JP2020057977A - Wearable device and bone conduction speaker unit - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a wearable device that has excellent design, mechanical strength, and sound quality.SOLUTION: Right and left rims 2 are mutually connected in a wearable device 1. Each one of temples 3 is attached to a position lower than an upper edge of an end of the rim 2 and is linearly extended. Each one of temple tips 4 is erected upward from the temple 3 so as to have a shape to be engaged with an ear of a wearing person. A bone conduction speaker and a vibration control mechanism are stored in an internal space of a part (storage part 5) for connecting the temple and the temple tip. The vibration control mechanism suppresses unnecessary vibration propagation from the bone conduction speaker to the wearable device 1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an eyewear-type wearable device and a bone conduction speaker unit, and more particularly to an improvement in an eyewear shape accompanying the arrangement of a bone conduction speaker.

  Conventionally, an eyewear-type wearable device incorporating a bone conduction speaker and transmitting vibration of the speaker to a skull of a wearer is known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a hearing aid including a bone conduction unit. As shown in FIG. 5, the hearing aid 20 has a bone conduction unit 22 attached to each of a pair of temples 21 provided on the left and right. The bone conduction unit 22 is provided so as to protrude downward at an intermediate portion of the temple 21, and lightly presses the vicinity of the user's cheekbone.

JP 2004-205839 A

  However, in Patent Document 1 described above, since the bone conduction unit 22 protrudes downward from the vine 2, it is obvious that the eyewear is special eyewear, and it cannot be said that the eyewear is excellent in design. Further, when the hearing aid 20 is dropped, the bone conduction unit 22 may be broken from the base, and the vibration of the bone conduction unit 22 itself may easily deteriorate the sound quality.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wearable device having excellent design and mechanical strength and having high sound quality.

  In order to solve such a problem, a first invention provides an eyewear-type wearable device including left and right rims, a pair of temples, a pair of moderns, a pair of bone conduction speakers, and a pair of vibration damping mechanisms. provide. The left and right rims are connected to each other. Each temple is mounted below the upper edge of the end of the rim and extends linearly. Each modern stands up from the temple and has a shape capable of engaging with the wearer's ear. Each bone conduction speaker is housed in an internal space at a portion connecting the temple and the modern. Each vibration damping mechanism is housed in the internal space, and suppresses unnecessary propagation of vibration from the bone conduction speaker to the wearable device.

  A second invention provides a bone conduction speaker unit having a temple, a modern, a bone conduction speaker, and a vibration damping mechanism. The temple is mounted below the upper edge of the rim of the eyewear and extends in a straight line. The modern has a shape that stands upward from a linearly extending temple and can be engaged with a wearer's ear. The bone conduction speaker is housed in an internal space at a portion connecting the temple and the modern. The vibration suppression mechanism is housed in the internal space, and suppresses unnecessary propagation of vibration from the bone conduction speaker to the wearable device.

  Here, in the first and second inventions, the vibration damping mechanism may be a plurality of rod-shaped oil dampers that support the bone conduction speaker housed in the internal space at at least three points. In this case, the plurality of rod-shaped oil dampers include at least a first rod-shaped oil damper protruding in the temple extending direction and a second rod-shaped oil damper protruding in the modern extending direction. It is preferable to have Further, the vibration damping mechanism may be a donut type oil damper that supports the bone conduction speaker housed in the internal space all around.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a temple is provided in the position lower than normal eyewear, and the modern which engages with a wearer's ear rises upwards from a temple only for the lowered temple. Thus, the bone conduction speaker can be arranged in the direction in which the temple extends without the bone conduction speaker protruding downward from the temple. As a result, the design and the mechanical strength can be improved as compared with the shape in which the bone conduction speaker projects downward from the temple. Further, the bone conduction speaker is housed via a vibration damping mechanism in an internal space integrated as a wearable device, and is stabilized as a vibration source, so that sound quality can be improved.

Appearance perspective view of wearable device Side view of main parts of wearable device Explanatory diagram of a vibration damping mechanism according to a first example Explanatory drawing of a vibration control mechanism according to a second example. Illustration of conventional technology

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the wearable device according to the present embodiment. The wearable device 1 has an eyewear-type shape mainly including left and right rims 2, a pair of temples 3, and a pair of moderns 4.

  The left and right rims 2 are connected to each other, and glass or a lens is attached to each. Each temple 3 is attached to the end of the right and left rims 2 and extends linearly rearward. The temple 3 is attached below the upper edge of the end of the rim 2, unlike ordinary eyewear, in order to optimize the arrangement position of the bone conduction speaker 6 described later. Each modern 4 stands up from the temple 3 and has a shape engageable with the ear of the wearer. The portion connecting the temple 3 and the modern 4 has a shape in which a column is arranged right beside, thereby forming a housing portion 5. The mutually opposing planes in the left and right accommodation sites 5 serve as points of contact with the skin (bone conduction) in bone conduction, that is, input points of vibrations to the bone.

  FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part of the wearable device 1. In the present embodiment, the temple 3 has a first temple part 3a located on the front side and a second temple part 3b located on the rear side. One end of the first temple portion 3a is attached to the rim 2 by an attachment screw. By removing the mounting screw, the rim 2 and the lens can be freely selected or replaced. The second temple section 3b has a larger cross section than the first temple section 3a, and a controller, a wireless communication chip, a microphone, and the like are provided therein. The controller controls power on / off, playback / stop of recording, volume adjustment, fast forward / fast reverse, and the like in accordance with instructions of the wearer.

