JP3205166B2 - Ear microphone - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ear microphone having both an earphone function of converting an electric signal into a sound and a microphone function of converting a sound into an electric signal to enable two-way communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ear microphones of this type have been widely known in the past, in which earphones are connected to each other in a positional relationship such that the microphones are arranged at the mouth when the earphones are arranged at the ears. The type of ear microphone is inconvenient to carry because it is difficult to miniaturize it, and there is a problem that ambient noise easily enters the microphone.

Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-188994, a bone conduction sensor such as a piezo sensor for converting bone conduction vibration into an electric signal, and a sound emitted from a speaker are transmitted to an eardrum. By inserting the projections alongside the sound conduit into the ear canal, there is no need to arrange a microphone at the mouth, thereby promoting miniaturization and preventing the use under noise. Ear microphones have been proposed.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-54990 discloses that
Similarly, instead of inserting a bone conduction sensor such as a piezo sensor into the external auditory canal, instead of inserting a bone conduction sensor such as a piezo sensor into the ear canal, a speaker attached to the pinna etc. And the sensor are separated from each other.

Since the voice spoken by a human is transmitted to the face and head bones of the speaker, the bone conduction sensor that detects the vibration of the human bone and converts it into an electric signal has the same function as a normal microphone. Plays.

[0006]

However, the ear microphone described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-188994 described above has a problem in that the bone conduction sensor and the sound conduit are built in the projection inserted into the ear canal. There is a problem that the vibration of the nearby sound conduit is transmitted to the bone conduction sensor and noise is easily generated, and a complicated structure must be adopted to make it difficult to transmit the vibration of the sound conduit to the bone conduction sensor. It was difficult to reduce the size of the microphone, and it was difficult to say that the ear microphone was suitable for wearing and carrying.

On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
The ear microphone described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 0 can be easily miniaturized because a relatively simple structure can be adopted, but there is a disadvantage that a detection output obtained from a bone conduction sensor brought into contact with a face or a head is small. Since the contact state of the sensor varies depending on the shape of the skeleton around the user's ear and the like, there is a problem that the detection output tends to vary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ear microphone which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, maintains a stable and high performance as a microphone, is easily miniaturized, and is suitable for use under noise. It is in.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a main body having at least a speaker in a shape attachable to an auricle, a cable derived from the main body, and a bone conduction vibration. e Bei a microphone unit for a bone conduction sensor projecting from the side of the body portion with inserted shape capable into the ear canal will be coated with a compliant cover member for converting into an electrical signal, said
The microphone is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the soft cover member of the microphone section.
This is achieved by engraving a groove extending along the direction of projection of the part .

[0010]

According to the above-described solution, if the microphone is inserted into the ear canal and the soft cover member is brought into close contact with the inner wall of the ear canal, the microphone can be easily and reliably held on the inner wall of the ear canal. When the microphone is inserted into the ear canal in this way, the built-in bone conduction sensor is less susceptible to the air vibration emitted from the speaker of the main body, but it is easier to detect the vibration of the inner wall of the ear canal, so the detection accuracy is improved. The noise is reduced by the increase, so that stable high performance as a microphone can be expected. Further, if the microphone unit and the main unit are held by the inner wall of the external auditory canal and the auricle, respectively, at the time of use, the mounting stability is enhanced, and the microphone unit and the main unit are less likely to fall off. Further, an ear microphone in which a windable cable is attached to an extremely small device in which a microphone unit and a main body unit are simply integrated can be stored in, for example, a pocket, and is convenient to carry. Furthermore, along the outer peripheral portion of the soft cover member of the microphone portion along the direction in which the microphone portion protrudes.
Since the extending groove is engraved, it is possible to secure a sound passage from the speaker to the eardrum regardless of the state of insertion of the microphone unit into the ear canal.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing an appearance of an ear microphone according to an embodiment and an internal structure of a microphone unit, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of a main body of the ear microphone, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the ear microphone, FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the ear microphone, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the ear microphone.

