JP2008252876A - Contact vibrator and hearing device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hearing device using a contact vibrator which is readily detachable by a wearer. <P>SOLUTION: A contact vibrator 1 comprises a vibrator 5 for converting an electric signal to a mechanical vibration, a vibration transmitting section 6 for transmitting the mechanical vibration from the vibrator 5 to an eardrum 31, and a plug 7 for transmitting the electric signal to the vibrator 5. The contact vibrator 1 is provided with a position adjusting means for adjusting a position of the vibration transmitting section 6 in the longitudinal direction by adjusting the distance between the vibrator 5 and the plug 7. An in-the-ear hearing aid 3 comprises such a contact vibrator 1, a receptacle 12 into which the plug 7 is fitted, a shell 2 for fixedly securing the receptacle 12 to the inside thereof, an electric circuit section 23 for providing the receptacle 12 with a hearing-processed electric signal, and a microphone 21 for imparting an acoustic signal converted to an electric signal to the electric circuit section 23, wherein, when the plug 7 is fitted into the receptacle 12, both the plug 7 and the receptacle 12 are electrically connected with each other and a tip 11 of the vibration transmitting section 6 is adapted to come into contact with the eardrum 31 or an ear ossicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact-type vibrator that converts an acoustic signal into mechanical vibration and directly transmits the mechanical vibration to an auditory organ such as an eardrum, and a listening device using the same.

The conventional air conduction hearing aid performs signal processing such as amplification and noise removal on the sound captured by the microphone in accordance with the user's hearing condition, and outputs it from the earphone. Since the output is the same physical quantity as the input, that is, sound that propagates in the air, howling is likely to occur. On the other hand, the conventional bone-conducting hearing aid is less susceptible to howling because its output is mechanical vibration, but it transmits vibration to the lymph fluid in the inner ear through the skull and transmits an acoustic signal to the hearing. There are disadvantages in that the efficiency is lower and the size is larger than that of an air conduction hearing aid that transmits vibration to the lymph fluid of the inner ear.
Therefore, if the mechanical vibration of the output is applied directly to the eardrum rather than passing through the skull like a bone conduction hearing aid, the efficiency is improved. From this point of view, a hearing aid that uses a transducer that outputs an input acoustic signal by mechanical vibration, connects the output end and the eardrum with a vibration transmission unit, and transmits vibration directly to the eardrum is known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

