JP2018121285A - earphone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an earphone capable of obtaining good reproduction acoustic characteristics, while eliminating pressure fluctuation of anterior air chamber incident to withdrawal of an earpiece for the external auditory canal.SOLUTION: An earphone includes a speaker unit (SP), a housing (1) for housing the speaker unit (SP) and having a sound cylinder (2b) for outputting sound from the speaker unit (SP) from a leading end, and a ventilation path (6) formed in the housing (1) in non-communication with a front space (Vf) of the speaker unit (SP) in the housing (1), and having one end opening to the apical surface (2b2) of the sound cylinder (2b) and the other end communicable with an outer space (Vg) from an external surface of the housing (1) other than the sound cylinder (2b).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an earphone, and more particularly to a so-called canal type (earplug type) earphone that is used by inserting an earpiece into an ear canal.

  There is known a so-called canal type (earplug type) earphone in which a sound tube portion protruding in a cylindrical shape is provided in a housing containing a speaker unit, and an earpiece attached to the sound tube portion is inserted into the ear canal and used. .

In the canal type earphone, the earpiece and the inner wall in the external auditory canal are substantially in close contact with each other during use.
Therefore, the front air chamber that forms the front space on the sound emitting surface side of the speaker unit inside the housing including the sound tube portion is formed so that only the sound emitting hole at the tip of the sound tube portion is opened and the other is sealed. In this case, when the earpiece is inserted into the ear canal, the front air chamber and the inner space of the ear canal are sealed, so that the inside air is compressed and the pressure rises.
Further, when the earpiece inserted into the ear canal is extracted, the internal air in the front air chamber and the inner space of the ear canal is inflated in a sealed state due to the reverse action, and the pressure drops.

  When the pressure fluctuation accompanying the insertion / extraction of the earpiece is large, there is a possibility that the following problems may occur. That is, for the user, there is a risk that the eardrum is pushed and pulled in and out, and the user feels uncomfortable. In the earphone, the diaphragm of the speaker unit is pushed and pulled in the vibration direction, which may cause a problem in the drive system of the speaker unit. is there.

  Therefore, conventionally, the housing is provided with a ventilation path that communicates the front air chamber inside and the outside space, and when the earpiece is inserted into and removed from the ear canal, the inner space of the ear canal and the front air chamber in the housing that communicates with the inner space. There has been proposed an earphone that does not fluctuate its pressure (Patent Document 1).

  The earphone described in Patent Document 1 further includes a valve part that opens and closes the air passage, and closes the air passage when in use to seal the front air chamber and the internal space of the ear canal, thereby suppressing sound leakage to the outside. Good reproduction sound characteristics are secured.

JP 2008-147710 A

The shape of the front air chamber that greatly affects the reproduction sound quality of the earphone when an air passage that communicates the front air chamber inside the housing and the space outside the housing is provided as in the earphone described in Patent Document 1. Must be designed to include the interior space of the air passage.
However, the inclusion of the air passage makes the shape of the front air chamber more complicated, and it becomes difficult to design the housing into a shape that can obtain good reproduction acoustic characteristics that match the characteristics of the speaker unit.
Therefore, when the conventional structure is adopted to eliminate the pressure fluctuation of the front air chamber due to the insertion / extraction of the earpiece with respect to the external auditory canal, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain an earphone that can obtain good reproduction acoustic characteristics.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an earphone capable of obtaining good reproduction acoustic characteristics while eliminating pressure fluctuations in the front air chamber due to insertion / extraction of the earpiece with respect to the ear canal.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration.
1) A speaker unit,
A housing that houses the speaker unit and has a sound tube portion that outputs sound from the speaker unit from a tip;
The housing is formed in a non-communication with the front space of the speaker unit in the housing, one end is open to the front end surface of the sound tube portion, and the other end is from the outer surface of the housing other than the sound tube portion to the external space. An air passage that is capable of communicating;
It is an earphone equipped with.
2) a speaker unit;
A housing having a sound tube portion that accommodates the speaker unit and is formed with a through hole that outputs sound from the speaker unit from a tip;
Provided inside the housing, one end side is disposed in the through hole of the sound tube portion and opens at a position near the tip of the sound tube portion, and the other end side is externally provided from the outer surface other than the sound tube portion. A ventilation member having a ventilation path capable of communicating with the space;
It is an earphone equipped with.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a favorable reproduction | regeneration acoustic characteristic is acquired, eliminating the pressure fluctuation of the front air chamber accompanying insertion / extraction of the earpiece with respect to the ear canal.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an earphone 51 that is Example 1 of an earphone according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the sound tube portion 2 b of the earphone 51. FIG. 3 is an operation diagram of the rear surface of the earphone 51. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an earphone 52 that is Example 2 of the earphone according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view of the sound tube portion 22 b of the earphone 52. FIG. 6 is an operation diagram of the rear surface of the earphone 52. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a modification of the earphone 52. FIG. 8 is a front view for explaining another modified example of the earphones 51 and 52.

