JP2008283398A - Earphone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an earphone capable of adjusting sound quality and changing appearance design by the change of a housing volume or the like and flexibly coping with the demands of a user by detaching and exchanging a part of a housing though it is the earphone as a ready-made article. <P>SOLUTION: The earphone has a housing 5 for housing at least a part of an electroacoustic transducing element 2 for transducing audio signals to sound signals and outputting them. The housing comprises a housing main body 6 provided with a sound emitting hole for emitting the sound waves on one surface and provided with an opening 8 on the other surface, and a closing member 10 for closing the opening by being freely detachably mounted on the opening. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of an earphone, and in particular, by configuring a part of the earphone to be detachable and replaceable, the sound quality can be modified in accordance with various circumstances such as a user's purpose and preference, and the design, size, material, etc. The present invention relates to an earphone capable of customizing the appearance shape.

Earphones (including headphones) are used to listen to audio output from audio equipment such as playback equipment that reproduces audio from recording media such as CDs, MDs, cassette tapes, flash memories, and HDDs, and receiving equipment such as radios. It is used by being inserted into the user's ear canal or attached to the entrance of the ear canal.
5 (a) and 5 (b) are diagrams showing the external configuration of a conventional inner-ear type earphone. The earphone 100 transmits an audio signal transmitted from an audio device (not shown) via the earphone cable 101 as a sound wave. An electroacoustic transducer (not shown) such as a speaker that converts the sound into an output and a housing portion 102 that houses the electroacoustic transducer and has a sound emitting hole for emitting the sound wave to the outside. The housing portion 102 holds one end of the earphone cable 101 and accommodates an electroacoustic conversion element therein. The housing portion 102 is connected to one surface of the housing main body 102a and has a sound emitting hole therein. And an ear tip 102b inserted into the person's external auditory canal.
The earphone of (b) is particularly referred to as a canal (earplug) type.
In addition to the inner ear type, there is also a type in which a planar sound emitting part is in close contact with the entrance of the ear canal.

When an audio device is purchased, the purchaser is not satisfied with the attached earphone, and the purchaser needs to purchase a ready-made earphone having a sound quality and a design suitable for the taste and purpose of use. However, conventional earphones are manufactured with the sound quality, design, material, etc. set in a range that is the manufacturer's side, and sound quality that flexibly corresponds to individual circumstances such as purchaser's preference and purpose of use, It was difficult to manufacture various products having designs, materials, and the like.
Large earphones, particularly sealed earphones, have large housings, so there is room for the manufacturer to devise shapes and materials in order to obtain optimum sound quality and design. However, in the small earphones such as the inner ear type, since the housing is small, the selection range of the shape and the material is narrow, and there is a limit to providing diversity.
In addition, since the conventional earphones as an off-the-shelf product have an integral structure that cannot be modified, there is little room for re-setting, adjustment, or modification (customization) according to the purpose and preference of the purchaser.

Patent Document 1 discloses a bass reflex type earphone. However, the housing portion of the earphone is enlarged, and the merit of the small earphone is lost. In addition, since the structure of the driver unit housed in the housing portion cannot be increased, there is a limit to the improvement in sound quality.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for improving sound quality by attaching a vibration damping seal to an earphone housing. According to this, although the sound quality can be improved, since there is no change in the housing volume, it is impossible for the user to change the housing volume arbitrarily and enjoy the change in the sound quality sufficiently.
JP 2006-287664 A JP 2006-319677 A

As described above, conventional earphones (including headphones), especially small earphones as ready-made products, are pre-determined in size, shape, etc., and the materials are determined in advance. It was difficult to change (customize). Therefore, it has been impossible to improve and adjust the sound quality of the earphone by modifying the earphone housing according to the purchaser's preference.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and while it is an earphone as an off-the-shelf product, it is possible to adjust the sound quality by changing the housing volume, etc., and to change the external design by replacing a part of the housing. It aims at providing the earphone which can respond flexibly to a user's demand.