US Pat. No. 6,137,889

  However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, since the mechanical vibration output end of the transducer and the delicate eardrum are mechanically coupled directly, a mechanism for preventing excessive force from acting on the eardrum is required. . In addition, according to the present invention, it is not easy for a hearing aid wearer to wear the hearing aid so that the vibration transmitting unit contacts the eardrum in an appropriate state. Further, since such a hearing aid requires maintenance such as battery replacement, it is indispensable to periodically attach and detach it. In such a case, it is a troublesome matter to ask an expert such as an otolaryngologist. There is.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a contact-type vibrator that is easy for a wearer to attach and detach, and a listening device using the same. It is something to try.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an invention according to claim 1 includes a vibrator that converts an electrical signal into mechanical vibration, a vibration transmission unit that transmits mechanical vibration by the vibrator to the eardrum, and an electrode. A vibrator-side mounting portion that transmits an electrical signal is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the contact type vibrator according to the first aspect, a position adjusting unit that adjusts a longitudinal position of the vibration transmitting portion by adjusting a distance between the vibrator and the vibrator-side mounting portion. Was provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a contact-type vibrator according to the first or second aspect, a microphone that converts an acoustic signal into an electric signal, and an electric circuit unit that performs signal processing on the electric signal converted by the microphone. The body-side mounting has an electrode electrically connected to the electric circuit portion, the vibrator-side mounting portion is detachably mounted, and is electrically connected in contact with the electrode of the vibrator-side mounting portion. And the main body side mounting portion is fixed and the main body portion is provided with a shell manufactured according to the user's external auditory canal shape, and when the vibrator side mounting portion is attached to the main body side mounting portion, The tip of the vibration transmitting portion is in contact with the eardrum or the ossicle.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the listening device according to the third aspect, the main body side attachment portion is a receptacle, and the vibrator side attachment portion is a plug.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the listening device according to the third aspect, a magnet is disposed on the body-side mounting portion, a magnetic body is disposed on the vibrator-side mounting portion, and the vibrator-side mounting portion is It is attached to the main body side attachment portion by magnetic force.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the listening device according to the third aspect, the main body side mounting portion is a rail portion in which an electrode is disposed on a plate-shaped magnet, and the vibrator side mounting portion is made of a magnetic material. The rail portion and the vibrator side mounting portion have electrodes, and the electrodes are brought into close contact with each other by magnetic force, and the vibrator side mounting portion is slidably attached to the main body side mounting portion. .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the contact-type vibrator can be detachably attached to the apparatus using the contact-type vibrator so that the vibration conducting portion is in contact with the eardrum.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the position adjustment of the front-end | tip of a vibration transmission part can be performed easily.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, if the vibrator side mounting portion provided in the contact type vibrator is attached to the main body side mounting portion fixed to the shell, the tip of the vibration transmitting portion is properly positioned with respect to the eardrum or the like. Therefore, a listening device that is easy for the user to handle is provided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, if the plug provided on the contact-type vibrator is fitted to the receptacle fixed to the shell, the tip of the vibration transmitting portion is appropriately positioned with respect to the eardrum, etc. An easy-to-handle listening device is provided.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, an appropriate position is hold | maintained with a magnetic force.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the electrode made of the magnetic material of the attachment member provided in the contact type vibrator is slidably attached to the rail-like electrode, the tip of the vibration transmitting portion relative to the eardrum can be positioned. Done appropriately. In addition, since the electrode made of a magnetic material is supported by a magnet included in the main body mounting member with an appropriate magnetic force, the contact type vibrator can be easily attached to and detached from the shell.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a front view when the first embodiment of the hearing device according to the present invention is applied to an ear-shaped hearing aid, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the position adjusting means, FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams when wearing the ear-analyzing hearing aid, and FIG. 7 is a cross-section of the state where the ear-analyzing hearing aid is worn. FIG. 8 and FIG. 8 are conceptual diagrams.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the first embodiment of the listening device according to the present invention includes a contact-type vibrator 1 that converts an electrical signal into mechanical vibration and transmits it to the eardrum, a contact-type vibrator 1, An ear-shaped hearing aid 3 is composed of a shell 2 for storing other components. The contact-type vibrator 1 includes a vibrator 5 that converts an electrical signal into mechanical vibration, a vibration transmission unit 6 that transmits the mechanical vibration generated by the vibrator 5 to the eardrum, and a plug 7 that transmits the electrical signal to the vibrator 5. Etc.

As the vibrator 5, a laminated piezoelectric element (for example, manufactured by NEC TOKIN Corporation) is used, and other electromechanical transducers such as electrodynamic type and magnetostrictive type can be used. A vibration transmitting portion 6 is fixed to one end of the vibrator 5 via a reinforcing member 8, and a connecting portion 9 is fixed to the other end. The connecting portion 9 is formed with a through hole 9a into which the guide member 10 for guiding the moving direction of the vibrator 5 is press-fitted and a through hole 9b into which a stopper described later is fitted without being removed.

As the vibration transmission unit 6, it is preferable that the mechanical impedance with respect to the acting direction of the force in the actual use situation is sufficiently larger than the mechanical impedance of the eardrum. In this embodiment, a rod with an outer diameter of 0.6 mm is used in SUS304. The vibration transmitting unit 6 is preferably straight because it can maximize the mechanical impedance. However, since there are two curves in the ear canal, some people may not be able to make it straight. Such a case can be dealt with by appropriately bending.

A tip 11 that directly contacts the eardrum etc. and sufficiently transmits mechanical vibration is fixed to the tip of the vibration transmitting portion 6. A harmless oil (such as olive oil) can be applied to the tip 11 to stabilize the contact with the eardrum. In this case, a material such as silicone may be used, but when oil or the like is not applied, a material that does not adsorb to the eardrum such as Teflon (registered trademark) is preferable.