An earphone according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with an earphone 51 of Example 1 and an earphone 52 of Example 2.
Example 1
The earphone 51 of Example 1 is demonstrated with reference to FIGS. 1-3. In the following description, the front-rear direction is defined as the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. The front side is the head side when the earphone 51 is in use.

The earphone 51 includes a speaker unit SP that has a diaphragm SPa and is disposed in a posture in which a sound emitting surface is on the front side, and a housing 1 that houses the speaker unit SP therein.
The housing 1 includes a front housing 2 having a rib 2c for supporting the speaker unit SP, and a rear housing that is assembled to the rear side of the front housing 2 and forms a back cavity Vb together with the front housing 2 on the rear side of the speaker unit SP. 3 and a supporter 5 having a rib 5c for supporting the speaker unit SP and attached to the inner surface of the front housing 2.

The front housing 2 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having a front wall 2a as a bottom plate.
The front wall 2a is formed with a sound tube portion 2b protruding forward in a cylindrical shape having a through hole 2b1.

An earpiece 4 formed to be flexible with a material such as silicone rubber is detachably attached to the sound tube portion 2b.
That is, the housing 1 has a sound tube portion 2b to which the earpiece is attached.

Further, the aforementioned rib 2c extending rearward is formed on the front wall 2a.
The rib 2 c is formed in an arc shape lacking a predetermined angle range, and a supporter 5 having an arc-shaped rib 5 c that complements the missing portion is fixed to the inner surface of the front housing 2.
A circular rib Rb is constituted by the rib 2c and the rib 5c, and the speaker unit SP is attached to the tip portion of the rib Rb in a substantially contacted state by adhesion or the like.
Thereby, a front space Vf is formed in which a space Vhf on the front side of the speaker unit SP and a space Vt inside the sound tube portion 2b communicate with each other in a portion excluding the sound tube portion 2b of the front housing 2. That is, the earphone 51 includes a front air chamber R1 that forms a front space Vf.

  The front housing 2, the rear housing 3, and the supporter 5 are made of hard resin or metal.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the sound tube portion 2b without the earpiece 4 as viewed from the front.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sound tube portion 2b is formed with an air passage 6a as a hole that opens to the front end surface 2b2 and extends in parallel with the through hole 2b1. The inner diameter φa of the air passage 6a is not limited, but is set to be smaller than half of the inner diameter φb of the through hole 2b1. For example, φb / φa = 5, φa = 0.5 mm, and φb = 2.5 mm. FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate the case where the value of φb / φa is smaller than 5.

Between the supporter 5 and the front housing 2, an air passage 6b that is a hole-like space similar to the air passage 6a is formed so as to extend in the front-rear direction of the front housing 2 along the inner surface of the front housing 2. Yes.
The front end of the air passage 6b is connected to the rear end of the air passage 6a at the connection point Pa. The air passage 6b is formed with the same inner diameter φa as the air passage 6a.
The rear end side of the air passage 6b is open to the rear end surface 2d of the front housing 2.

