JP2023141722A - Earphone with microphone - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an earphone for improving a wearing feeling.SOLUTION: An earphone (91) includes: a speaker unit (81); a drive part (84b) for driving the speaker unit (81); a first body part (1) for storing the drive part (84b) and a microphone (85) which collects external sound; a second body part (2) which is arranged continuously from the first body part (1) and stores the speaker unit (81), and where a sound emission hole (12a) for emitting the sound from the speaker unit (81) to an external part is arranged in an outer surface (21); and a partitioning wall (117) for partitioning a first space (V1) inside the first body part (1) and a second space (V2) inside the second body part (2). The second body part (2) has the outer surface (21) formed to be a curved surface where the center part is projected, and is formed to have a size to be stored in an auricle cavity (Ek) while having contact with a front surface of the auricle cavity (Ek) with respect to the auricle cavity of an auricle (E) by allowing the sound emission hole (12a) to be positioned in response to an opening of an external canal (Eh).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to an intraconcave earphone with a microphone.

Patent Document 1 describes a sound collector equipped with an earphone with a microphone. The earphone with a microphone described in Patent Document 1 is an earplug type (canal type) equipped with an earpiece. Additionally, the microphone is located on the earphone body.
Patent Document 2 describes a so-called intraconcave type earphone that is used by attaching a main body portion containing a speaker unit to the concha cavity of the auricle.

JP2015-012436 Patent No. 3815513

A sound collector equipped with earphones with a microphone is a device that collects and amplifies surrounding sounds with a microphone, and allows the amplified sounds to be heard through earphones, in order to compensate for decreased hearing ability. For this reason, relatively many users are elderly, and it is often desirable for the earphones they use to be of the intraconcave type rather than the earplug type in which an earpiece is inserted into the ear canal.

Earplug-type earphones have high adhesion between the earpiece and the inner wall of the ear canal, making it difficult for sound output from the speaker to leak into the external space. Therefore, howling is unlikely to occur even if a microphone is disposed in the earphone body, as in the earphone with a microphone described in Patent Document 1.
However, in intraconcave type earphones, the adhesion between the main body attached to the auricle and the auricle is lower than that in the earplug type, and a certain amount of output sound from the speaker unit leaks into the external space. Therefore, howling is likely to occur when a microphone is placed on the earphone body, and it is desired that intraconcave earphones with a microphone are less likely to cause howling even when the microphone is placed on the earphone body.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an intraconcave type earphone with a microphone that is less likely to cause howling.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration 1).
1) Speaker unit and
a drive section that drives the speaker unit;
a first main body portion that accommodates the driving portion and a microphone that picks up external sound;
a second main body part that is connected to the first main body part and has a sound emitting hole on an outer surface that houses the speaker unit and emits sound from the speaker unit to the outside;
a partition wall that partitions a first space inside the first body portion and a second space inside the second body portion;
Equipped with
The second main body portion has an outer surface formed into a curved surface with a central portion convex, and contacts the surface of the second main body portion with respect to the concha cavity of the auricle with the sound emitting hole located at a position corresponding to the opening of the external auditory canal. These earphones are equipped with a microphone and are sized to fit into the concha cavity.

According to one aspect of the present invention, howling is less likely to occur.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an earphone 91, which is an example of an earphone according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed from the rear right. FIG. 2 is a side view of the earphone 91 viewed from the left front. FIG. 3 is a left side view showing a state in which the earphone 91 is attached to the left auricle E. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line S4-S4 in FIG. FIG. 5A is a schematic Ya view in FIG. 4. FIG. FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5B-S5B in FIG. 5A. FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5C-S5C in FIG. 5A. FIG. 5D is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5D-S5D in FIG. 5A. FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the earphone 91 attached to the auricle E. FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic left side view for explaining how the earphone 91 is worn on the auricle E. FIG.

An earphone according to an embodiment of the present invention will be explained using an earphone 91 of an example. The earphone 91 of the embodiment is a so-called intraconcave type wireless earphone with a microphone, which is used by being attached to the auricle. The earphone 91 wirelessly receives an audio signal from an external audio reproduction device, and when attached to the auricle E, outputs an audio signal from a speaker unit 81 (see FIG. 4) housed inside based on the received audio signal. You can listen to the audio. The earphone 91 also includes a microphone 85 , and amplifies surrounding sounds picked up by the microphone 85 and outputs the amplified sounds from the speaker unit 81 .

