JP2013243489A - Measuring apparatus and measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a measuring apparatus which measures a vibration amount, in which features of vibration transmission to ears of a human body is weighted, and evaluates an electronic apparatus having a vibration body correctly.SOLUTION: A measuring apparatus 10 is used for evaluating an electronic apparatus 100 having a vibration body 102 that is held by a housing 101 and is pressed to an ear of a human body thereby causing a user to hear vibration sounds. The measuring apparatus 10 includes an ear mold part 50 imitating the ear of the human body and a vibration detection part 55 disposed at a peripheral part 52 of an artificial external acoustic meatus 53 formed at the ear mold part 50.

Description

  The present invention relates to a measuring apparatus and a measuring method for evaluating an electronic device that transmits sound to a user by vibration transmission by pressing a vibrating body held in a housing against a human ear.

  Patent Document 1 describes an electronic device such as a mobile phone that transmits air conduction sound and bone conduction sound to a user (user). According to Patent Document 1, air conduction sound is sound transmitted to the auditory nerve of a user by vibration of air that is caused by vibration of an object being transmitted to the eardrum through the external auditory canal. Have been described. Patent Document 1 describes that bone conduction sound is sound transmitted to the user's auditory nerve through a part of the user's body (for example, cartilage of the outer ear) that contacts the vibrating object. ing.

  In the telephone set described in Patent Document 1, it is described that a short plate-like vibrating body made of a piezoelectric bimorph and a flexible material is attached to the outer surface of a housing via an elastic member. Further, in Patent Document 1, when a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric bimorph of the vibrating body, the vibrating body bends and vibrates as the piezoelectric material expands and contracts in the longitudinal direction, and the user contacts the vibrating body with the auricle. It is described that air conduction sound and bone conduction sound are transmitted to the user.

JP 2005-348193 A

  By the way, unlike the telephone described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the inventors vibrate air conduction sound generated by vibrating a panel such as a display panel or a protection panel arranged on the surface of the mobile phone. We are developing mobile phones that transmit sound using vibration sound, which is the sound component of vibration transmission that is transmitted when the panel is placed on the human ear. In order to appropriately evaluate an electronic device that transmits some sound by vibration, such as a telephone set as disclosed in Patent Document 1 or a mobile phone developed by the inventors, the inventor can generate sound on the human body by vibration of the vibrating body. I have come to realize that it is preferable to measure how close the pressure and vibration are to the human body as much as possible. In general, the following two measuring methods are known as methods for measuring the vibration amount.

  The first measurement method is to measure a vibration amount as a voltage by pressing a vibrating body to be measured against an artificial mastoid for measuring a bone-conducting vibrator that mechanically simulates a milk projecting part behind an ear. . In the second measurement method, for example, a vibration pickup such as a piezoelectric acceleration pickup is pressed against a vibration body to be measured, and the amount of vibration is measured as a voltage.

  However, the measurement voltage obtained by the first measurement method is a voltage in which the characteristics of the human body when the vibrating body is pressed against the milk projecting part behind the human ear are mechanically weighted. The characteristic of vibration transmission when is pressed against the human ear is not a weighted voltage. The measurement voltage obtained by the second measurement method is obtained by directly measuring the vibration amount of the vibrating body from the vibrating object. Similarly, the characteristics of vibration transmission to the human ear are weighted. Not the voltage. Therefore, even if the vibration amount of the vibrating body is measured by the conventional measurement method, the vibration amount transmitted from the electronic device to the human body cannot be correctly evaluated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described viewpoints, and can measure an amount of vibration weighted with a characteristic of vibration transmission to each part of the human ear, particularly the cartilage of the ear, and an electronic apparatus having the vibrator It is an object of the present invention to provide a measuring apparatus and a measuring method that can correctly evaluate the above.

An invention of a measuring apparatus according to the present invention that achieves the above object is a measuring apparatus for evaluating an electronic device that presses a vibrating body held in a housing against a human ear and transmits sound to a user by vibration transmission. And
An ear mold that imitates an ear of a human body, and a vibration detector disposed in a peripheral portion of an artificial external ear canal formed in the ear mold.

  The head model may further include a human head model, and the ear mold part may be detachable from the head model as an artificial ear constituting the head model.

The ear mold unit includes an ear model and an artificial external ear canal unit coupled to the ear model,
The artificial ear canal may be formed in the artificial ear canal portion.

  The artificial external auditory canal may have a length of 20 mm to 40 mm.

  You may further provide the holding | maintenance part holding the said electronic device.

