AU9628498A

AU9628498A - Sound-reproducing device mountable on the body of a user

Info

Publication number: AU9628498A
Application number: AU96284/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Bert Zinserling
Original assignee: Sennheiser Electronic GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Sennheiser Electronic GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1997-10-15
Filing date: 1998-09-26
Publication date: 1999-05-03
Also published as: EP1023817A1; JP2001521299A; DE59804603D1; EP1023817B1; ATE219877T1; WO1999020077A1

Abstract

A sound reproducing device for multiple channel sound reproduction has at least three sound transducers (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30) driven each by an electric signal and a holder (2) that carries the sound transducers and can be mounted on the body of the user. The holder (2) is designed in such a way that it can be mounted on a part (20) of the body of the user other than the head (22), placing the sound transducers (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30) next to each other and at such a distance from the head (22) of the user that the head (22) of the user remains free to move relative to the holder (2) and therefore relative to the sound transducers (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30). The holder carries an electronic circuit for processing the electric signals.

Description

A sound reproduction device mountable on the body of a user 5 The invention relates to a sound reproduction device having at least two sound transducers each controlled by an electric signal and a holder that carries the sound transducers for mounting on the body of a user. 10 Such a device with two transducers is hitherto known as a headset. The headset comprises two earpieces, in each of which at least one sound transducer is disposed. The mounting of the headset on the user's body takes place in such a manner that it is placed onto the head so that in 15 each case an earpiece lies with its open side directly on one of the user's ears or surrounds it and thus the sound transducer or sound transducers that are provided in the earpiece emit the acoustic signals directly to the ear ( the known headset should therefore as such be more 20 appropriately described as an "earphone"). The fact that the left ear is exclusively supplied with the left audio signal, and the right ear is exclusively only supplied with the right audio signal of the headset is characteristic of the headset. 25 Precisely during the reproduction of multichannel sound recordings by means of multichannel headsets, in particular the reproduction of multichannel Dolby surround coded music and film sound recordings with a 30 corresponding Dolby surround headset, the fact that an exact spatial association of the multichannel sound reproduction is unfortunately only possible with difficulty or is not possible at all on account of the 2 direct acoustic irradiation of the ears that is described at the beginning has proved to be disadvantageous. In fact, a multichannel sound reproduction with a better 5 spatial association can be achieved by means of an appropriate number of loudspeakers erected discretely distributed in a room; however such loudspeakers require higher installation expenditure and a greater spatial requirement, whereby the room acoustics have a 10 considerable influence on the reproduction quality, high loudness disturbs the ambient environment and not least high-quality systems are particularly expensive. It is therefore the object of the present invention to 15 further develop the sound reproduction device of the type mentioned at the beginning in such a manner that a high quality sound reproduction with improved spatial association can be achieved, in particular with multichannel sound reproduction, without the installation 20 problems that occur with loudspeaker systems and without being influenced by the room acoustics, whereby the sound reproduction device is intended to occupy an especially small space and to be easy operate. 25 This object is achieved in that, with a sound reproduction device of the type mentioned at the beginning, the holder is constructed in such a manner that it can be mounted on a part of the user's body other than the head and at the same time can be placed adjacent 30 to sound transducers and at a distance from the user's head, so that the user's head remains freely movable in relation to the holder and thus in relation to the sound 3 transducers, and in that the holder carries an electronic circuit for processing the electric signals. The fact that in each case the left-hand and the right 5 hand ear may receive all reproducing channels, so that the individual transmission function of the head of a user is included in the reproduction, is characteristic of the achievement of the invention. Consequently, as is also the case when listening in the natural ambient 10 environment, the direction of the sound impingement can be clearly determined by the listener. This is also assisted by the fact that with a fixed device, a rotation of the head is made possible, which simplifies the location of a sound source, as in natural hearing. 15 With the assistance of the achievement according to the invention, a so-called head-related sound reproduction device is created in that, with the holder mounted on the user's body, the sound transducer or transducers 20 themselves are not directly adjacent to the head, but are disposed at a distance therefrom and thus permit a rotation of the head, whereby the sound transducer or transducers do not move with the head. Thus an exact spatial association is achieved by the construction 25 specified by the invention. Moreover, by the sound reproduction device specified by the invention, the overall transmission function of the head can additionally be exploited, whereas this is not 30 possible with headphones, because headphones are not exactly "headphones", but rather "earphones", since their earpieces lie directly on the ear or surround it and thus the sound transducers situated therein emit the acoustic 4 signals directly to the ear. On the contrary, in the sound reproduction device according to the invention a structure-borne sound transmission also takes place, on account of the arrangement of the sound transducer or 5 transducers at a distance from the ear, in addition to the acoustically direct irradiation to the ear. Above all, however, by including the transmission function of the user's head, the sound experience appears "more natural" to the listener. 