The earphone 91 described here is an earphone with a microphone for the left ear. The earphone with a microphone for the right ear has an external appearance that is symmetrical in the front-rear direction of the head H (see FIG. 3) when it is attached to the auricle E. In the following description, the earphone 91 for the left ear will be described as a representative example. The left, right, front, back, top, and bottom directions in each figure roughly correspond to the direction of the head when the earphone 91 is attached to the left auricle E.

The earphone 91 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.
FIG. 1 is a first side view of the earphone 91 viewed from the right rear side. FIG. 2 is a second side view of the earphone 91 viewed from the left front. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the earphone 91 is attached to the left auricle E. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line S4-S4 in FIG. FIG. 5A is a schematic Ya view in FIG. 4. FIG. FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5B-S5B in FIG. 5A. FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5C-S5C in FIG. 5A. FIG. 5D is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S5D-S5D in FIG. 5A. FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the earphone 91 attached to the auricle E. FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic left side view for explaining how the earphone 91 is worn on the auricle E. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the earphone 91 has a first main body part 1 and a second main body part 2 in appearance.
The first main body portion 1 has a base portion 1A and a stem 1B.
The second main body portion 2 is formed to extend diagonally forward to the right from the right surface of the base portion 1A. A constricted portion HK having a small outer diameter is formed between the first main body portion 1 and the second main body portion 2. In the external appearance of the earphone 91, a portion HS1 on the left side of the constricted portion HK is the first main body portion 1, and a portion HS2 on the right side of the constricted portion HK is the second main body portion 2.

The base portion 1A is formed into a generally cylindrical shape. The stem 1B is formed to extend downward from the lower part of the base 1A in a rod shape. A microphone 85 is housed in the lower part of the interior of the stem 1B, and a sound collection hole 85a is formed in the lower part of the left surface of the stem 1B to communicate the microphone 85 with the external space.

A secondary battery 83 and a circuit board 84 equipped with a circuit for driving the secondary battery 83 as a power source are housed inside the base 1A. The circuit board 84 includes a communication section 84a that communicates with the outside, a drive section 84b that drives the speaker unit 81, a sensor processing section 84c that processes signals from the proximity sensor 82 (see FIG. 4), and a microphone 85. An electronic circuit such as an amplifying section 84d that amplifies the generated audio signal is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, the right surface 21, which is the outer surface of the second main body portion 2, is inclined so as to protrude forward toward the right with respect to the axis CL1A of the base portion 1A, and the center portion is slightly It has a curved surface that is convex to the right.
A vertically long sound emitting hole 12a is formed in the front part of the right surface 21, and a sensor hole 12b is formed as a circular hole at the rear side of the sound emitting hole 12a.

As shown in FIG. 4, a speaker unit 81 is arranged inside the sound emitting hole 12a. The speaker unit 81 is housed and fixed inside an annular wall portion 12g that is formed to protrude leftward in an arc shape on the inner surface 21a of the right surface 21.

The speaker unit 81 and the drive section 84b of the circuit board 84 are connected by a lead wire SG81.
Thereby, the speaker unit 81 outputs audio based on the audio signal input from the drive section 84b of the circuit board 84. The sound output from the speaker unit 81 is emitted to the right external space through the sound emitting hole 12a.

A proximity sensor 82 is arranged inside the sensor hole 12b, and a sensor surface 82a of the proximity sensor 82 is exposed inside the sensor hole 12b. The proximity sensor 82 and the sensor processing section 84c of the circuit board 84 are connected by a lead wire SG82.
When the earphone 91 is attached to the auricle E, the right surface 21 of the second main body 2 contacts the concha cavity Ek, so the proximity sensor 82 detects the presence of the surface of the concha cavity Ek. A signal is output to the sensor processing section 84c.

If the proximity sensor 82 does not detect a nearby object, the sensor processing unit 84c determines that the earphone 91 is not attached to the auricle E, turns off the power, and stops the operation of the circuit board 84. When the proximity sensor 82 detects a nearby object (concha cavity Ek), the earphone 91 is assumed to be attached to the auricle E, and the power is turned on to put the circuit on the circuit board 84 into an operating state.

