replicate model of a dental structure obtained by conventional dental impression methods. The electronic and transducer assembly may receive incoming sounds either directly or through a receiver to process and amplify the signals and transmit the processed sounds via a vibrating transducer element coupled to a tooth or other bone structure, such as the maxillary, mandibular, or palatine bone structure.