CA1322909C - Somatic musical exposure system - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure Somatic musical exposure system applying acoustical massage to a person, preferably in recumbent position on substantially rigid supporting means. Music emanates toward the person-supporting means from an air chamber in a sound housing spaced apart therefrom. A
relatively fixed frame carries the person-supporting means and also the sound housing, at least the former and optionally the latter being resiliently mounted on and thereby partly decoupled from, the frame. Such elastomeric mounting is preferably provided by striplike elastomeric means intervening between the frame and the means supported thereby, extending along the peripheral edge and optionally to some extent from edge to edge without intercepting the musical vibrations from the sound housing except to a minor extent.

Description

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2 SOMATIC NUSICAL EXPOSUR~ SYSTEM

This invention relates to means and methods of musical exposure 6 whereby a recumbent listener exposed thereto experiences tactile 7 sensations as well as audible sensations therefrom.

9 BACRGROUND OF TH~ INVENTION
Since time immemorial, music has been recognized as being some-11 how soothing to the spirit as well as pleasing to the ear. Many 12 people believe they work or study better within a musical environ-13 ment, and some types of music are considered relaxing. Many recent 14 developments in sound generation and reproduction equipment have ac-centuated and facilitated music appreciation. Music encourages such 16 bodily activity as dancing and is now a common accompaniment to in-17 dividual or group exercise program. Bodily well-being is enhanced 18 by voluntary exercise, but if s~ch exercise is impracticable or is 19 not well distributed throughout the body or is carried to excess a form of passive exercise or "massage" often proves beneficial.
21 Similarities between repetitive exercise and massaging move-22 ments, on the one hand, and various mechanical actions, on the other 23 hand, have led to numerous mechanized beds, chairs, and tables.
24 Music also has its repetitive aspect, so it is not surprising that music is common in active and passive exercise activity. Indeed ef-26 forts have been made to apply musical or other sonic vibrations more 27 broadly to the body than merely to the ears.
28 Thus, Nohmura in U.S. Patents 3,880,152 and 4,055,170, and Mar-29 timaas in U.S. Patent 4,023,566, disclose sitting or reclining means with loudspeakers directed toward the back of the person thereon, 31 but their substantially non-rigid supporting means provide insuffi-32 cient coupling of the music to the supported person to be conducive 33 to the best effects. Alternatively, other inventors, such as Smith 34 in U.S. Patent 4,507,816, have employed li~uids for transmittina various vibrations to the body, but such systems are too tightly 36 coupled to be conducive to relaxation, and the water requires mas-37 sive amounts of energy to drive it, and even then absorbs or damps 38 out the preponderance of the music.
39 Overdamping is also characteristic of liquid-free systems with a rigid body-support affixed rigidly to the supporting frame of the 41 apparatus, as in Leitner U.S. Serial No. 845,875 filed on 27 October 42 1973 and referred to in German publication 2,846,859 (claiming the 43 priority of such U.S. application); and in Abbeloos Canadian Patent 44 1,113,406 and U.S. Patent 4,124,429; and also in Yamada et al. U.S.
Patent 4,354,047--to name a few examples.

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_~ - 2 -2 My somatic musicàl exposure system remedies the failings of the 3 prior art and provides new levels of entertainment and passive 4 exercise or "acoustic massage" benefits for those exposed thereto.
As used herein "musical", is intended to apply to multi-frequency 6 sound designed for mental, physiological, therapeutic, or other 7 purposes as well as what is traditionally recognized as musical sound.
8 A principal object of the present invention is to enhance the 9 overall exposure of a listener to musical vibrations.
Another object of this invention i9 to transmit musical 11 vibrations to the body as well as to the ears of a listener.
12 A further object of the invention is to accomplish the foregoing 13 objects in a somatic musical exposure system.
14 In general, the ob~ects of the present invention are to be attained via housing means defining a chamber of air open upward, 16 means providing such housing means with music, and means supporting a 17 recumbent person above the chamber and thereby somatically exposed to 18 music emanating therefrom. More particularly, such apparatus 19 features a supporting frame, a sound housing supported thereby, an air chamber open upwardly therefrom, and loudspeakers opening 21 there-into, also a substantially rigid and laminar person-support 22 there-above, foraminous in part and supported resiliently by the 23 frame.
24 The principle of a sound housing as described above is, of course, adaptable to constructions for supporting a user in either a 26 sitting or recumbent position.
27 Other objects of this invention, plus means and methods for 28 attaining the various objects, will be apparent from the following 29 description and accompanying drawings of the invention and variants, which are presented by way of example rather than limitation.