  An internal space is provided in the housing part 5 and the bone conduction speaker 6 is housed therein. The bone conduction speaker 6 transmits sound to the wearer by vibrating the bone according to the sound to be emitted, via a contact point with the wearer of the wearable device 1. The bone conduction speaker 6 is arranged at a place where the wearer can most easily hear. In the present embodiment, a small bone conduction speaker 6 of about φ12 mm is used.

  There are various possible locations for contact points where bone conduction is possible. Interviews were conducted for hearing-impaired persons using the tragus, anterior auricles, mastoid, upper back of the ear, and lower back of the ear as comparison targets. As a result, the wearer has learned that the most audible position is near the tragus. However, in general eyewear, since the temple is designed so that the position of the temple is located above the tragus, a bone conduction speaker cannot be arranged on the temple. , It must be arranged so as to protrude downward from the temple. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the temple 3 is provided at a position lower than usual, specifically, below the upper edge of the end of the rim 2. Thereby, even if the bone conduction speaker 6 is arranged on the temple 3, the contact point can be located near the tragus.

  In addition, a vibration suppression mechanism 7 is housed together with the bone conduction speaker 6 in the internal space of the housing part 5. The vibration damping mechanism 7 suppresses unnecessary vibration propagation from the bone conduction speaker 6 to the wearable device 1.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the vibration damping mechanism 7 according to the first example. The vibration damping mechanism 7 according to the present embodiment includes at least three rod-shaped oil dampers 7a to 7c. The rod-type oil dampers 7a to 7c are filled with oil, and are freely expandable and contractable in the axial direction. Thereby, the bone conduction speaker 6 housed in the internal space of the housing part 5 is stably supported at at least three points. Here, regarding the arrangement of the rod-shaped oil dampers 7a to 7c, the rod-shaped oil dampers 7a are disposed so as to protrude in the direction in which the temple 3 extends, and the rod-shaped oil dampers 7b are May be arranged so as to protrude toward the extending direction.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the vibration damping mechanism 7 according to the second example. The vibration damping mechanism 7 of the present example is configured by a donut type oil damper 7d. The donut type oil damper 7d is filled with oil, and is expandable and contractible all around. Thereby, the bone conduction speaker 6 housed in the inner space of the housing part 5 is stably supported over the entire circumference.

  The modern 4 rises upward from the back of the temple 3 and then curves in the horizontal direction and further falls obliquely. The modern 4 can be bent arbitrarily, so that a fit suitable for individual wearers can be secured. A battery that can be removed from the wearable device 1 and recharged is built in the rear end of the modern 4.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the temple 3 is provided at a position lower than the normal eyewear, and the modern 4 that engages with the ear of the wearer is moved upward from the temple by an amount corresponding to the lowered temple 3. Stand up. Thereby, the bone conduction speaker 6 can be arranged in the direction in which the temple 3 extends, that is, in the place where the sound is most audible, without making the bone conduction speaker 6 protrude downward from the temple 3 as in the related art. As a result, the design and the mechanical strength can be improved as compared with the related art. Further, the bone conduction speaker 6 is accommodated in the internal space integrated as the wearable device 1 via the vibration damping mechanism 7 and is stabilized as a vibration source, so that sound quality can be improved.

  In particular, according to the present embodiment, the position of the temple 3 is lowered so as to overlap with the vicinity of the tragus based on the knowledge that the position of the contact point that is most audible to the wearer is near the tragus. Thereby, the wearable device 1 excellent in design and sound quality can be realized.

  In the above-described embodiment, the wearable device 1 including the bone conduction speaker 6 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is realized as a bone conduction speaker unit attachable to an eyewear rim. May be. In this case, the bone conduction speaker unit includes the temple 3, the modern 4, the bone conduction speaker 6, and the vibration damping mechanism 7 described above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wearable device 2 Rim 3 Temple 3a 1st temple part 3b 3rd temple part 4 Modern 5 Housing part 6 Bone conduction speaker 7 Vibration suppression mechanism 7a-7c Rod type oil damper 7d Donut type oil damper

Claims (5)

In eyewear type wearable devices,
Left and right rims connected to each other,
A pair of temples each mounted below the upper edge of the end of the rim and extending linearly;
A pair of moderns, each of which stands upward from the temple and has a shape engageable with a wearer's ear,
Each of a pair of bone conduction speakers housed in an internal space at a site connecting the temple and the modern,
A wearable device comprising: a pair of vibration damping mechanisms each housed in the internal space and configured to suppress unnecessary vibration propagation from the bone conduction speaker to the wearable device.   The wearable device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration damping mechanism is a plurality of rod-shaped oil dampers that support the bone conduction speaker accommodated in the internal space at at least three points.   The plurality of rod-shaped oil dampers include at least a first rod-shaped oil damper protruding in a direction in which the temple extends and a second rod-type oil damper protruding in a direction in which the modern extends. The wearable device according to claim 2, comprising:   The wearable device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration damping mechanism is a donut-type oil damper that supports the bone conduction speaker housed in the internal space all around. In the bone conduction speaker unit,
A temple attached below the upper edge of the rim of the eyewear and extending linearly,
A modern that has a shape that rises upward from the linearly extending temple and has a shape that can be engaged with the wearer's ear,
A bone conduction speaker housed in an internal space at a site connecting the temple and the modern,
A bone-conduction speaker unit, wherein the vibration-reduction mechanism is contained in the internal space and suppresses unnecessary propagation of vibration from the bone-conduction speaker to the wearable device.

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