In FIG. 1, the rear housing 3 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having a rear wall 3a as a bottom plate.
The opened front end portion of the rear housing 3 and the opened rear end portion of the front housing 2 are connected by adhesion or attachment to form the housing 1.
In the earphone 51, a rear air chamber R2 is formed by the rear surface and side surfaces of the speaker unit SP, the inner surface of the front housing 2, and the inner surface of the rear housing. The internal space of the rear air chamber R2 is the back cavity Vb described above.

  A rear end portion of the rear housing 3 is formed with a support ring portion 3b that protrudes rearward over the entire circumference and engages and supports the disk member.

The rear housing 3 is formed with a vent path 6c extending in the front-rear direction so that the front end communicates with the vent path 6b at the connection point Pb and the rear end opens on the rear surface 3a1 of the rear wall 3a.
The air passage 6c is formed with the same inner diameter φa as the air passage 6b.

As a result, the earphone 51 has a front end that opens to the front end surface 2b2 of the sound tube portion 2b and a rear end that opens to the rear surface 3a1 as the opening 6c1 by the air passage 6a, the air passage 6b, and the air passage 6c. A book air passage 6 is formed.
The ventilation path 6 is formed independently without communicating with the front space Vf and the back cavity Vb, which are internal spaces of the housing 1.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the earphone 51 as viewed from the rear. FIG. 1 corresponds to a cross-sectional view at the position S1-S1 in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the earphone 51 has an ornament plate 7.

The ornament plate 7 has a disk shape, and the center thereof is arranged to coincide with the position of the axis CL3 of the rear housing 3.
The ornament plate 7 is supported by the above-described support ring portion 3 b formed in the rear housing 3 so as to be rotatable around the axis CL <b> 3.
The support ring portion 3b supports the ornament plate 7 so that it can be rotated by a finger.

When the ornament plate 7 is in at least one rotational position (hereinafter also referred to as an open position) (see FIG. 3A), the opening 6c1 of the air passage 6 is opened to communicate with the external space Vg. It has a portion 7a.
In this example, the open part 7a is a U-shaped notch cut from the outer peripheral edge toward the center.
When the ornament plate 7 is in at least one other rotational position (hereinafter also referred to as a closed position) (see FIG. 3B), the opening 6c1 of the ventilation path 6 is closed to form the ventilation path 6 and The external space Vg is disconnected.

That is, the ornament plate 7 functions as an on-off valve portion B that opens and closes the air passage 6 by rotating between the open position and the closed position.
The ornament plate 7 is formed with a finger hook 7b that protrudes rearward so that the user can easily rotate the finger with the finger.
The support ring portion 3b may be formed so that the rotation load increases at the open position and the closed position in the rotation of the ornament plate 7, and the ornament plate 7 is maintained at each position in the natural state.

Returning to FIG. 1, a pair of terminals SPb is formed on the rear surface of the speaker unit SP. One end of a cord (not shown) is electrically connected to the pair of terminals SPb. The other end side of the cord is drawn out of the housing 1.
The other end of the cord is plugged so that it can be connected to an audio playback device.
Thereby, when the audio signal from the audio reproduction device is input to the speaker unit SP via the cord, the speaker unit SP outputs the sound from the sound emitting surface to the front of the earphone 51. The sound output from the sound emitting surface passes through the through hole 2b1 of the sound tube portion 2b and is emitted from the tip to the external space.

  When using the earphone 51 having the above-described configuration, the earpiece 4 is attached to the sound tube portion 2b, and is inserted into and removed from the ear canal in the following procedure.

(S1) The ornament plate 7 is rotated to the open state. As a result, the space in front of the sound tube portion 2 b, that is, the internal space of the ear canal when worn and the external space Vg of the housing 1 are in communication with each other via the ventilation path 6.

(S2) The user picks the housing 1 with a finger and inserts the earpiece 4 into the ear canal. During this insertion process, the spatial volume in the ear canal decreases. Although the air inside the space is pushed in so as to be compressed, it flows out to the external space Vg through the ventilation path 6, so that the pressure in the internal space of the ear canal and the front space Vf becomes the same as the pressure in the external space.
Therefore, in the process of inserting the earpiece 4 into the ear canal, the eardrum and the diaphragm SPa of the speaker unit SP are not pushed by the air. Therefore, the user does not feel a sense of incongruity, and there is no problem with the drive system of the speaker unit SP.