33 Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a first embodiment of the present 34 invention in unitary apparatus form;
Fig. 2 is a plan view thereofl, taken at II-II in Fig. 1 and 36 partly cut away to reveal the interior;
37 Fig. 3 is a plan of the supporting frame and base thereof, 38 taken at III-III in Fig. 1, less its supported components; and 39 Fig. 4 is a medial side elevational section of the same embodiment, taken at IV-IV in Fig. 2.
41 Fig. 5 is a a plan view of an alternative embodiment of this 42 invention in multiple modular, rather than unitary, form;
43 under the outer sidewall; and 44 Fig. 7 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation, taken just offset from halfway, at VII-VII in Fig. 5; and 46 Fig. 8 is a side elevation of an alternative contoured body-47 ~ supporting member, useful in either embodiment.

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3 Figs. 1 through 4 show first apparatus embodiment 10 of the 4 present invention from various vantage points.
Fig. 1 is a side view, featuring relatively thin or laminar top 6 portion 9, which is relatively rigid and includes a generally rec-7 tangular (in plan) body-supporting central member (not visible here) 8 surrounded by border member 15 having head rest 16 at its left end.
9 Visible underneath is an extensive vertically slatted base with end pedestals 17 and 19 at the left and right, respectively, and inter-11 vening similar sidewall 18, which extends about halfway from the top 12 to the floor. The slats of the base are spaced apart by intervening 13 slits (indicated simply by vertical lines), being useful for absorp-14 tion of undesired or reverberating sound as well as ornamental.
Fig. 2 shows apparatus 10 in plan, as indicated at II-II on 16 Fig. 1, but in part cut away to reveal successive layers and its in-17 terior components otherwise shown in broken lines. Generally rec-18 tangular, partly curvilinear border member 15, arcuate at the cor-19 ners and recessed laterally along its sides, surrounds rectangular body-supporting laminar member 12, which is covered by mat 11.
21 Resilient supporting strip 14 extends along and under a striplike 22 rectangular edge of the laminar body-supporting member, and similar 23 short resilient strips 34 underlie and support it intermediately, 24 thereby intercepting only a minor part of the air-tranmission path.
Usually only the top portion (stippled) of such strips is resilient.
26 Interior components, indicated in broken lines as being underneath 27 the top, and others in solid lines where the top is broken away, in-28 clude loudspeakers 38a, b, c, d, along with crossover networks 37.
29 Fig. 3 shows frame 20 in plan, as taken at III-III in Fig. 1, underneath top portion 9 but omittin~ interior components supported 31 by the frame. Spaced parallel pair of sidewall pieces 21a, 21b end 32 at inside ~aces of corner pieces 25a, 25d at the left and corner 33 pieces 25b, 25c at the right along inside faces of endwall pieces 34 23a at the left and 23b at the right, and also along the inside faces of two pairs of flanking pieces 27a, 27b at the left and 29a, 36 29b at the right aligned with the intervening recesses along the 37 sides. The resilient supports for the top portion overlie the two 38 ends of the endwall and one end part of each of the flanking pieces 39 to interconnect it non-rigidly (partially decoupled) to the frame.
Fig. 4 shows first apparatus embodiment 10 in sectional eleva-41 tion taken at IV-IV in Fig. 2. Interior components on the center 42 line appear unsectioned, and such components not present along the 43 longitudinal vertical plane do not appear, but exterior parts of 44 base pedestals 17 and 19 beyond the plane of the view do appear to round out the view.