The microphone 85 disposed at the tip of the stem 1B and the amplifying section 84d of the circuit board 84 are connected by a lead wire SG85. The amplifying section 84d amplifies the audio signal coming from the microphone 85 and sends it to the driving section 84b.
The communication unit 84a wirelessly receives an audio signal from an external audio reproduction device (not shown), and sends the received audio signal to the amplification unit 84d.
With these configurations, the user of the earphone 91 can listen to the surrounding sound picked up by the microphone 85 and the sound based on the sound signal from the external sound reproduction device selectively or in a mixed manner.

The base 1A is formed into a substantially cylindrical shape by combining a plurality of resin members in the direction of the axis CL1A. The resin is, for example, PC (polycarbonate).
Specifically, from the right side in FIG. 4, they are the housing 11, the first intermediate housing 13, the second intermediate housing 14, and the back cover 15. A first space V1 is formed inside the base 1A by these members.
The first intermediate housing 13, the second intermediate housing 14, and the back cover 15 extend downward and constitute a housing of the rod-shaped stem 1B.

As shown in FIG. 4, the housing 11 extends to the right front as a half-extending wall portion 118. That is, the right rear side of the extending wall portion 118 is open.
A tip cover 12 having a right side 21 is attached to the tip edge of the extending wall portion 118 by welding or the like to close the open portion. The tip cover 12 is made of resin or elastomer. The tip cover 12 is formed with the aforementioned sound emitting hole 12a and sensor hole 12b.
The inner surface 21a of the tip cover 12 faces a partition wall 117 in the housing 11, which is a right wall that closes off the first space V1. That is, the tip cover 12, the partition wall 117, and the extending wall portion 118 form a second space V2 that is generally sealed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the speaker axis CL81 of the speaker unit 81 and the partition wall right surface 117a, which faces the second space V2 in the partition wall 117 and is the opposing surface of the speaker unit 81, do not intersect at right angles but are inclined. There is. Specifically, with respect to a virtual plane SF81 perpendicular to the speaker axis CL81, the partition wall right surface 117a is inclined to the left as it goes forward.
On the other hand, the extending wall inner surface 118a of the side wall of the extending wall portion 118 facing the second space V2 is also not parallel to the speaker axis CL81 but inclined. Specifically, with respect to the virtual plane SF81, the extending wall inner surface 118a is inclined to the right as it goes forward.
That is, the partition wall right surface 117a and the extension wall inner surface 118a are inclined in opposite directions, and the portion where the partition wall right surface 117a and the extension wall inner surface 118a intersect becomes a recessed groove portion VC.

The earphone 91 further has a steeper slope portion 117b formed at a portion of the partition wall right surface 117a near the intersection with the extension wall inner surface 118a.
As a result, the groove VC of the earphone 91 is formed as a groove VC1 which is deeper and has a smaller groove opening angle θ than the groove formed by extending and intersecting the partition wall right surface 117a and the extension wall inner surface 118a. .

As shown in FIG. 4, the right rear portion of the base portion 1A is a shoulder portion PS that protrudes toward the right rear side radially outward than the second main body portion 2 as an arcuate ridgeline.

In the second space V2 of the second main body portion 2, the speaker unit 81 is arranged in a position and posture in which the speaker axis CL81 generally passes through the groove portion VC1 or the vicinity of the groove portion VC1, and does not intersect with the base portion 1A but passes outside thereof. .
FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of the speaker unit 81 and the groove portion VC1 of FIG. 4 viewed from the right in the direction of arrow Ya. In FIG. 5A, the outer shape of the speaker unit 81 is shown by a two-dot chain line.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the groove portion VC1 as the groove portion VC has an arc shape in the arrow direction Ya view since the base portion 1A is cylindrical. The speaker axis CL81 is located on the radially outer side of the groove portion VC1.
In this example, the groove portion VC1 is formed so as to penetrate through the projection range AR surrounded by the outline of the speaker unit 81 so that both ends thereof are located outside the projection range AR. The projection range AR is a range obtained by parallel projection and perpendicular projection from the direction of arrow Ya in FIG.
The relationship between the groove portion VC1 and the projection range AR is not limited to this, and it is sufficient that a part of the groove portion VC1 is included in the projection range AR of the speaker unit 81.