(S3) When the earpiece 4 is inserted into the ear canal by a predetermined amount and the earphone 51 is attached to the auricle, the user rotates the ornament plate 7 to the closed position.
As a result, the ventilation path 6 is closed, so that the front space Vf is sealed with the inner wall of the ear canal, the eardrum, and the earphone 51. As a result, there is no sound leakage and good reproduction acoustic characteristics can be obtained.

(S4) When removing the earphone 51 after use, the user first turns the ornament plate 7 to the open position. As a result, the internal space of the ear canal and the front space Vf and the external space Vg communicate with each other via the ventilation path 6.

(S5) Next, the user picks the housing 1 with a finger and removes the earpiece 4 from the ear canal. In the process of removal, the internal volume of the external auditory canal and the space volume of the front space Vf are expanded, but air flows from the external space Vg through the ventilation path 6, so the pressure in the internal space of the external ear canal and the front space Vf is It becomes the same as the pressure of the external space Vg.
Therefore, in the process of removing the earpiece 4 from the ear canal, the eardrum and the diaphragm SPa of the speaker unit SP are not pulled by the air. Therefore, the user does not feel a sense of incongruity, and there is no problem with the drive system of the speaker unit SP.

  As described in detail above, the earphone 51 serves as the air passage 6 that connects the front space Vf and the space in front of the sound tube portion 2b and the external space Vg, and the on-off valve portion B that opens and closes the air passage 6. And an ornament plate 7.

As a result, the user can open the air passage 6 by inserting / removing the earpiece 4 into / from the ear canal when attaching / detaching the earphone 51 to / from the auricle, and can close the air passage 6 when the earphone 52 is in use.
Therefore, when the earpiece 4 is inserted into and extracted from the ear canal, pressure fluctuations in the front space Vf and the space in the ear canal can be eliminated, and the user does not feel a sense of incongruity of the eardrum, thus causing a problem with the drive system of the speaker unit SP. It does not occur.

In addition, when the earphone 51 is used after the earpiece 4 is inserted into the ear canal, the front space Vf and the space in the ear canal can be made non-communication with the external space Vg, so that sound leakage to the outside can be reduced and good. Reproduction sound characteristics can be obtained.
In addition, since the air passage 6 is formed independently of the front space Vf, it is easy to design the housing 1 in a shape that provides good reproduction acoustic characteristics that match the characteristics of the speaker unit SP. . Thereby, the earphone 51 can be obtained as having good reproduction acoustic characteristics.

Next, Example 2 will be described.
(Example 2)
The earphone 51 of the first embodiment has the air passage 6 integrally formed with the housing 1, whereas the earphone 52 of the second embodiment has the air passage 6 provided as a duct by a member different from the housing 1. It is. Hereinafter, another member is referred to as a ventilation member.
Then, next, the pipe 28 is used as an example of the ventilation member, and the hole that connects both ends of the pipe 28 is the ventilation path 6 that is a duct will be described.
Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, the configuration of the earphone 52 different from that of the earphone 51 will be mainly described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the housing 21 in the earphone 52 includes a front housing 22, a rear housing 23, a supporter 25, and a pipe 28.

A sound tube portion 22b is formed in the front housing 22, and the earpiece 4 is detachably attached to the sound tube portion 22b.
The front housing 22 has no air passage 6 a with respect to the front housing 2 of the earphone 51.

The rear housing 23 has no air passage 6b with respect to the rear housing 3 of the earphone 51.
The rear housing 23 has a rib 25c that supports the speaker unit SP together with the rib 22c as a member corresponding to the supporter 5 of the earphone 51, and separates the front space Vhf and the back cavity Vb together with the rib 22c in a non-communication manner. The above-described supporter 25 is attached.