  The holding unit may include a support unit that supports the electronic device in at least two places so that a person presses the electronic device against his / her ear.

  The holding unit may be movable and adjustable in a direction in which the electronic device is pressed against the ear mold unit.

  The holding part may be adjustable to rotate in a direction in which the electronic device is pressed against the ear mold part.

  The holding unit may be capable of adjusting a pressing force of the vibrating body in a range of 0N to 10N with respect to the ear mold unit.

  The holding portion may be capable of adjusting a pressing force of the vibrating body with respect to the ear mold portion in a range of 3N to 8N.

  The holding unit may be capable of moving and adjusting the electronic device in the vertical direction of the electronic device with respect to the ear-shaped portion so that the contact posture of the electronic device with respect to the ear-shaped portion can be changed.

  The contact posture may include a posture in which the electronic device is brought into contact with the ear mold portion so that the vibrating body covers the ear mold portion.

  The contact posture may include a posture in which the electronic device is brought into contact with the ear mold portion so that a part of the vibrating body is in contact with the ear mold portion.

  The ear mold portion may be made of a material conforming to IEC60959.

  The vibration detection unit may include a plurality of vibration detection elements arranged in a peripheral part of the artificial external ear canal.

  The vibration detection unit may include two arc-shaped vibration detection elements arranged so as to surround a peripheral part of the artificial external ear canal.

  The vibration detection unit may include a ring-shaped vibration detection element disposed so as to surround a peripheral part of the artificial external ear canal.

  The ear mold unit may further include a sound pressure measurement unit for measuring the sound pressure of the sound propagated through the artificial external ear canal.

  The sound pressure measurement unit may include a microphone held by a tube member extending from an outer wall of the artificial external ear canal.

  The sound pressure measurement unit may include a microphone arranged in a floating state from the outer wall of the artificial ear canal.

Furthermore, the invention of the measuring method according to the present invention that achieves the above object is to evaluate an electronic device that transmits a sound to a user by vibration transmission by pressing a vibrating body held by a housing against a human ear.
The vibration body is pressed against an ear mold portion imitating a human ear, and vibration transmitted through the peripheral portion of the artificial external ear canal formed in the ear mold portion due to vibration of the vibration body is detected by a vibration detection section.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the vibration amount by which the characteristic of the vibration transmission to the ear of a human body was weighted can be measured, and it becomes possible to evaluate correctly the electronic device which has a vibrating body.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the measuring apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows an example of the electronic device of a measuring object. FIG. 2 is a partial detail view of the measuring apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a functional block diagram of the principal part of the measuring apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the measurement result by the measuring apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the measurement result of the vibration amount by the conventional measuring method about the same electronic device as FIG. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the measuring apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 8 is a partial detail view of the measuring apparatus of FIG. 7.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a measuring apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The measuring apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes an ear-shaped part 50 supported by the base 30 and a holding part 70 that holds the electronic device 100 to be measured. In the following description, the electronic device 100 is a mobile phone such as a smartphone having a rectangular panel 102 larger than a human ear on the surface of a rectangular casing 101 as shown in a plan view in FIG. Assume that the panel 102 vibrates as a vibrating body. First, the ear mold 50 will be described.

  The ear mold part 50 imitates the human ear and includes an ear model 51 and an artificial external ear canal part 52 coupled to the ear model 51. The artificial external auditory canal portion 52 has a size that covers the ear model 51, and an artificial external ear canal 53 is formed at the center. The ear mold 50 is supported by the base 30 via a support member 54 at the peripheral edge of the artificial external ear canal 52.

  The ear mold 50 is made of, for example, a material similar to the material of an average ear model used for HATS (Head And Torso Simulator) or KEMAR (a Knowles electronic mannequin name for acoustic research) of a human body model, for example, It is made of a material compliant with IEC60959. This material can be formed of a material such as rubber having a hardness of 35 to 55, for example. The rubber hardness may be measured in accordance with, for example, international rubber hardness (IRHD / M method) compliant with JIS K 6253 or ISO 48. Moreover, as a hardness measuring apparatus, the fully automatic type IRHD * M method micro size international rubber hardness tester GS680 by Teclock Co., Ltd. is used suitably. In consideration of the variation in the hardness of the ear depending on the age, the ear mold portion 50 may be prepared by roughly preparing two to three types of different hardness, and replacing them.