10 Consequently, with the sound reproduction device specified by the invention, a qualitatively high-grade sound reproduction can be achieved without a large spatial requirement, without the installation problems 15 that occur in loud speaker systems and without being affected by the room acoustics, with the user perceiving an exact spatial location. Finally the invention allows a sound reproduction also 20 having a very high loudness perception without the ambient environment and in particular the neighbours being disturbed, because the sound transducers are disposed very close to the ears of the user and therefore relatively low sound pressures at the reproduction 25 transducer are sufficient to achieve a high loudness impression for the user. A particular advantage of the reproduction device is also the fact that an electronic circuit for processing the 30 electric signals for the sound transducers is integrated in its holder. This is enabled precisely by the fact that the holder is not supported on the head, but e.g. on the shoulders, which are substantially stronger. The 5 integration of the circuit in the holder makes a corresponding external device unnecessary and substantially facilitates the operation of the sound reproduction device. 5 A great advantage of the circuit integrated in the holder is that the circuit may comprise filters and partial circuits for equalising the sound transducers. Thus the sound transducers may be electronically equalised in a 10 particularly effective manner, which enables increased reproduction quality. A circuit which comprises amplifier stages so that the sound reproduction device can be directly connected to a 15 signal source, such as, for example, a CD player, is particularly preferred. If, in a preferred refinement, the circuit comprises a partial circuit for decoding encoded multichannel 20 signals, it may, for example, serve to decode Dolby surround signals and make a corresponding external decoder superfluous. In this case it is sufficient to connect the sound reproduction device directly to a CD player in order to listen, for example, to CDS recorded 25 by the Dolby surround process in real Dolby surround quality without another additional device. A preferred exemplified embodiment of the invention is explained in further detail below by means of the 30 attached drawings: 6 Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of the sound reproduction device in a perspective representation; 5 Figure la shows an alternative embodiment of the sound reproduction device from Figure 1 for the wireless sound signal reception; Figure 2 shows the embodiment according to Figure 1 10 (mounted on the shoulders of a user) in top view; Figure 3 shows the embodiment according to Figure 1 (mounted on the shoulders of a user) in front 15 view; Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of the sound reproduction device; 20 Figure 4a shows an alternative embodiment of the sound reproduction device . from Figure 1 for the wireless sound signal reception; Figure 5 shows the embodiment shown in Figure 4 (mounted 25 on the shoulders of a user) in top view; Figure 6 shows a front view of the sound reproduction device; 30 Figure 7 shows a side view with a partial section through the sound reproduction device; and 7 Figure 8 shows a view from above of the sound reproduction device. The first embodiment of the sound reproduction device 5 that is represented in Figure 1 comprises a housing or frame 2, which consists of a rear part 4 and two curved side parts 5 and 6 joined thereto at either side, which end in free end portions 7 and 8. The frame 2 is consequently constructed as a shaped member which in top 10 view (see Figure 2) substantially has the shape of an interrupted "0" or a "U" with inwardly right-angled free ends. Front first and second sound transducers 10 and 11, rear 15 third and fourth sound transducers 12 and 13 as well as a rear bass sound transducer 10 to 14 are disposed in the frame 2 of the embodiment shown in Figure 1. According to this the frame 2 serves for the mounting of the sound transducers 10 to 14. The sound transducers 10 to 14 20 form a multichannel Dolby surround reproduction system, wherein the front first and second sound transducers 10 and 11 are provided as main transducers to reproduce the front right-hand and left-hand information and the rear third and fourth sound transducers 12 and 13 are provided 25 as rear transducers to reproduce the additional spatial information (surround channel), whereas the rear bass sound transducer 14 reproduces the low-frequency portion. Moreover, two acoustic lines 15 and 16 are constructed in the frame 2, of which the one acoustic line 15 extends 30 from the rear bass sound transducer 14 into the one side part 4 and there ends adjacent to the rear third sound transducer 12 in an outlet aperture 17 disposed on the inside and the other acoustic line 16 extends from the 8 rear bass sound transducer 14 into the other side part 6 and there ends adjacent to the rear fourth sound transducer 13 also in an inwardly open outlet aperture 18. 