  The plug 7 constitutes a receptacle 12 and a connector fixed in the shell 2, is electrically connected to the receptacle 12, and functions as a member that determines the position of the contact type vibrator 1 with respect to the receptacle 12. An electrode 7 a is fixed to the plug 7, and the vibrator 5 and the plug 7 are electrically connected by the input terminal 5 a of the vibrator 5 and the lead wire 13. When the plug 7 and the receptacle 12 are fitted, the electrode 7a of the plug 7 and the electrode (not shown) of the receptacle 12 come into contact with each other and are electrically connected.

  The plug 7 is formed with an integral arm 14, and the arm 14 is formed with a female screw hole 14 a into which the male screw portion 15 a of the screw 15 is screwed and a through hole 14 b in which the guide member 10 is slidably fitted. Has been. Further, the plug 7 is provided with a knob 16 for facilitating insertion / removal of the plug 7 with respect to the receptacle 12 by the user's own hand. The arm 14 restricts the movement of the screw 15 and the guide member 10, and when the plug 7 is inserted into the receptacle 12, a part of the arm 14 fits into the groove 12 b of the receptacle 12 without backlash, and around the axis of the plug 7. Prevent the rotation of.

  Reference numeral 17 denotes a magnet embedded at the tip of the plug 7. When the plug 7 is fitted to the receptacle 12, the magnet 17 causes the contact-type vibrator 1 to be connected to the receptacle 12 by an external force such as vibration that is applied during wearing by an appropriate attractive force between the plug 7 and the magnetic body 18 embedded in the receptacle 12. In order to prevent the user from detaching from the contact type vibrator 1, the user can easily remove the contact-type vibrator 1 by holding the knob 16 with his / her hand.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the screw 15 is for adjusting the longitudinal position of the vibrator 5 and the vibration transmitting portion 6. The above-described stopper 15 b is provided at one end and the knob 15 c is provided at the other end. The small-diameter female screw hole 14a and the connecting portion 9 into which the stopper 15b is fitted constitute a position adjusting means for the contact type vibrator 1. By turning the knob 15 c and moving the screw 15 forward and backward, the connecting portion 9 can be moved, and the position of the tip 11 of the vibrator 5 fixed to the connecting portion 9 can be adjusted.

  The guide member 10 serves to prevent the vibrator 5 from rotating when the position of the vibrator 5 is adjusted by the screw 15 and to accurately guide the moving direction of the vibrator 5. The stopper 15b is for engaging with a through hole 9b having a small diameter hole and a large diameter hole so that the screw 15 is not removed from the connecting portion 9. The knob 15c is for making it easier to turn the screw 15 with the user's own hand. Reference numeral 19 denotes a spring wound around the screw 15, and is compressed between the large-diameter hole 14 c communicating with the female screw hole 14 a of the arm 14 and the connecting portion 9 in order to eliminate backlash in the axial direction of the screw 15. Yes.

The shell 2 is produced from an ear shape or the like previously taken from the user. The shell 2 serves as a reference for the chip 11 of the contact-type vibrator 1 being positioned and in contact with the eardrum at almost the same position every time it is worn. Although it depends on the size of the user's ear, etc., the shell 2 having the concha cavity and the concha is usually prepared, and the entire hearing aid is housed inside.

  The receptacle 12 is positioned on the shell 2 and fixed with an adhesive 20 or the like so that the tip of the contact-type transducer 1 comes into contact with the vicinity of the eardrum navel of the eardrum when the user's hearing aid is manufactured. In the receptacle 12, a recess 12a and a groove 12b for fitting with the plug 7 are formed, and an electrode 12c for electrical connection and a magnetic body 18 for adsorbing the plug 7 with an appropriate force are embedded. .

The microphone 21 converts the sound input from the sound intake port 22 into an electric signal, and the electric circuit unit 23 amplifies or processes the output of the microphone 21 and outputs an electric signal for driving the contact type vibrator 1. To do. This electrical signal is transmitted to the vibrator 5 via the electrode 12c of the receptacle 12, the electrode 7a of the plug 7, the lead wire 13, the input terminal 5a, and the like. The battery 24 supplies power to the microphone 21 and the electric circuit unit 23, and the power switch 25 turns on and off the power supply to the microphone 21 and the electric circuit unit 23. Further, the face plate 26 is a plate-like plastic case, and the sound intake port 22, the microphone 21, the electric circuit unit 23, the battery 24, the power switch 25, and the like are incorporated therein and joined to a part of the edge of the shell 2.