The pipe 28 is formed as a metal or resin pipe having a hole 28a that connects both ends of the pipe 28 so as to allow ventilation. Hereinafter, the hole 28a is also referred to as an air passage 28a.
The inner diameter of the air passage 28a is, for example, about 0.5 mm.
As shown in FIG. 4, the pipe 28 extends rearward along the inner wall of the front housing 22 and the inner wall of the rear housing 23 from the inside of the through hole 22 b 1 of the sound tube portion 22 b and reaches the rear wall 23 a of the rear housing 23. It is arranged in a posture that extends back and forth.

Specifically, the pipe 28 has a front end at the same position in the front-rear direction as the front end surface 22b2 of the sound tube portion 22b, and the air passage 28a opens forward.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the sound tube portion 22b as viewed from the front.
As shown in FIG. 5, the pipe 28 is disposed in the through hole 22b1 of the sound tube portion 22b. The arrangement position in the radial direction is not limited. In this example, it is arranged at a position close to the inner wall of the through hole 22b1, but may be the center position of the through hole 22b1, for example.

Returning to FIG. 4, the pipe 28 is held by a rear portion passing through a holding hole 23 a 3 of a holding portion 23 a 2 formed in the rear wall 23 a of the rear housing 23.
The rear end of the pipe 28 is at the same front-rear direction position as the rear surface 23a1, and the air passage 28a is opened rearward.
Therefore, the space in front of the sound tube portion 22b, that is, the internal space of the ear canal when worn, and the external space Vg of the housing 21 can be communicated with each other through the air passage 28a which is a hole of the pipe 28.
Since the earphone 52 includes the pipe 28, the air passage 28a is independently formed without communicating with the front space Vf and the back cavity Vb.

The earphone 52 includes an ornament plate 27 that opens and closes the air passage 28 a as a member corresponding to the ornament plate 7 in the earphone 51 by turning between the open position and the closed position as the opening / closing valve portion B.
The ornament plate 27 has a circular open portion 27 a that opens the rear end portion of the air passage 28 a of the pipe 28 instead of the open portion 7 a formed by the U-shaped notch in the ornament plate 7.
The ornament plate 27 has a finger hook 27b that protrudes rearward so that the finger can be easily rotated.

  In the open position of the ornament plate 27 shown in FIG. 6A, the air passage 28a communicates with the external space Vg through the opening 27a, and in the closed position of the ornament plate 27 shown in FIG. 6B, the air passage 28a. Is closed by the ornament plate 27 and is not in communication with the external space Vg.

  When using the earphone 52, the insertion / extraction procedure of the earpiece 4 attached to the sound tube portion 22b with respect to the ear canal is the same as (S1) to (S5) described in the earphone 51, and the same effect is obtained.

  As described above, the earphone 52 includes the air passage 28a that communicates the front space Vf and the space in front of the sound tube portion 22b and the external space Vg, and the ornament plate as the on-off valve portion B that opens and closes the air passage 28a. 27.

Thus, the user can open the ventilation path 28a by inserting / removing the earpiece 4 into / from the ear canal when attaching / detaching the earphone 52 to / from the auricle, and close the ventilation path 28a when the earphone 52 is in use.
Therefore, when the earpiece 4 is inserted into and extracted from the ear canal, pressure fluctuations in the front space Vf and the space in the ear canal can be eliminated, and the user does not feel a sense of incongruity of the eardrum, thus causing a problem with the drive system of the speaker unit SP. It does not occur.

Further, when the earphone 52 is used after the earpiece 4 is inserted into the ear canal, the front space Vf and the space in the ear canal can be made non-communication with the external space Vg, so that sound leakage to the outside can be reduced and good. Reproduction sound characteristics can be obtained.
In addition, since the air passage 28a is formed independently of the front space Vf, it is easy to design the housing 21 in a shape that can provide good reproduction acoustic characteristics that match the characteristics of the speaker unit SP. The earphone 52 can be obtained as having good reproduction acoustic characteristics.

  The embodiment described in detail above is not limited to the above-described configuration, and may be modified in a range not departing from the gist of the present invention.