  The thickness of the artificial external auditory canal 52, that is, the length of the artificial external auditory canal 53 corresponds to the length to the human eardrum (cochlea), and is appropriately set within a range of 20 mm to 40 mm, for example. In the present embodiment, the length of the artificial external ear canal 53 is approximately 30 mm.

  In the ear mold portion 50, a vibration detector 55 is disposed on the end surface of the artificial external ear canal portion 52 on the side opposite to the ear model 51 side so as to be located in the periphery of the opening of the artificial external ear canal 53. The vibration detection unit 55 includes a vibration detection element 56 including a vibration pickup such as a piezoelectric acceleration pickup. FIG. 3A is a plan view of the ear mold portion 50 as viewed from the base 10 side. Although FIG. 3A illustrates the case where the ring-shaped vibration detection element 56 is disposed so as to surround the periphery of the opening of the artificial external ear canal 53, a plurality of vibration detection elements 56 may be provided. When a plurality of vibration detection elements 56 are arranged, they may be arranged at appropriate intervals around the artificial ear canal 53, or two arc-shaped vibration detections surrounding the opening periphery of the artificial ear canal 53. An element may be arranged. In FIG. 3A, the artificial external auditory canal portion 52 has a rectangular shape, but the artificial external auditory canal portion 52 may have an arbitrary shape.

  Furthermore, the measurement apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a sound pressure measurement unit 60 for measuring the sound pressure of sound propagated through the artificial external ear canal 53. As shown in the cross-sectional view taken along the line bb in FIG. 3A, the sound pressure measuring unit 60 starts from the outer wall (peripheral wall of the hole) of the artificial external ear canal 53 with the ring-shaped vibration detecting element 56. A known microphone 62 such as a condenser microphone held by a tube member 61 extending through the opening is provided. The microphone 62 is disposed so that the sound pressure detection surface substantially coincides with the end surface of the artificial external ear canal unit 52. Note that the microphone 62 may be disposed in a floating state from the outer wall of the artificial external ear canal 53 while being supported by the artificial external ear canal unit 52 or the base 10, for example.

  Next, the holding unit 70 will be described. In the case where the electronic device 100 is a mobile phone having a rectangular shape in a plan view such as a smartphone, when a person tries to hold the mobile phone with one hand and press it against his / her ear, the both sides of the mobile phone are usually held by hands. Will be supported by. Further, the pressing force and contact posture of the mobile phone against the ear vary depending on the person (user) or fluctuates during use. In the present embodiment, electronic device 100 is held by imitating such a usage mode of a mobile phone.

  Therefore, the holding part 70 includes support parts 71 that support both side parts of the electronic device 100. The support portion 71 is attached to one end portion of the arm portion 72 so as to be rotatable and adjustable around an axis y1 parallel to the y axis in a direction in which the electronic device 100 is pressed against the ear mold portion 50. The other end of the arm portion 72 is coupled to a movement adjusting portion 73 provided on the base 30. The movement adjusting unit 73 moves the arm unit 72 in the direction parallel to the x axis orthogonal to the y axis, the vertical direction x1 of the electronic device 100 supported by the support unit 71, and the z axis orthogonal to the y axis and the x axis. In a direction parallel to the direction z1 in which the electronic device 100 is pressed against the ear mold portion 50.

  As a result, the electronic device 100 supported by the support portion 71 adjusts the support portion 71 about the axis y1 or adjusts the movement of the arm portion 72 in the z1 direction. 102) is pressed against the ear mold 50. In the present embodiment, the pressing force is adjusted in the range of 0N to 10N, preferably in the range of 3N to 8N.

  Here, the range of 0N to 10N is for the purpose of enabling measurement in a sufficiently wide range than the pressing force assumed when a person presses an electronic device against his / her ear to use a telephone call or the like. Yes. In the case of 0N, for example, not only when the ear mold part 50 is in contact but not pressed, it can be held away from the ear mold part 50 by 1 cm so that measurement can be performed at each separation distance. It may be. Thereby, the degree of attenuation due to the distance of the airway sound can be measured by the microphone 62, and the convenience as a measuring apparatus is improved. In addition, the range of 3N to 8N usually assumes an average force range that a normal hearing person presses against an ear when making a call using a conventional speaker. Although there may be differences depending on race and gender, in general, in electronic devices such as smartphones and conventional mobile phones equipped with conventional speakers, vibration and airway sounds are usually generated with a pressing force that is pressed by the user. It is preferable that it can be measured.