In order to achieve the above object, an earphone according to a first aspect of the present invention is an earphone including a housing that houses at least a part of an electroacoustic transducer that converts an audio signal into a sound wave and outputs the sound wave. A housing body having a sound emitting hole for emitting the sound wave on one surface and an opening on the other surface, and a closing member that is attached to the opening to close the opening. It is characterized by having.
The user can freely set the capacity of the housing, etc., because the user can attach any closing member to the opening provided in the housing body. It can be in a state suitable for the purpose. The formation range of the opening is arbitrary. Closing by the closing member does not necessarily mean an airtight seal. Retrofit includes both the case of removing the closing member constituting the earphone housing as an off-the-shelf product and attaching another closing member, and the case of attaching the closing member to the housing body in which the opening is open. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the other surface is a surface opposed to the one surface.
When the other surface forming the opening is, for example, the back surface of the housing main body, the opening can be secured over a wide area range, and the degree of freedom of sound quality adjustment using the closing member is increased.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first or second aspect, the closing member is attached to the opening to seal the inside of the housing main body, and changes the volume of the housing.
The closing member may be configured to seal the inside of the housing body, and by changing the housing volume, it is possible to ensure an arbitrary sound quality.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect, the volume of the housing is increased by selectively mounting one of the plurality of types of the closing members having different shapes to the opening. It is characterized in that it can be increased or decreased.
It is possible to expand the selection range of sound quality and design by preparing multiple types of closing members with different shapes in advance and making it possible to attach a closing member having an arbitrary shape to the opening of the housing body. it can.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, or fourth aspect, the resonance of the housing is achieved by selectively mounting one of the plurality of closing members made of different materials to the opening. It is characterized in that the characteristics can be changed.
A plurality of types of closing members of different materials are prepared in advance, and a closing member made of any material can be retrofitted to the opening of the housing body, whereby the resonance characteristics of the housing can be changed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the degree of sealing of the housing body is changed by selectively mounting one of the plurality of closing members having different shapes to the opening. It is configured to be possible.
The sound quality can also be adjusted by changing the degree of sealing using closing members having different shapes.

A seventh aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the closing member is detachably attached to the opening.
By constructing a detachable closing member that can be retrofitted to the housing body, it can be replaced with another closing member made of a different shape and material.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to seventh aspects, the closing member includes a functional component.
By using the closing member when assembling the functional parts, it is possible to improve the assembling property and achieve a compact size.

As described above, according to the present invention, an earphone as an off-the-shelf product can be obtained by retrofitting or detachably attaching closing members made of various shapes and materials to the opening of the housing body constituting the housing. However, the sound quality can be adjusted by changing the housing volume and the appearance design can be changed, so that it is possible to flexibly respond to the user's request.
First, it is possible to change the volume of the housing and change the sound quality by selectively configuring the closing members having different shapes.
Moreover, the sound quality can be effectively changed by configuring the closing members made of different materials to be selectively applicable. That is, it is possible to provide an optimum volume that matches the characteristics of the material used.
By preparing various closing members by combining materials and shapes, the user's selection range can be expanded.
By enabling the user to attach and detach and replace the closure member that can be retrofitted, the selection range can be expanded by increasing the degree of freedom in improving the earphone while using a common housing body.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
1A, 1B, and 1C are an external perspective view, an exploded perspective view, and a longitudinal sectional view of an earphone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. These are the principal part longitudinal cross-sectional views of the earphone based on each deformation | transformation embodiment.
The earphone 1 includes an electroacoustic transducer 2 (driver unit) 2 such as a speaker that converts an audio signal transmitted from an audio device (not shown) via an earphone cable 20 into a sound wave and outputs the sound, and an electroacoustic transducer 2. A housing 5 that accommodates and supports one end of the earphone cable 20 and an ear tip 15 that is attached to and detached from the tip of the housing 5 are provided.
The housing 5 has a sound emitting hole 7 (sound emitting tube 7a) for emitting sound waves on one side, and a housing body 6 having an opening 8 on the other side (in this example, the back), and an opening 8. A back panel (closing member) 10 is provided that closes the opening 8 by being bonded to the supporting portion 8a projecting inward (other appropriate place) by an adhesive means 11 such as a double-sided adhesive tape.
The term “opening” is a concept that broadly includes a hole, a notch, or the like formed by opening and penetrating at least a part of the outer wall of the housing body 6. It is not limited to the opening formed in. Further, “closed” does not necessarily mean sealing or sealing, but indicates a state in which all or part of the opening 8 is installed.

