JP2006180994A - Bone conduction calling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bone conduction calling device expanding its adaptability to the disability range of a patient, being usable for a masked patient, a vocal cord removed patient, or a patient prohibited to utter a voice and preventing malfunction caused by ambient noise by surely detecting not only a voice and breath but also a voice uttered inside the mouth, for example, teeth abutment sound and opening/closing sound of lips. <P>SOLUTION: This bone conduction calling device uses a bone conduction sensor used by abutting on an appropriate part of the neck or the cranium and directly sensing the jawbone vibration caused by the voice uttered inside the mouth to detect the calling state despite the ambient condition, noise condition and the extent of the disability state of the patient. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a bone conduction call device, and in particular, a patient who has difficulty in operating call means attached to a nurse call slave unit constituting a part of a nurse call device used in a hospital or the like with a limb or the like. The present invention relates to a bone conduction call device that enables a call operation.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a patient calling device incapable of operating a call button with a limb or the like, a device that enables a call operation by detecting a voice or breath blown by a patient is known.

.... Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-42690 .... JP 2004-105227 A .... JP 2004-11016 A

For example, Patent Document 1 uses two detection microphones at the end of a flexible pipe and determines whether to call a nurse call device based on the input signals of both microphones.

Further, in Patent Document 2, as in Patent Document 1, a sensing unit is provided at the tip of the flexible pipe to sense a patient's voice or breath to be blown to generate a calling signal, and the sensing unit is disposed in front of the patient's face. A structure is described that allows the sensing unit to be rotated so that it can be easily directed to.

In Patent Document 3, a detection microphone for generating a calling signal by sensing a patient's voice or blowing breath is attached to the tip of a flexible pipe, and a microphone for detecting ambient noise is attached to the root. There is described a nurse call device capable of preventing erroneous calls due to ambient sounds generated in the environment of a caller by the action of a microphone.

The inventions described in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3 are common in that a call operation can be performed by blowing a breath even for a person who cannot speak, not only a patient's voice. Yes.

In addition, there is a common point that two detection microphones are used in order to eliminate technical difficulty when both voice and breath are detected and extracted as a call signal. That is, by evaluating the mutual relationship between the detected values of the two microphones and performing an appropriate calculation, a call signal is extracted and measures such as noise countermeasures and sensitivity countermeasures are implemented.

However, even if measures such as Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3 are taken, patient conditions and patient ambient conditions (noise, temperature, humidity) are subtly affected and cannot always cope with complicated changes. It was.

That is, the patient state and the patient ambient condition change from moment to moment, and also vary from day to day. Therefore, the setting of detection sensitivity is generally not easy and tends to be delicate. As a result, if use conditions change and a problem occurs in call detection sensitivity, it is inevitable that a nurse or the like will take care of the patient. The countermeasures at that time are enumerated, for example, a method of changing the bending state of the flexible pipe, changing the direction, or re-adjusting the detection sensitivity of voice or breath.

In some cases, in order to eliminate the effects of ambient noise and detector instability, make sure that the microphone that is the detector speaks clearly and strongly so that the patient who uses the paging device can recognize voice and breath There was a case to ask.

The devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 are not only problematic in sensitivity adjustment as described above.

For example, patients with handicap and handicapped patients, such as patients with masks, patients who can only tweet (non-audible murmurs), or patients who do not have enough expiratory flow to vibrate the vocal cords due to nerve or muscle disease There are many different types, and in some cases, the volume of voice and expiratory volume may not reach the minimum values that can be sensed by the detector, and it must be said that there is a limit to practicality.

Conventionally, the tip of the flexible pipe that detects voice and breath is likely to come into direct contact with the patient's lips and face, so a clean stainless steel material is often used.

Since the present invention directly senses the vibration of the bone, not the vibration of the air, not only the voice and breath, but also the sound and vibration that can be generated in the mouth, such as the tooth contact sound and the opening and closing of the lips To provide a bone conduction call device that can detect sound and the like, can expand the range of failure of patients that can be applied, can be used by mask patients, vocal cord removal patients, or utterance-prohibited patients, and does not malfunction due to ambient noise. Is an issue.