  Further, by adjusting the movement of the arm portion 72 in the x1 direction, the contact posture of the electronic device 100 with respect to the ear mold portion 50 is, for example, the posture in which the vibrating body (panel 102) covers almost the entire ear mold portion 50, As shown in FIG. 1, the vibrating body (panel 102) is adjusted so as to cover a part of the ear mold 50. The arm portion 72 is configured to be movable and adjustable in a direction parallel to the y-axis, or is configured to be rotatable and adjustable around an axis parallel to the x-axis and the z-axis, so that the ear-shaped portion 50 can be adjusted. Thus, the electronic device 100 may be configured to be adjustable to various contact postures.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the main part of the measuring apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The vibration detection element 56 and the microphone 62 are connected to the signal processing unit 75. The signal processing unit 75 measures the vibration amount of the electronic device 100 through the artificial external ear canal unit 52 and the sound pressure through the artificial external ear canal 53 based on the outputs of the vibration detection element 56 and the microphone 62, respectively. The signal processing unit 75 measures the audibility based on the measured vibration amount and sound pressure. These measurement results are output to an output unit 76 such as a display unit, a printer, and a storage unit, and are used for evaluation of the electronic device 100.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a measurement result obtained by the measurement apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. For comparison, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a measurement result of vibration amount by a conventional measurement method for the same electronic device to be measured as FIG. 5 and 6, the horizontal axis indicates the acoustic frequency (Hz), and the vertical axis indicates the measurement voltage (dBV). In FIG. 5, the bold line indicates the vibration level, the thin line indicates the sound pressure level, and the broken line indicates the audibility level. In FIG. 6, the thick line indicates the vibration level measured by pressing the vibration pickup against the vibration body to be measured, and the thin line indicates the vibration level measured through the artificial mastoid.

  As is clear from FIGS. 5 and 6, the vibration level measured according to the present embodiment is higher than the measurement level obtained by the artificial mastoid method as compared with the conventional artificial mastoid method. In addition, when compared with a direct measurement method using a conventional vibration pickup, the frequency measurement band exceeds a certain value and becomes smaller than the direct measurement method. That is, the vibration level measured according to the present embodiment is a weighted characteristic of vibration transmission of the human ear.

  As described above, according to the measurement apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to measure the vibration level in which the characteristic of vibration transmission to the human ear is weighted, so that the electronic device 100 can be correctly evaluated. In addition, the sound pressure through the artificial external auditory canal 53 can be measured simultaneously with the vibration level, thereby synthesizing the vibration level corresponding to the vibration transmission amount to the human ear and the sound pressure level corresponding to the air conduction sound. Since the level can be measured, the electronic device 100 can be evaluated in more detail. Furthermore, since the pressing force with respect to the ear mold part 50 of the electronic device 100 can be varied and the contact posture can also be varied, the electronic device 100 can be evaluated in various modes.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a measuring apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Measuring apparatus 110 according to the present embodiment includes a human head model 130 and a holding unit 150 that holds electronic device 100 to be measured. The head model 130 is made of, for example, HATS or KEMAR. The artificial ear 131 of the head model 130 is detachable from the head model 130.

  As shown in a side view of the artificial ear 131 removed from the head model 130 in FIG. 8A, the artificial ear 131 is coupled to the ear model 132 similar to the ear mold unit 50 of the first embodiment, and the ear model 132. And an artificial external ear canal part 134 in which an artificial external ear canal 133 is formed. In the artificial external ear canal unit 134, a vibration detection unit 135 including a vibration detection element is arranged around the opening of the artificial external ear canal 133, similarly to the ear mold unit 50 of the first embodiment. Further, as shown in a side view of the artificial ear 131 of the head model 130 with the artificial ear 131 removed, a sound pressure measuring unit 136 having a microphone at the center is arranged as shown in FIG. Yes. The sound pressure measuring unit 136 is arranged so as to measure the sound pressure of the sound propagated through the artificial external ear canal 133 of the artificial ear 131 when the artificial ear 131 is attached to the head model 130. Note that the sound pressure measurement unit 136 may be arranged on the artificial ear 131 side in the same manner as the ear mold unit 50 of the first embodiment.

  The holding unit 150 is detachably attached to the head model 130, and includes a head fixing unit 151 to the head model 130, a support unit 152 that supports the electronic device 100 to be measured, and a head fixing unit 151. And a multi-joint arm portion 153 for connecting the support portion 152. The holding unit 150 can adjust the pressing force and the contact posture with respect to the artificial ear 131 of the electronic device 100 supported by the support unit 152 through the articulated arm unit 153 in the same manner as the holding unit 70 of the first embodiment. It is configured.