  The operation of the earphone type hearing aid 3 to which the first embodiment of the listening device according to the present invention configured as described above is applied will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, the user wears the shell 2 on the ear. When the shell 2 is mounted, the shell 2 cannot be mounted simply by being pushed inside the ear canal 30, but the shell 2 is held by hand and mounted while twisting within the range of the first and second half rotations. When the shell 2 is not attached at the correct position, a part of the shell 2 strongly presses the skin, so that the user recognizes that the shell 2 is not attached correctly. When the shell 2 is mounted in the correct position, the shell 2 is in a stable state and the user does not feel uncomfortable.

  Next, when it is confirmed that the shell 2 is mounted at the correct position, the user holds the knob 16 of the contact type vibrator 1 with his hand and slowly moves the chip 11 of the contact type vibrator 1 into the shell 2 as shown in FIG. The plug 7 is aligned with the receptacle 12, and the arm 14 of the plug 7 is aligned with the groove 12 b of the receptacle 12. This operation can be easily done once you get used to it. When the plug 7 is fitted to the receptacle 12, the position of the receptacle 12 is adjusted in advance and fixed to the shell 2. Therefore, as shown in FIG. It contacts the tympanic membrane 31a in the vicinity of the position. And the wearing state of the ear hole type hearing aid 3 is as shown in FIG. 32 is an auricle.

Next, when the power switch 25 is turned on, an electric signal obtained by appropriately amplifying and processing the sound input to the microphone 21 is input to the vibrator 5 via the receptacle 12 or the plug 7 and the vibrator 5 responds accordingly. Vibrate. This vibration is transmitted to the eardrum 31 through the vibration transmitting unit 6 and the chip 11 to vibrate the eardrum 31 and transmit acoustic energy to the auditory sense. Further, in the case of a person without the eardrum 31 or a person with the eardrum 31 adhering to the middle ear cavity wall, the tip 11 of the contact-type vibrator 1 is brought into contact with somewhere in the ear ossicle such as the stoma bone. Acoustic energy can be transmitted to the hearing through the vestibule window and the cochlea.

  If the contact state between the tip 11 and the eardrum 31 of the contact-type vibrator 1 is not favorable when the plug 7 of the contact-type vibrator 1 is fitted into the receptacle 12, the power switch 25 is turned on to output sound. When the user himself / herself turns the knob 15c with his / her hand and adjusts the position of the chip 11 while confirming the degree of hearing, good sound can be obtained. If good sound cannot be obtained even after this adjustment, the plug 7 can be pulled out by holding the knob 16 by hand, and the wearing of the ear type hearing aid 3 can be stopped immediately.

  FIG. 9 is a conceptual view at the time of wearing when the present invention is applied to the hearing aid type hearing aid 40. In this case, a microphone, an electric circuit unit, a battery, a power switch, and the like are incorporated in the ear case 41, and the electric output is guided by the cord 43 that passes through the hook 42 and the like, and the connector 44 at the end of the cord is a shell. The connector is engaged with a pair of connectors fixed to 45, and the output of this connector is electrically connected to the electrode of the receptacle fixed to a predetermined portion of the shell 45 with a lead wire. The user fits the connector 44 into the connector fixed in the shell 45, electrically connects the ear hook case 41 and the shell 45, and then attaches the shell 45 to the correct position of the ear. Hang on your ear. The subsequent manner of attaching the contact-type vibrator 1 to the shell 45 is the same as that of the ear type hearing aid 3.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the second embodiment of the contact-type vibrator according to the present invention, in which the position adjusting means in the longitudinal direction of the vibration transmitting portion 56 is not provided. The vibrator 55 is directly fixed to the arm 64 integral with the plug 57 via the connecting portion 59. 57a is an electrode, 58 is a reinforcing member, 59a is an input terminal, 61 is a chip, 63 is a lead wire, and 66 is a knob.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the configuration in which the plug 7 is provided in the contact type vibrator 1 and the receptacle 12 is provided in the shell 2 is shown, but the object of the present invention is when the plug 7 and the receptacle 12 are fitted. Since it is only necessary to determine the relative positional relationship between the contact-type vibrator 1 and the shell 2, a configuration in which the receptacle 12 is provided in the contact-type vibrator 1 and the plug 7 is provided in the shell 2 may be employed.