The closing member 10 is attached to the opening 8 by retrofitting. Here, “retrofitting” refers to the case of removing the closing member constituting the ready-made housing and attaching another closing member to the opening, and the case of the opening of the housing body that is open from the beginning. Including both cases where a closing member is attached.
The ear tip 15 is a soft member that can be attached to and detached from the sound emitting tube 7a protruding from the front surface of the housing body 6. The ear tip 15 functions as an ear plug while adhering to the inner wall of the user's ear canal and prevents the earphone from falling off. Fulfills the function of
A rubber-containing double-sided tape or the like is used as the bonding means 11 so that the bonded portion is brought into a close contact state with a sufficient bonding force when the back panel 10 is bonded to the support portion 8a and the opening portion 8 is closed. preferable. Moreover, it is good also as an adhesive structure which can be attached or detached so that a back panel of a different kind can be adhere | attached on the same housing main body by peeling the back panel 10 once adhere | attached from the support part 8a.
Further, as a method of attaching the back panel 10 to the opening 8, a mechanical locking structure may be used in addition to the bonding by the bonding means 11. Specifically, for example, a locked piece (for example, a locking protrusion) provided on the support portion 8a is elastically locked by a locking piece (for example, a locking recess) provided on the back panel 10 side. You may comprise.

In addition, although the structure which accommodated the whole electroacoustic transducer 2 in the housing main body 6 was shown in this example, the structure which accommodates a part of electroacoustic transducer 2 may be sufficient.
The earphone 1 shown in this example is the canal type shown in FIG. 5 (b), but may be another inner ear type as shown in FIG. 5 (a). Alternatively, a sound emitting surface may be provided at the entrance of the ear canal without inserting a sound emitting tube into the ear canal. In short, the structure and type of earphones to which the present invention can be applied are not limited, and are not limited to small earphones. However, the conventional small earphones have a small layout freedom due to the small size, but according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the sound quality and change the design by increasing the layout freedom of the small earphones. is there.

The earphone 1 of the present invention enables one of a plurality of types of rear panels (closing members) 10 having different shapes to be selectively attached to the opening 8 of the housing body on the user side. Thus, it is characteristic that an earphone having an arbitrary sound quality and appearance design (shape) can be obtained according to the user's preference and purpose of use. The back panels 10 having different shapes are common in that they can be attached to the support portion 8a of the opening 8 by using the adhesive means 11, but the shapes of the other portions are different. That is, for example, the cross-sectional shape of the back panel 10 may be convex toward the back so that the total volume of the housing formed between the housing body 6 and the housing body 6 can be changed (see FIG. 2 ( a) (b)), or a convex shape toward the inside (FIG. 2 (c)).
In addition, by appropriately selecting the shape of the back panel, it is possible to realize sound quality improvement by reducing standing waves, equalizer effect (sound quality adjustment) by shape, and the like.
Thus, by changing the volume of the housing 5 using the back panel 10, the sound quality can be improved and adjusted to an arbitrary sound quality.

Alternatively, any one of the plurality of back panels 10 having the same shape but different materials may be attached to the opening 8 to change the resonance characteristics of the entire housing 5 and improve the sound quality. Can be improved and changed. The housing body 6 is usually made of a resin material. However, since different resonance characteristics can be obtained by making the material of the back panel 10 different, the sound quality can be improved and changed. Examples of materials applicable to the back panel 10 used for sound quality adjustment include metal (eg, aluminum, magnesium, titanium), wood, etc. in addition to resin (eg, PS, ABS, PP), for example. Can do. According to this, it becomes possible to change and adjust the sound quality utilizing the characteristics of the material to be used in accordance with the user's preference and spray.
Even if the same material is used, the sound quality can be adjusted by changing the thickness and shape of the rear panel 10.
In short, it is possible to obtain a desired sound quality by arbitrarily selecting and combining materials and shapes. In other words, it is possible to select an optimal housing capacity according to the material to be used and to secure a desired sound quality.