Furthermore, unlike the conventional call device of this type, a bone conduction call device that does not require the use of a stainless steel flexible pipe including the tip detection unit and that does not cause hygiene problems is provided. The task is to do.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a bone conduction sensor that is used in contact with an appropriate position of a neck or a cranium capable of detecting sound generated in the mouth and directly senses jaw bone vibration caused by the sound generated in the mouth, and output from the bone conduction sensor. An amplification circuit that amplifies the bone conduction signal, a filter circuit that extracts a feature value as a calling signal from the bone conduction signal, and a threshold determination circuit that outputs the calling signal when the extracted signal level output from the filter circuit exceeds a certain threshold value And an output means for sending the call signal output from the threshold value judgment circuit of the control box to the nurse call slave unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control box is provided with a call confirmation lamp for displaying the output state of the threshold judgment circuit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided adjusting means capable of varying a characteristic value of one or a plurality of circuits among the amplifier circuit, the filter circuit, and the threshold determination circuit.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the call signal is detected using the bone conduction sensor that directly senses the vibration of the jawbone caused by the sound generated in the mouth of the patient, the detection accuracy is hardly affected by ambient noise and wind. Can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the call state can be confirmed by the call operator himself / herself by the call confirmation lamp that displays the output state of the threshold value determination circuit, so that a sense of security can be secured.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the detection sensitivity can be adjusted by changing the characteristic value of one or a plurality of circuits among the amplifier circuit, the filter circuit, and the threshold value determination circuit, so that only the change in the ambient environment condition is required. It can deal with a wide variety of patient disabilities.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a bone conduction calling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a plate-type nurse call slave that forms part of the nurse call device.
Fixed to the bedside wall of the patient.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a connector, and the nurse call cordless handset 1 and the bone conduction calling device 3 are electrically connected to each other by this connector.

In the figure, 4 is a headband that is elastically fixed by being hooked on a patient's skull, and a bone conduction sensor 5 is attached to one end thereof. The bone conduction sensor 5 is always in contact with the temple portion of the patient's skull by the elasticity of the headband 4.

The bone conduction sensor 5 is not limited to the illustrated example. In other words, vibrations generated in the mouth are transmitted through the vocal tract wall as body tissue vibrations centered on the skull, so that the body surface tissues such as the forehead, cheekbones, jaws, and ear canal walls are relatively thin. The vibration can be detected by pressing, for example, detecting behind the ear or by hitting the vicinity of the portion corresponding to the vocal cord of the neck. Alternatively, an ear microphone type may be used, and vibration transmitted to the inner ear guiding wall may be directly detected.

The bone conduction sensor 5 is connected to the control box 7 by a sensor side cord 6.

The other end of the control box 7 is connected to the nurse call cord side cord 8 and the connector 2 is connected to the end thereof.

The control box 7 is provided with a power switch 10 having a power indicator lamp 9, a call confirmation lamp 10 for displaying a call state, and an adjusting means 12 capable of setting a condition for extracting a feature value as a call signal from a sensor signal. Yes.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the bone conduction calling device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The power source 17 of the control box 7 uses a primary battery in the illustrated example. However, a rechargeable battery may be used, or a DC power source may be supplied from the nurse call slave unit 1 side. Also good.

When the power switch 10 is turned on, the power indicator 9 is turned on, and power is supplied from the power source 17 to each of the amplifier circuit 13, the filter circuit 14, and the threshold determination circuit 15 connected in series.

The input side of the amplification circuit 13 is connected to the bone conduction sensor 5, and power is supplied to the bone conduction sensor 5 as necessary.

The threshold determination circuit 15 is connected to the nurse call cord side cord 8, and output means 16 including the connector 2 is attached to the tip thereof.
A call indicator lamp 11 is connected to the threshold determination circuit 15, and the call indicator lamp 11 is turned on or off according to the output of the threshold determination circuit 15.

In addition, at least one, or two or more of the amplifier circuit 13, the filter circuit 14, and the threshold determination circuit 15 can be connected to the adjustment unit 12.