~ ~22~09 1 Fig. 4 features formerly unseen sound housing 30, open at the 2 top and closed at its bottom 39, and at both its vertical sidewalls 3 (not visible here) and its inclined ends 33, 35. The housing is 4 lined or double-walled with a sound-absorbing layer designated by primed, otherwise identical reference numerals. The sound housing 6 is supported indirectly by the frame, via hangers 32 extending down 7 from border member 15--whose resilient support on the frame was 8 noted in connection with Fig. 3--to connect with partition panel 36 9 of the sound housing. The partition extends across the sound hous-ing at a level above the bottom and below the top edges to support a11 variable number of upwardly oriented loudspeakers, here including 12 3~a (full range, say several dozen Hz to above 15 kHz), 38b (horn 13 tweeter, from 7 or 8 to about 20 kHz), 38c (mid-range, from about 1 14 to 7 or 8 kHz), and 38d (woofer, from about 20 Hz to 1 kHz). Spaced lS thereabove by intervening air chamber 31 is body-support 12 overlain 16 by mat 11. Resilient peripheral strip 14 and short intermediate 17 strips 34 carry the laminar support (and mat) on the partition 18 panel, covering only a minor part of the area of the body-support.
19 Openings 13 at intervals through the body-support render it in part foraminous, if desired to balance tactile and aural stimulation.
21 Operation of this first apparatus embodiment is readily under-22 stood. A person lies on the resilient mat overlying the rigid 23 body-supporting laminar member, with his or her head on the head 24 rest. The person usually lies supine but optionally may be prone or even lying on one side. Via a control panel (not shown) such person 26 or an operator overseeing the procedure switches on the amplifiers 27 tuned to a musical program on radio, audiotape, etc. Musical vibra-28 tions from the loudspeakers reach the ears of the person through the 29 surrounding air much as from any source and also reach the person's body more directly through the intervening air chamber, partly via 31 vibration of the supporting rigid lamina and the mat thereon (if 32 present) and preferably partly more directly through the openings in 33 the lamina with or without such intervening mat. The loudspeakers 34 may be controllable individually or in groups so as to administer a pleasurable degree of tactile stimulus to respective regions of the 36 body. A few minutes of acoustical massage by such musical exposure 37 can produce a degree of relaxation and feeling of well-beinq seldom 38 otherwise attainable and definitely superior to the effects of prior 39 apparatus because too loosely or too tightly coupled to the user.
Figs. 5 to 7 illustrate second apparatus embodiment 40 of this 41 invention in modular form. In these views, components corresponding 42 to those of the previous embodiment are designated by reference 43 numerals greater by 30. Accordingly, it is unnecessary here to men-44 tion every numbered component or part. This embodiment may be equipped with a base or legs--not shown--if not on a solid surface.

1 32~90q 1 Fig. 5 shows, in plan, module 40a (with head rest 46) at the 2 left, and module 40b at the right (with foot rest 46'). Loudspeakers 3 68a and 68d underneath the top are indicated in broken lines, as are 4 peripheral (see Fig. 6) and intermediate resilient decoupling sup-ports 44 and 64 therefor. The pair of individual modules may be 6 separate--and be placed together as shown--or may be held together 7 with hinges or the like to enable them to be folded for better por-8 tability.
9 Fig. 6 shows left module 40a fragmentarily in section, in Fig.