5 An electronic circuit 40, to which the sound transducers 10 to 14 are connected via electric lines 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46, is also provided in the frame 2. A further electric line 47 serves to connect the sound reproduction 10 device to a signal source. The control circuit 40 may have different partial circuits, namely those to equalise the individual sound transducers 10 to 14, those to decode an encoded 15 multichannel sound signal and those to amplify the signals for the individual sound transducers. The encoded multichannel sound signal is supplied through the line 47 to the circuit 40 and there decoded and also amplified. Moreover, the signal for the individual sound 20 transducers is processed taking into consideration the distortions that are characteristic for the sound transducers, so that the sound transducers as a result reproduce a largely undistorted signal. 25 The difference between the embodiments of the sound reproduction device that are represented in Figure 1 and Figure la lies in that the sound signals of circuit 40' is not supplied via a line 47, but in wireless manner. For this purpose the circuit comprises a corresponding 30 receiver 48, e.g. an infrared receiver or HF receiver. Moreover, the circuit is also equipped with its own battery-fed energy supply. This makes is possible for 9 the wearer of the sound reproduction device to move in an unrestricted manner in the room. For acoustic reasons the sound transducers 10 to 14 are 5 disposed flush, so that edges are avoided which otherwise cause sound reflections and thus also interference with the sound directly emitted by the sound transducer. The first to fourth sound transducers 10 - 13 are aligned 10 so that they emit the noise through apertures (not shown in further detail) that are correspondingly constructed on the inside of the frame 2 into :he interior surrounded by the frame 2, in which case the frame 2 is covered at least at those apertures, but preferably in its entirety 15 by a textile layer or other protective layer (not shown in further detail), which is however not absolutely necessary. The support 2 itself is made of a highly sound-deadening material, so that it does not itself contribute to sound production and transmission. 20 Whereas, as shown in Figure 1, the frame 2 is constructed as a shaped member, other constructions for the holder of the sound transducers 10 - 14 and development of the acoustic lines 15 and 16 are however also possible. If 25 desired, the acoustic lines 15 and 16 may also be dispensed with; of course, this also fundamentally applies for the number and development of the individual sound transducers. 30 It is now shown in Figures 2 and 3 how the previously described embodiment of the sound reproduction device is mounted on a user's body. The frame 2 serves namely not only for the arrangement of the sound transducers 10 - 10 14, but also for mounting this arrangement on a user's body, by it lying with the undersides 5a and 6a of the side parts 5 and 6 (cf. Figure 1) on the user's shoulders 20, while it is not necessarily supported with the under 5 side 4a of the rear part 4 (cf. Figure 1) on the user's back. The frame 2 is constructed and can be laid or fixed on the user's shoulders 2 and possibly the user's back so that the frame 2 is a slight distance from the user's head 22 and thus the head 22 remains freely 10 movable. Alternatively, the frame may also be constructed so that it can be mounted on a different part of the body. The only important factor here is that it can be mounted on a part of the user's body other than the head 22, so that the head 22 remains freely movable 15 in relation to the frame 2 and thus in relation to the sound transducers 10 - 14 disposed therein and outlet apertures 17 and 18 of the acoustic lines 15 and 16. As Figures 1 to 3 show, the frame 2 of the embodiment shown there has the form of a collar when it lies on the 20 user's's shoulders 20. Therefore the described sound reproduction device may also be designated as a "listening collar". The mounting is preferably formed so that the centre of 25 gravity of the mounting is developed centrally in the bearing surface between the user's shoulders. If necessary, weights 7 and 8 (not shown in further detail) may be accommodated for this purpose. 30 Moreover, the sound transducers 10 - 14 as well as the outlet apertures 17 and 18 of the acoustic lines 15 and 16 are disposed in the frame 2 30 that, when the frame 2 is mounted on the user's body, the front first and second 11 sound transducers 10 and 11 lie in front of the frontal plane F of a coordinate system relative to the user's head 22 in the region of the chin beneath ear height and the rear third and fourth sound transducers 12 and 13 lie 5 behind the frontal plane F and the outlet apertures 17 and 18 of the acoustic lines 15 and 16 are disposed a slight distance beneath the ears 24 and 25, whereas the rear bass sound transducer 14 lies behind the head, as Figures 2 and 3 shown. Moreover, the front first and 10 second sound transducers 10 and 11 and also the rear third and fourth sound transducers 12 and 13 are each disposed symmetrically to the median plane of the coordinate system relative to the user's head 22, whereas the rear bass sound transducer 14 lies in the median 15 plane M, as Figure 2 also shows. The described sound reproduction device consequently forms a head-related multichannel reproduction system. The sound transducers 10 - 14 are disposed around the 20 head 22, but do not directly abut the head, but are disposed at a slight distance at least therefrom and thus do not move when the head 22 is turned. The user's head 22 is therefore itself free, which results in that, as in the case of loudspeaker cabinets erected in the room, a 25 three-dimensional reproduction is made possible. By the spatial distance of the sound transducers from the ears 24 and 25, the transmission function of the user's head is included in the sound field and moreover a structure borne sound transmission takes place, so that the 30 perception of the reproduced sound is "more natural" for the user.