Next, the sound quality can be adjusted by adjusting the degree of sealing the opening 8 by the rear panel 10. Therefore, the back panel 10 may be configured so that air holes such as holes, slits, and meshes are formed to adjust the hermeticity in the housing. That is, a back panel with a sound quality adjustment vent formed in the back panel 10 or a back panel not formed is prepared so that it can be attached and detached according to needs, and is “sealed”, “semi-sealed”, “open” "May be arbitrarily selected.
It should be noted that an ideal sound quality can be obtained by variously selecting and combining the change in the housing volume due to the change in the material and shape of the back panel and the adjustment of the sealing degree of the housing.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the closing member 10 showed the earphone of the type with which it mounts | wears with respect to the opening part 8 provided in the opposite side (back side) from the sound emission tube 7a with which a user's ear | edge is mounted | worn, You may comprise so that sound quality adjustment, a design improvement, etc. may be performed by attaching a closing member with respect to openings other than the back surface of the housing main body 6, for example, the opening provided in the upper surface, the bottom surface, and the side surface. In short, the opening 8 in the present invention is not limited to the opening on the back side.
Alternatively, as shown in the modified embodiment of FIGS. 3A and 3B, the opening 8 continuously formed from the back surface of the housing body 6 to another surface may be closed by a single closing member 10. .
In addition, the earphone design is not directly related to the sound quality of the earphone, but by selectively applying a rear panel that has a wide variety of exterior designs, including the shape, color, pattern, material, finish, etc. of the outer surface. Can be changed, and the consumer's willingness to purchase can be promoted.

Next, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of an earphone according to another embodiment of the present invention, which utilizes a closing member 10 such as a back panel that is detachably and replaceably attached to the housing body 6. In this example, another functional component, for example, a microphone (hereinafter referred to as a microphone) 30 is incorporated in the earphone. In other words, in this example, the microphone 30 is fixed to the closing member 10 in advance, and the closing of the closing member 10 to the housing body 6 is completed at the same time that the microphone 30 is assembled. A lead wire 31 is drawn from the microphone 30.
Examples of the microphone 30 include a noise canceling microphone having a noise canceling function and a sound collecting microphone such as a recording microphone.
When a noise canceling microphone is used, the external noise is canceled by adding an audio signal having an opposite phase obtained by inverting the external sound recorded by the microphone to the audio signal supplied to the electroacoustic transducer 2. Can do.
When using a recording microphone, realistic binaural recording and playback are possible.
By using the closing member when assembling the functional parts in this way, the assembling property can be improved and the compactness can be realized.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even in a small earphone such as an inner ear type, the user can perform sound quality adjustment by attaching or replacing the closing member with a simple operation. Further, the design can be improved by changing and using the closing member.

(A) (b) And (c) is the external appearance perspective view, longitudinal cross-sectional view, and exploded perspective view of the earphone which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. (A) (b) And (c) is the principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of the earphone which concerns on deformation | transformation embodiment, respectively. (A) And (b) is a disassembled perspective view which shows the structure of deformation | transformation embodiment of the earphone of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the structural example of the earphone which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. (A) And (b) is a figure which shows the external appearance structure of the conventional inner ear type earphone, respectively.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Earphone, 2 ... Electroacoustic transduction element, 5 ... Housing, 6 ... Housing main body, 7 ... Sound emission hole, 7a ... Sound emission tube, 8 ... Opening part, 8a ... Supporting part, 10 ... Back panel (closing member) 11 ... Adhesion means, 15 ... Ear tip, 20 ... Earphone cable, 30 ... Microphone, 31 ... Lead wire.

Claims (8)

An earphone including a housing that houses at least a part of an electroacoustic transducer that converts an audio signal into a sound wave and outputs the sound wave,
The housing includes a housing body having a sound emitting hole for emitting the sound wave on one surface and an opening on the other surface, and a closing member for closing the opening by being attached to the opening. An earphone characterized by comprising   The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the other surface is a surface facing the one surface.   The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the closing member is attached to the opening to seal the inside of the housing body, and changes the volume of the housing.   The volume of the housing can be increased or decreased by selectively mounting one of a plurality of types of the closing members having different shapes with respect to the opening. Or the earphone of 3.   The resonance characteristics of the housing can be changed by selectively attaching one of the plurality of closing members made of different materials to the opening. The earphone according to 3 or 4.   3. The sealing degree of the housing body can be changed by selectively mounting one of the plurality of closing members having different shapes to the opening. Earphone as described in.   The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the closing member is detachably attached to the opening.   The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the closing member includes a functional component.

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