The constricted portion HK (see FIG. 4) between the second main body portion 2 and the base portion 1A is formed so as to be inclined toward the right as it goes toward the rear side from the front end portion. Therefore, the depth of the groove portion VC1 becomes shallower as it goes rearward in an arc shape from the front end portion.
5B is a cross-sectional view taken at the S5B-S5B position in FIG. 5A, FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken at the S5C-S5C position in FIG. 5A, and FIG. 5D is a cross-sectional view taken at the S5D-S5D position in FIG. 5A. It is a diagram.

As is clear from FIGS. 5B to 5D, the groove portion VC1 has a V-shaped cross-sectional shape, and becomes shallower toward the end, and as shown in FIG. 5A, the groove portion VC1 becomes shallower toward the center of the speaker unit 81. The depth of the groove portion VC1 is deep.

Next, a state in which the earphone 91 is mounted on the auricle E (hereinafter referred to as a mounted state) will be described with reference mainly to FIGS. 3, 6, and 7.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 6, and 7, in the attached state, the second main body 2 has the sound emitting hole 12a located in the concha cavity Ek of the auricle E at a position corresponding to the opening of the external auditory canal Eh. On the other hand, it is formed in a size that allows it to be worn so that it can be accommodated in the concha cavity Ek of the auricle E while being in contact with the surface of the auricle.
Specifically, in the worn state, the front part 2f of the second main body part 2 contacts the inner wall Ej1 (FIGS. 6 and 7) of the tragus Ej, and the upper part 2t of the second main part 2 contacts the inner wall Ee1 of the helical leg Ee. (See Figure 7).
Further, in the installed state, the right surface 21 of the second main body portion 2 is in close contact with the concha cavity Ek.

In the installed state, the stem 1B extends obliquely forward and downward at a position corresponding to the intertragal notch Eg (see FIG. 3), and the shoulder PS at the base 1A of the first main body 1 is connected to the inner wall Ed1 of the antihelix Ed. They are in close contact.
As shown in FIG. 7, the sound emitting hole 12a is located at a position corresponding to the opening of the external auditory canal Eh.

Due to the internal structure of the earphone 91, the sound heard is of high quality.
Specifically, the earphone 91 includes a first body part 1 that houses a secondary battery 83 and a circuit board 84, and a second body part 2 that houses a speaker unit 81. A stem 1B extends from the first main body portion 1, and a microphone 85 is housed at the tip inside the stem 1B.
The first space V1 inside the first body part 1 and the second space V2 inside the second body part 2 are substantially separated by a partition wall 117.

The partition wall 117 extends obliquely and not perpendicularly to the speaker axis CL81 of the speaker unit 81. Therefore, among the sounds emitted to the second space V2 on the partition wall 117 side, which is the rear surface of the speaker unit 81, the sound reflected on the partition wall 117 and directly reaches the diaphragm 81a of the speaker unit 81 (see FIG. 4). is small.
In other words, the sound reflected from the partition wall 117 has virtually no effect on the vibration of the diaphragm 81a, so that the earphone 91 can provide good reproduction sound that is faithful to the audio signal.

Further, a groove portion VC is formed at a position where the extending wall portion 118 and the partition wall 117 intersect, and the groove portion VC exists in the projection area of the speaker unit 81 as viewed from the arrow direction Ya. Therefore, a part of the sound emitted from the speaker unit 81 toward the partition wall 117 enters the groove portion VC.
The sound that has entered the groove VC is repeatedly reflected on the opposing walls within the groove VC and is attenuated as it travels deeper and hardly returns to the speaker unit 81 side. Even if there is a sound that returns, its energy is small. Therefore, the sound reflected by the partition wall 117 is reduced and does not substantially affect the vibration of the diaphragm 81a.
Thereby, the earphone 91 can obtain better reproduced sound.

By forming the groove portion VC into a narrower and deeper groove portion VC1 by providing the steep slope portion 117b, it is possible to further reduce the amount of sound that has entered the groove portion VC1 and returns to the speaker unit 81 side. That is, by setting the groove portion VC to the groove portion VC1, the earphone 91 can obtain even better reproduced sound.

The mounting position and posture of the speaker unit 81 are preferably such that the speaker axis CL81 does not intersect with the base 1A of the first main body portion 1 but passes outside thereof, and thereby the groove portion VC and the groove portion VC1 can be formed relatively easily. Can be done.