The front-rear direction position of the front end of the pipe 28 in the earphone 52 may or may not coincide with the front end surface 22b2 of the sound tube portion 22b. If it is a position close to the position of the front end face 22b2, even if it is a position protruding forward as shown in FIG. 7 (a), it is a position shifted backward as shown in FIG. 7 (b). Also good.
That is, the front-rear direction position of the front end of the pipe 28 may be a position in the vicinity of the front end surface 22b2.
In the case where the position is close to the rear, the influence on the reproduction acoustic characteristics is suppressed to a negligible level so that the space of the air passage 28a need not be included in the front space Vf. The shift amount La is desirably 20% or less of the distance from the diaphragm SPa of the speaker unit SP to the tip surface 22b2.

  The ventilation path 6 in the earphone 51 and the ventilation path 28a in the earphone 52 are not limited to one, and for example, there may be a plurality as shown in FIG. 8 (a) and FIG. 8 (b). FIGS. 8A and 8B show three examples.

The opening / closing operation of the ornament plates 7 and 27 that are the opening / closing valve portion B is not limited to the rotation operation around the axes CL3 and CL23.
For example, the air passages 6 and 28a may be opened and closed by direct movement, but it is preferable that the housings 1 and 21 are not easily moved back and forth by a force applied by a finger for movement.
This is because when the housings 1 and 21 are moved back and forth, the earpiece 4 is also moved back and forth, and there is a possibility that the space volume in the ear canal is increased or decreased in the closed state.
Therefore, in the case of a linear motion, it is desirable to be configured to open and close by movement in a direction orthogonal to the axes CL3 and CL23.

The part (external communication part) where the air passages 6 and 28a communicate with the external space Vg may not be the rear surfaces 3a1 and 23a1 of the rear housings 3 and 23 in the housing 1 described above.
If the external communication part is set on the outer surface of the sound tube portions 2b and 22b, it interferes with the engagement structure with the earpiece 4 and the structure becomes complicated when the on-off valve portion B is provided. It is desirable to communicate with the external space Vg on the outer surface other than the portions 2b and 22b.
As described above, when the housing 1 and 21 are provided on the opposite side of the sound tube portions 2b and 22b (rear surfaces 3a1 and 23a1), they are located far from the auricle, so that they are not affected by the auricle. When the on-off valve portion B is provided, the opening / closing operation with a finger becomes easy.

1, 21 Housing 2, 22 Front housing 2a Front wall 2b, 22b Sound tube portion 2b1, 22b1 Through hole 2b2, 22b2 Front end surface 2c, 22c Rib 2d Rear end surface 3, 23 Rear housing 3a, 23a Rear wall 3a1, 23a1 Rear surface 3b Support ring 4 Ear piece 5, 25 Supporter 5c, 25c Rib 6, 6a-6c Ventilation path 6c1 Opening 7, 27 Ornament plate 7a, 27a Opening 7b, 27b Finger hook 23a2 Holding 23a3 Holding hole 28 Pipe (venting member)
28a Air passage (hole)
51, 52 Earphone B On-off valve portions CL3, CL23 Axis La Deviation Pa, Pb Connection point Rb Rib R1 Front air chamber R2 Rear air chamber SP Speaker unit SPa Diaphragm SPb Terminal Vb Back cavity Vf Front space Vhf, Vt Space φa, φb Inner diameter

Claims (5)

A speaker unit;
A housing that houses the speaker unit and has a sound tube portion that outputs sound from the speaker unit from a tip;
The housing is formed in a non-communication with the front space of the speaker unit in the housing, one end is open to the front end surface of the sound tube portion, and the other end is from the outer surface of the housing other than the sound tube portion to the external space. An air passage that is capable of communicating;
Earphone with A speaker unit;
A housing having a sound tube portion that accommodates the speaker unit and is formed with a through hole that outputs sound from the speaker unit from a tip;
Provided inside the housing, one end side is disposed in the through hole of the sound tube portion and opens at a position near the tip of the sound tube portion, and the other end side is externally provided from the outer surface other than the sound tube portion. A ventilation member having a ventilation path capable of communicating with the space;
Earphone with   The earphone according to claim 1, further comprising a valve portion that opens and closes the air passage.   The earphone according to claim 3, wherein the valve portion opens and closes the air passage by rotation.   The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface is an outer surface of the housing opposite to the sound tube portion.

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