Next, specific operations will be described with reference to the drawings.

The bone conduction sensor 5 is generally composed of a sensor that detects vibration.
When the bone conduction sensor 5 is in contact with an appropriate position on the skull or neck of the patient as shown in the figure, when the patient speaks to call a nurse call or blows, vibration occurs in the vocal cords and the like. .

The vibration generated in the mouth is directly transmitted to the skull and jaw as it is as a bone tissue motion, and is detected by the bone conduction sensor 5.

In the case of a patient who cannot speak or is masked by tracheostomy, vocal cord surgery or the like, a call signal may be generated by gently touching the upper and lower teeth. That is, if the upper and lower teeth hit, a tooth contact sound is generated and the bone tissue is vibrated. This tooth contact sound or vibration can be detected by the bone conduction sensor 5 with high sensitivity as a pulse-like noise.

Since this bone conduction sensor 5 can detect all sounds and vibrations generated in the mouth, the detection target is not limited to the sound, breath, and tooth contact sound as described above. For example, a non-audible sound such as a murmur can be detected. Vibration sound can also be generated by pitting the face epidermis.

The detection signals collected by the bone conduction sensor 5 as described above are appropriately amplified by the amplifier 13 in the control box 7 and then sent to the filter circuit 14.

The filter circuit 14 is smoothed with a predetermined time constant to remove unnecessary noise from the sensor signal output from the bone conduction sensor 5 as a calling signal, and is also used as a calling signal by a bandpass filter or a notch filter. Select and extract characteristic frequency bands. Further, the extracted signal output is appropriately time-integrated by an integration type A-D converter as required.

The threshold value determination circuit 15 has a threshold value serving as a reference value for whether or not to call it inside, and compares the extracted signal output output from the filter circuit 14, that is, the amplitude value of the feature quantity with the threshold value. Is exceeded, the call signal is output to the nurse call handset 1 connected to the output means 16 via the output means 16 (including the connector 2), and this is set to the call state. At the same time, the call indicator lamp 11 is turned on to notify the call operator himself that a call signal is being transmitted to the nurse call handset 1.

Note that the amplification factor of the amplification circuit 13, the filter frequency or frequency band of the filter circuit 14, the threshold value of the threshold determination circuit 15, and the like are determined according to the surrounding environment conditions of the patient, body conditions, or the contact position of the bone mission sensor 5. In order to adapt to changing sensor characteristics and sensitivities, it can be varied in conjunction with the operation of the adjusting means.

When receiving the call signal output from the bone conduction call device in this manner, the nurse call slave device 1 transmits the call signal to the nurse call parent device in the same manner as this type of call device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The whole block diagram of the bone-conduction calling apparatus in one Example of this invention. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a bone conduction calling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Nurse call cord 2 Connector 3 Bone conduction call device 4 Headband 5 Bone conduction sensor 6 Sensor side cord 7 Control box 8 Nurse call cord side cord 9 Power indicator lamp 10 Power switch 11 Call confirmation lamp 12 Adjustment means 13 Amplifier circuit 14 Filter circuit 15 Threshold judgment circuit 16 Output means 17 Power supply

Claims (3)

A bone conduction sensor that is used in contact with an appropriate position of a neck or a cranium capable of detecting a sound generated in the mouth and directly senses jawbone vibration caused by the sound generated in the mouth, and a bone conduction signal output from the bone conduction sensor is amplified. A control box including an amplification circuit, a filter circuit that extracts a feature value as a call signal from a bone conduction signal, and a threshold determination circuit that outputs a call signal when the extracted signal level output from the filter circuit exceeds a certain threshold; A bone conduction paging apparatus comprising: output means for sending a paging signal output from the threshold judgment circuit of the control box to a nurse call cordless handset. The bone conduction call device according to claim 1, wherein the control box is provided with a call confirmation lamp for displaying an output status of the threshold value judgment circuit. 3. The control box includes adjusting means capable of varying characteristic values of one or more of the amplifier circuit, the filter circuit, and the threshold value determination circuit. The bone conduction call device of claim.