Further, even if the earphone 91 is an intraconcave type having the above-described structure, the manner in which it is attached to the auricle E is unique due to its structure. Thereby, although the earphone 91 is a wireless sound collector equipped with the microphone 85, the occurrence of howling is well suppressed.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the earphone 91 has the right surface 21 of the second main body 2 in good contact with the concha cavity Ek, and the inner wall of the tragus Ej in front of the head H. It is designed to adhere well to Ej1. This makes it difficult for the sound emitted from the sound emitting hole 12a of the second main body portion 2 to leak to the outside.

Furthermore, the earphone 91 is configured to substantially prevent vibration propagation between the second space V2 that accommodates the speaker unit 81 and the first space V1 that is connected to the internal space of the stem 1B that accommodates the microphone 85. It has a partition wall 117 that blocks off.
This makes it extremely difficult for the sound emitted from the speaker unit 81 into the second space V2 to reach the microphone 85. Further, a part of the sound emitted from the speaker unit 81 into the second space V2 enters the groove portion VC (or groove portion VC1) and energy is consumed, making it more difficult for the sound to reach the microphone 85.

Further, the microphone 85 is arranged near the most extreme end of the stem 1B on the left side opposite to the right side (head H side) where the sound emitting hole 12a is formed. That is, the distance HM (see FIG. 7) from the sound emitting hole 12a to the microphone 85 is the longest (farthest) among the possible arrangement relationships in the earphone 91.

As a result, in the earphone 91, the sound output from the speaker unit 81 is difficult to reach the microphone 85 on a route passing through the external space of the earphone 91, and is also difficult to reach the microphone 85 on a route passing through the internal space, resulting in howling. is less likely to occur.

The embodiment described in detail above is not limited to the configuration thereof, and may be modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

The earphones 91 may not be of a wireless type, but may be of a wired type that receives audio signals from an external audio reproduction device via a cable.

1 First main body part 1A Base part 1B Stem 11 Housing 117 Partition wall 117a Partition wall right side 117b Steep slope part 118 Extended wall part 118a Extended wall inner surface 12 Tip cover 12a Sound emission hole 12b Sensor hole 12g Annular wall part 13 First intermediate Housing 14 Second intermediate housing 15 Back cover 2 Second main body part 2f Front part 2t Upper part 21 Right side 21a Inner surface 81 Speaker unit 81a Vibration plate 82 Proximity sensor 82a Sensor surface 83 Secondary battery 84 Circuit board 84a Communication part 84b Drive part 84c Sensor processing section 84d Amplification section 85 Microphone 85a Sound collection hole 91 Earphone AR Projection range CL1A Axis line CL81 Speaker axis E Auricle Ed Helix Ed1 Inner wall Ee Helix crus Ee1 Inner wall Eg Intertragal notch Eh External auditory canal Ej Tragus Ej1 Inner wall Ek Concha Cavity H Head HK Constriction HM Distance HS1, HS2 Part PS Shoulder SF81 Virtual plane SG81, SG82, SG85 Lead wires VC, VC1 Groove V1 First space V2 Second space θ Groove opening angle

Claims (2)

speaker unit,
a drive section that drives the speaker unit;
a first main body portion that accommodates the driving portion and a microphone that picks up external sound;
a second main body part that is connected to the first main body part and has a sound emitting hole on an outer surface that houses the speaker unit and emits sound from the speaker unit to the outside;
a partition wall that partitions a first space inside the first body portion and a second space inside the second body portion;
Equipped with
The second main body portion has an outer surface formed into a curved surface with a central portion convex, and contacts the surface of the second main body portion with respect to the concha cavity of the auricle with the sound emitting hole located at a position corresponding to the opening of the external auditory canal. An earphone with a microphone formed in a size that can be accommodated in the concha cavity. The second main body part is connected to the first main body part so as to protrude in one direction in the radial direction,
The first body portion has a shoulder portion projecting radially outward with respect to the second body portion on the other side opposite to the one side,
The one protruding tip of the second body comes into contact with the inner wall of the tragus of the auricle, and the shoulder of the first body comes into contact with the inner wall of the opposite helix of the auricle. The earphone with a microphone according to claim 1, which is attached to the auricle.

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