Multi-Driver Earbud Nested Housing for Sound Fidelity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Professional quality in-ear earphones face challenges in packaging multiple drivers within a compact earbud housing while maintaining sound fidelity across the entire audible frequency range, particularly in high volume manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates multiple driver housings with specific orientations and sound output configurations, such as parallelepiped-shaped drivers, within a flexible boot and rigid cap arrangement, allowing for a compact and acoustically sealed earbud structure that includes an inertial sensor and acoustic microphone for enhanced sound quality and noise cancellation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple driver housings are packaged within the earbud, then sound fidelity across the audible frequency range is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nesting by placing the second driver housing inside the first driver housing. The second housing is positioned within the volume of the first housing, with its rear face disposed behind the exit of the sound output tube of the first housing. This nested configuration allows multiple drivers to be packaged in a compact arrangement without significantly increasing the overall earbud size, thereby maintaining sound fidelity across the frequency range while controlling device complexity.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple driver housings are packaged within the earbud, then sound fidelity across the audible frequency range is improved, but the ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the driver assembly into separate modular housings - a first driver housing and a second driver housing - that can be manufactured independently and then assembled. The second housing is designed as a separate component with specific dimensional relationships to the first housing, allowing for standardized manufacturing processes and simplifying quality control during high-volume production.
3Volume of moving object
If the rear face of the second housing is disposed behind the exit of the sound output tube of the first housing, then a compact envelope is achieved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by designing the second housing with specific dimensional characteristics relative to the first housing. The rear face of the second housing is positioned at a precise location behind the exit of the sound output tube of the first housing, creating localized precision requirements at critical interfaces while allowing other portions of the assembly to have more relaxed tolerances. This focused approach to precision reduces overall manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A first driver housing and a second driver housing are positioned inside an earbud cup. The first driver housing has a rear side, a front side, a top face a bottom face, and a sound output tube extending from the front side. The second driver housing has a top side, a bottom side, a front face, a rear face, and a sound output opening formed in the front face of the second housing with essentially no tube extending therefrom. The rear face of the second housing is disposed a) adjacent to the front side of the first housing, and b) behind an exit of the sound output tube of the first housing. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.