  According to the measuring apparatus 110 according to the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the measuring apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment can be obtained. In particular, in the present embodiment, since the electronic device 100 is evaluated by detachably attaching the artificial ear 131 for vibration detection to the human head model 130, an actual usage mode in which the influence of the head is taken into consideration. This makes it possible to evaluate more appropriately.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the said embodiment, Many deformation | transformation or a change is possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the electronic device 100 to be measured is a mobile phone such as a smartphone and the panel 102 vibrates as a vibrating body. An electronic device in which a panel in contact with the ear vibrates can be similarly evaluated. Moreover, not only a mobile phone but other piezoelectric receivers can be evaluated in the same manner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Measuring apparatus 30 Base 50 Ear mold part 51 Ear model 52 Artificial ear canal part 53 Artificial ear canal part 54 Support member 55 Vibration detection part 56 Vibration detection element 60 Sound pressure measurement part 61 Tube member 62 Microphone 70 Holding part 71 Support part 72 Arm part 73 Movement adjustment unit 75 Signal processing unit 76 Output unit 100 Electronic device 101 Case 102 Panel (vibrating body)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 110 Measurement apparatus 130 Head model 131 Artificial ear 132 Ear model 133 Artificial ear canal 134 Artificial ear canal part 135 Vibration detection part 136 Sound pressure measurement part 150 Holding part 151 Head fixing part 152 Support part 153 Articulated arm part

Claims (21)

A measuring device for evaluating an electronic device that presses a vibrating body held in a housing against a human ear and transmits sound to a user by vibration transmission,
A measuring apparatus comprising: an ear mold that imitates an ear of a human body; and a vibration detector disposed in a peripheral portion of an artificial external ear canal formed in the ear mold.   The measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a human head model, wherein the ear mold part is detachable from the head model as an artificial ear constituting the head model. The ear mold unit includes an ear model and an artificial external ear canal unit coupled to the ear model,
The measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the artificial ear canal is formed in the artificial ear canal part.   The measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the artificial external auditory canal has a length of 20 mm to 40 mm.   The measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a holding unit that holds the electronic device.   The measurement apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the holding unit includes a support unit that supports the electronic device in at least two places so that a person presses the electronic device against his / her ear.   The measuring device according to claim 5, wherein the holding unit is movable and adjustable in a direction in which the electronic device is pressed against the ear mold unit.   The measuring device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the holding unit is capable of rotating and adjusting in a direction in which the electronic device is pressed against the ear mold unit.   The measuring device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the holding unit is capable of adjusting a pressing force of the vibrating body with respect to the ear mold unit in a range of 0N to 10N.   The measuring device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the holding unit is capable of adjusting a pressing force of the vibrating body with respect to the ear mold unit in a range of 3N to 8N.   The said holding | maintenance part can adjust the movement to the up-down direction of the said electronic device with respect to the said ear shape part so that the contact attitude | position of the said electronic device with respect to the said ear shape part can be changed. The measuring apparatus as described in any one of.   The measurement apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the contact posture includes a posture in which the electronic device is brought into contact with the ear mold portion so that the vibrating body covers the ear mold portion.   The measurement apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the contact posture includes a posture in which the electronic apparatus is brought into contact with the ear mold portion so that a part of the vibrating body is in contact with the ear mold portion.   The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the ear mold part is made of a material conforming to IEC60959.   The measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the vibration detection unit includes a plurality of vibration detection elements arranged in a peripheral portion of the artificial external ear canal.   The measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vibration detection unit includes two arc-shaped vibration detection elements arranged so as to surround a peripheral part of the artificial external ear canal.   The measurement device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration detection unit includes a ring-shaped vibration detection element disposed so as to surround a peripheral part of the artificial external ear canal.   The measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the ear mold unit further includes a sound pressure measurement unit for measuring a sound pressure of sound propagated through the artificial external ear canal.   The measurement apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the sound pressure measurement unit includes a microphone held by a tube member extending from an outer wall of the artificial external ear canal.   The measurement device according to claim 18, wherein the sound pressure measurement unit includes a microphone arranged in a floating state from an outer wall of the artificial ear canal. When evaluating an electronic device that presses the vibrating body held in the housing against the human ear and transmits the sound to the user by vibration transmission,
A measurement method in which the vibration body is pressed against an ear mold portion imitating an ear of a human body, and vibration transmitted through the peripheral portion of the artificial external auditory canal formed in the ear mold portion due to vibration of the vibration body is detected by a vibration detection section. .

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