In addition, since the contact type vibrator 1 is expected to be dropped by mistake, the contact type vibrator 1 can be connected to the shell 2 or the like with a string or a rubber string to prevent the contact type vibrator 1 from dropping. In the contact type vibrator 1, the lead wire 13 for electrical connection between the input terminal 5 a of the vibrator 5 and the electrode 7 a of the plug 7 is not disturbed when the contact type vibrator 1 is operated. It is also possible to use a flexible printed circuit board instead of the lead wire 13 or to replace a part of the lead wire 13 with a flexible printed circuit board.

  As the position adjusting means, as shown in FIG. 11, the screw 85 can be rotated by the knob 85 c without providing the spring 19, but the structure does not move back and forth, and the male threaded portion 85 a of the screw 85 and the connecting portion 79 are connected. A configuration in which the female screw hole 79a is screwed to move the connecting portion 79 back and forth to adjust the position of the vibrator 5 fixed to the connecting portion 79 may be adopted. Reference numeral 85b denotes a stopper, and 86 denotes a retaining member that engages with a through hole 74a formed of a small diameter hole and a large diameter hole formed in the arm 74, and is formed integrally with the screw 85.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, the second embodiment of the listening device according to the present invention converts a contact type vibrator 90 that converts an electrical signal into mechanical vibration and transmits it to the eardrum, and contact type vibration. An ear-shaped hearing aid 91 is composed of the child 90 and the shell 2 that houses other components. The contact-type vibrator 90 includes a cylindrical vibrator 5 that converts an electrical signal into mechanical vibration, a rod-shaped vibration transmission unit 6 that transmits mechanical vibration generated by the vibrator 5 to the eardrum, and the vibrator 5 that is a shell 2. And a vibrator side mounting portion 92 that transmits an electric signal to the vibrator 5. Note that the vibrator 5, the vibration transmission unit 6, and the chip 11 fixed to the tip of the vibration transmission unit 6 have the same configuration as that of the first embodiment of the listening device.

A vibration transmitting portion 6 is fixed to one end of the vibrator 5, and an insulating connecting member 93 is fixed to the other end. The connecting member 93 is sandwiched between a pair of magnetic electrodes 94a and 94b, and a substantially U-shaped guide member 95 is attached to the electrodes 94a and 94b. The vibrator side mounting portion 92 is formed of a connecting member 93, electrodes 94a and 94b, a guide member 95, and the like. The vibrator side mounting portion 92 forms an electrical connector with the rail portion 96 fixed in the shell 2, and functions as a mounting position adjusting member for the contact type vibrator 90 with respect to the rail portion 96. Reference numeral 92a denotes a stopper for the rail portion 96 for positioning the contact-type vibrator 90. The electrodes 94a and 94b are gold-plated.

  The rail portion 96 has a plate-like magnet 97 fixed to the inside of the shell 2, a flexible printed circuit board 98 fixed to the upper surface of the magnet 97, and electrodes 94 a and 94 b on the flexible printed circuit board 98. It consists of a pair of rail-shaped electrodes 99a and 99b. Since the electrodes 94a and 94b are connected to the input terminals 5a and 5b of the vibrator 5 through the lead wires 13a and 13b, the vibrator 5 and the electrodes 94a and 94b are electrically connected. When the vibrator side attachment portion 92 and the rail portion 96 are engaged, the electrodes 94a and 94b of the vibrator side attachment portion 92 and the electrodes 99a and 99b of the rail portion 96 are brought into contact with each other by an appropriate magnetic force of the magnet 97. Electrically connected. Then, the vibrator 5 is electrically connected to the electric circuit unit 23 and the like via the electrodes 94a, 94b, 99a, 99b, the flexible printed circuit board 98, and the like.