12 Represented in Figures 4 and 5 is a second embodiment of the sound reproduction device which differs from the first embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 3 in that additionally a front sound transducer 30 is provided, 5 which, when the frame 2 is placed on the user's shoulders 20, lies roughly in the median plane M in the region of the user's chin. For the fixing device of this additional sound transducer 30, in comparison with the first embodiment, the one end portion 7 is provided with 10 a prolongation 7a and accordingly lengthened or, however, the device is closed towards the front (in the shape of an 0). The sound transducer 30 is also connected via a line 49 15 to the circuit 40', by which the signal for the sound transducer 30 is also processed in the manner described with reference to Figure 1. Precisely like the sound reproduction device from Figure 20 1, the sound reproduction device from Figure 4 may also be arranged for wireless operation. Figure 4a shows this. 25

Claims

1. A sound reproduction device for a multichannel sound reproduction with at least three sound transducers 5 (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30), each controlled by an electric signal, and a holder (2) that carries the sound transducers for mounting on the user's body, the holder (2) being designed in such a manner that it can be mounted on a part (20) of the user's 10 body other than the head (22) and at the same time the sound transducers (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30) can be placed adjacent to and at a distance from the user's head (22), so that the user's head (22) remains freely movable in relation to the holder (2) 15 and thus in relation to the sound transducers (10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 30) and that the holder carries an electronic circuit for processing the electric signals. 20

2. A sound reproduction device according to Claim 1, characterised in that at least one sound transducer lies in front of the user's head (22).

3. A sound reproduction device according to Claim 1 or 25 2, characterised in that the circuit comprises high pass and low pass filters.

4. A sound reproduction device according to one of 30 Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the circuit comprises amplifier stages. 14

5. A sound reproduction device according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the circuit comprises a partial circuit for the equalisation of the sound 5 transducers.

6. A sound reproduction device according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the circuit comprises a 10 partial circuit for decoding encoded multichannel signals.