5, just within the exterior near wall. Here sound houæing 60 is 11 rather compact, with partition panel 66 supported by uprights 62 on 12 bottom 69 lined with layer 69'. Air chamber 61 overlies the parti-13 tion panel and underlies the top portion made up of rigid lamina 42 14 and overlying resilient mat 41. Left wall 63 of the chamber is notched to receive and support the end of the partition panel and is 16 contiguous with the mat but not with the laminar body support, which 17 rests on resilient peripheral and intermediate supports 44 and 64, 18 for an appropriate degree of decoupling to allow limited movement.
19 Fig. 7 shows left module 40a sectioned just within the end wall not shown in the preceding view. Visible here are many of the com-21 ponents shown in the preceding view, as well as front and rear walls 22 51a and 51b of the sound housing--along with their linings 51a' and 23 51b'. In this embodiment, the external walls (unprimed numerals~
24 extend to a floor, table, bed, etc. (not shown) and function as the frame; the lining layer (primed numerals) functions as the sound 26 housing proper. Operation of this second apparatus embodiment does 27 not differ substantially from that of the first embodiment.
28 Electrical connections (not shown) of the respective modules may be 29 entirely separate, or one may plug into another one. One may be used alone, as by a child or other short person. Added modules may be 31 interposed or be placed side by side.
32 Fig. 8 shows third embodiment 70 of the body support of this 33 invention having lamina 72 contoured to accommodate human bodily 34 configuration and being hollowed underneath. Such body-supporting member may be used without an overlying mat and optionally may be 36 provided with openings (foramina) 73 therein for an even more direct 37 passage for music vibrations than with a covering mat.
38 The apparatus of this invention may be constructed from readily 39 available materials. The resilient strips to decouple the body-supporting means partially from the frame and the sound-emanating 41 means may be made of natural or synthetic rubber or similarly useful 42 elastomer, such as polyurethane. It islconveniently available in 43 suitable durability, thickness, and stiffness, preferably being in 44 the form of a closed-cell foam filled with air.

1 The body support, the frame, housin8, and base (if any) may be 2 made of wood and/or of any of many polymeric plastic compositions.
3 Lining layers may be of cork or of wood or plastic with openings 4 recessed therein or of plastic foam, for example. Loudspeakers are available in a wide variety of frequency response and related sizes 6 from many electrical supply houses. If desired, the loud-speakers or 7 equivalent sound-emanating equipment may be located elsewhere and the 8 sound therefrom be piped into the sound housing and, via the air 9 chamber, toward a person on the body support.
Although the specific constructions hereinbefore described are 11 designed to support a user in a recumbent position, it will be 12 readily understood by those skilled in the art that two or more of 13 the modular constructions taught in FIGS. 5 through 8 may be affixed 14 to or supported on a base shaped to provide a chair for supporting a user in a sitting or semi-recumbent position.
16 The benefits of the inventive apparatus and method have been 17 mentioned but should be experienced rather than merely described.
18 Many persons find the experience to be a blend of entertainment, 19 relaxation, and invigoration. Some would emphasize the resulting improvement in their effectiveness at work, study, or play.
21 Just as many business, commer~ial, and industrial firms and 22 organi2ations are providing exercise facilities for their personnel, 23 thereby enabling them to work more effectively, so can the present 24 invention benefit them. Thus, manufacturing of the apparatus of this invention will aid the economy both directly from its manufacture and 26 sale and indirectly through increasing the output of persons using 27 such equipment. Various embodiments have been presented here. They 28 may be modified, as by adding, combining, or subdividing parts or 29 steps, while retianing advantages and benefits of the present invention which itself is defined in the following claims.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An acoustical somatic massage apparatus for exposing users to sound vibrations from music for relaxing muscles and stimulating imagery, comprising:
a lower chamber formed of a planar lower horizontal member, a planar intermediate horizontal member thereabove, and vertical members therebetween to define an essentially closed chamber, the members of the lower chamber being rigid to define a fixed volume therebetween;
an upper chamber formed of the planar intermediate member, a planar upper horizontal member thereabove, and vertical members therebetween to define an essentially closed chamber, the horizontal members of the upper chamber being rigid and the vertical members of the upper chamber being resilient to define a variable volume therebetween;
loudspeaker means mounted in aperture means within the intermediate member with the loudspeaker means facing upwardly for creating sound vibrations in the upper chamber to vary the volume of the upper chamber and with a magnet and coil of the loudspeaker means depending into the lower chamber; and resilient padding means disposed over the top surface of the planar upper horizontal member.