  Since the surfaces of the electrodes 94a, 94b, 99a, 99b are smoothly finished, the electrodes 94a, 94b of the vibrator side mounting portion 92 are in contact with the electrodes 99a, 99b of the rail portion 96 by an appropriate magnetic force of the magnet 97. The contact-type vibrator 90 can be set at a desired position with respect to the shell 2. In addition, the appropriate magnetic force of the magnet 97 can hold the contact-type vibrator 90 so that the contact-type vibrator 90 does not come off from the rail portion 96 by an external force such as vibration that is applied during wearing, and the user holds the contact-type vibrator 90. It is sufficient to be easily removable.

  The rail portion 96 has the end portion 96a of the rail portion 96 brought into contact with the stopper 92a of the transducer side mounting portion 92 so that the transducer side mounting portion 92 is engaged with the rail portion 96 when the user's hearing aid is manufactured. In this state, the tip 11 fixed to the tip of the contact-type vibrator 90 is positioned inside the shell 2 so as to come into contact with the vicinity of the eardrum navel of the eardrum, and is fixed with an adhesive 20 or the like. Therefore, in order for the chip 11 to come into contact with the vicinity of the eardrum navel of the eardrum when the earphone type hearing aid 91 is worn, the vibrator side mounting part 92 is engaged with the rail part 96 and the end part 96a of the rail part 96 is The contact type vibrator 90 may be attached to the shell 2 so as to be in contact with the stopper 92a.

  A magnetic body is fixed to the taking-out means 95a in the guide member 95, and the contact-type vibrator 90 can be taken out by being attracted by a magnet. Further, even if a take-out linear member (not shown) is attached instead of the magnetic body, the contact-type vibrator 90 can be easily taken out. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment of the listening device.

  The operation of the earphone type hearing aid 91 to which the second embodiment of the listening device according to the present invention configured as described above is applied will be described. First, the user wears the shell 2 on the ear. When the shell 2 is mounted, the shell 2 cannot be mounted simply by being pushed inside the ear canal 30, but the shell 2 is held by hand and mounted while twisting within the range of the first and second half rotations. When the shell 2 is not attached at the correct position, a part of the shell 2 strongly presses the skin, so that the user recognizes that the shell 2 is not attached correctly. When the shell 2 is mounted in the correct position, the shell 2 is in a stable state and the user does not feel uncomfortable.

  Next, when it is confirmed that the shell 2 is mounted at the correct position, the vibrator side mounting portion 92 of the contact type vibrator 90 is grasped with a finger, and the chip 11 of the contact type vibrator 90 is held as shown in FIG. Then, after slowly inserting into the ear canal 30 through the shell 2, aligning the vibrator side mounting portion 92 with the rail portion 96 and fitting the rail portion 96 to the guide member 95, the end portion 96a of the rail portion 96 is stopped. The vibrator side mounting portion 92 is slid until it abuts against the 92a. This operation can be easily done once you get used to it. When the end portion 96a of the rail portion 96 comes into contact with the stopper 92a, the position of the rail portion 96 is adjusted and fixed to the shell 2 in advance, so that the chip 11 of the contact type vibrator 90 is shown in FIG. Touches the vicinity of the eardrum navel 31a, which is a predetermined position of the eardrum 31.

  Next, when the power switch 25 is turned on, an electric signal obtained by appropriately amplifying and signal-processing the sound input to the microphone 21 is input to the vibrator 5 via the rail portion 96, the vibrator-side mounting portion 92, and the like, and vibration is generated. The child 5 vibrates accordingly. This vibration is transmitted to the eardrum 31 through the vibration transmitting unit 6 and the chip 11 to vibrate the eardrum 31 and transmit acoustic energy to the auditory sense. Further, in the case of a person without the eardrum 31 or a person with the eardrum 31 adhering to the middle ear cavity wall, the tip 11 of the contact-type vibrator 90 is brought into contact with somewhere in the ear ossicles such as the stapes. Acoustic energy can be transmitted to the hearing through the vestibule window and the cochlea.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the contact-type vibrator according to the present invention and the listening device using the same are applied to the ear-shaped hearing aids 3, 91 and the ear-mounted hearing aid 40 has been described. For example, the present invention can also be applied to an audio listening device such as a headset.

  If the plug or vibrator-side mounting part provided on the contact-type vibrator is engaged with the receptacle or rail part fixed to the shell, the tip of the vibration transmitting part is properly positioned with respect to the eardrum etc. It becomes possible to configure a hearing device such as an ear ear type hearing aid or an ear hook type hearing aid.

The front view at the time of applying 1st Embodiment of the listening apparatus based on this invention to an ear hole type hearing aid AA line sectional view of FIG. Exploded partial cross-sectional view of the ear hole type hearing aid Enlarged sectional view of position adjustment means Explanatory drawing of wearing ear ear type hearing aid (shell) Explanatory drawing of wearing ear ear type hearing aid (contact type transducer) Cross-sectional view of wearing ear ear type hearing aid Conceptual diagram of wearing ear ear type hearing aid Conceptual diagram at the time of wearing when the present invention is applied to a hearing aid type hearing aid Side view of a second embodiment of a contact-type vibrator according to the present invention. Expanded sectional view of another embodiment of the position adjusting means In the third embodiment of the contact-type vibrator according to the present invention, (a) is a plan view, (b) is a partially sectional side view, and (c) is a rear view. The side view of the partial cross section of the ear hole type hearing aid which applied 2nd Embodiment of the listening apparatus concerning this invention FIG. 13 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. Explanatory drawing at the time of wearing ear ear type hearing aid to which the second embodiment of the listening device according to the present invention is applied Side view of a partial cross-section with the ear hole type hearing aid worn

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,90 ... Contact type | mold vibrator, 2 ... Shell, 3,91 ... Ear hole type hearing aid, 5 ... Vibrator, 6 ... Vibration transmission part, 7 ... Plug, 11 ... Chip, 12 ... Receptacle, 14 ... Arm, 15 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Screw, 21 ... Microphone, 23 ... Electric circuit part, 31 ... Tympanic membrane, 92 ... Vibrator side attaching part, 96 ... Rail part, 97 ... Magnet.

Claims (6)

A vibrator that converts electrical signals into mechanical vibrations, a vibration transmission unit that transmits mechanical vibrations by the vibrators to the eardrum, and a vibrator-side attachment unit that includes electrodes and transmits electrical signals to the vibrators. Characteristic contact type vibrator. 2. The contact-type vibrator according to claim 1, further comprising position adjusting means for adjusting a longitudinal position of the vibration transmitting portion by adjusting a distance between the vibrator and the vibrator-side mounting portion. The contact-type vibrator according to claim 1, a microphone that converts an acoustic signal into an electric signal, an electric circuit unit that performs signal processing on the electric signal converted by the microphone, and an electric circuit connected to the electric circuit unit A main body side mounting portion that has an electrode connected to the vibrator, and the vibrator side mounting portion is detachably mounted, and is electrically connected in contact with the electrode of the vibrator side mounting portion, and the main body side mounting portion Is fixed to the body, and the body is provided with a shell manufactured in accordance with the shape of the user's external auditory canal, and when the vibrator side attachment is attached to the body side attachment, the tip of the vibration transmitting part is the eardrum Or a listening device characterized by contacting the ossicle. 4. The listening device according to claim 3, wherein the main body side mounting portion is a receptacle, and the vibrator side mounting portion is a plug. A magnet is disposed on the body-side mounting portion, a magnetic body is disposed on the vibrator-side mounting portion, and the vibrator-side mounting portion is attached to the body-side mounting portion by a magnetic force. Item 4. The listening device according to Item 3. The main body side mounting portion is a rail portion in which electrodes are arranged on a plate-shaped magnet, the vibrator side mounting portion has an electrode made of a magnetic material, and the rail portion and the vibrator side mounting portion are mutually connected. The hearing device according to claim 3, wherein the electrodes are closely attached to each other by magnetic force, and the vibrator-side attachment portion is slidably attached to the body-side attachment portion.