The ear microphones shown in these figures have a dynamic speaker 3 and a FET amplifier 4 inside a case 2 having a porous part 2a for reception and formed into a shape attachable to the auricle. A main body 1 provided, a cable 6 led out of the main body 1 and having a tip connected to a plug 5, and a bimorph-type piezoelectric element 8 functioning as a bone conduction sensor are covered with a soft cover made of vinyl chloride or the like. Member 9
And a microphone portion 7 having a substantially columnar shape which can be inserted into the ear canal and which is protruded from the side of the main body portion 1. The microphone portion 7 has a soft cover member 9.
A plurality of grooves 9a extending along the direction in which the microphone portion 7 protrudes are engraved on the outer peripheral portion.

The loudspeaker 3 is similar to a dynamic loudspeaker widely used as a receiver of a portable audio device or the like. Specifically, a corn film made of a metal body and a synthetic resin is made of a magnet body and The structure is arranged in front of the coil, and the overall appearance is substantially disk-shaped. Further, the FET amplifying unit 4 is for amplifying a signal from the piezoelectric element 8 and performing impedance conversion. As shown in FIG. 1, the plug 5 has a microphone terminal 5a, a speaker terminal 5b, and a ground terminal 5a.
c are juxtaposed.

When the ear microphone having the above-described configuration is used, the microphone unit 7 is inserted into the ear canal to close the ear canal, and the soft cover member 9 is brought into close contact with the inner wall of the ear canal. The plug 5 is connected to an external device (not shown). Thereby, the voice spoken by the user is detected by the piezoelectric element 8 as vibration of the inner wall of the ear canal and converted into an electric signal, and the voice signal is output to the external device via the cable 6 and the microphone terminal 5 a of the plug 5. Thus, this device can function as a microphone. The electric signal input from the external device to the coil of the speaker 3 through the speaker terminal 5 b of the plug 5 and the cable 6 is converted into sound by vibrating the cone film of the speaker 3, and Since the sound is emitted from the perforated portion 2a toward the ear canal and the sound is transmitted to the user's eardrum through a clearance (a groove 9a or the like) between the inner wall of the ear canal and the microphone portion 7, this device also functions as an earphone. be able to.

As described above, in the ear microphone according to the present embodiment, when the microphone unit 7 is inserted into the ear canal and the soft cover member 9 is brought into close contact with the inner wall of the ear canal, the microphone unit 7
Can be easily and reliably held on the inner wall of the ear canal,
When the microphone unit 7 is inserted into the ear canal in this way, the piezoelectric element 8 contained therein is hardly affected by the air vibration generated from the speaker 3 but easily detects the vibration of the inner wall of the ear canal, so that the detection accuracy is improved. As a result, noise caused by the speaker 3 is also reduced, and stable high performance as a microphone can be expected. In addition, since the ear microphone is used to hold the microphone unit 7 and the main unit 1 with the inner wall of the ear canal and the pinna, respectively, during use,
Excellent wearing stability, less likely to fall off from the ear during use. Further, since the ear microphone is composed of an extremely small instrument in which the microphone section 7 and the main body section 1 are simply integrated, and a rewindable cable 6 with a plug 5, the ear microphone is smaller than a conventional product. It is further promoted, and for example, can be stored in a pocket and is convenient to carry.

In this ear microphone, since the piezoelectric element 8 functioning as a bone conduction sensor detects sound from the vibration of the inner wall of the ear canal, the microphone function is not impaired even under noise, and the speaker 3 is a dynamic speaker. As a result, the sound quality is better than that of conventional products, and the performance as an earphone is also good.

[0017] Moreover, in the above embodiment, since the groove 9a of the plural rows in the outer peripheral portion of the soft cover member 9 of the microphone unit 7 are engraved, regardless of the inserted state into the ear canal of the microphone unit 7, a speaker Since a voice passage from 3 to the eardrum is secured, it is possible to prevent the function of the earphone from being reduced. Further, according to the present structure, since the external auditory canal is almost blocked, external noise is less likely to enter, and high communication quality can be secured.

[0018]

As described above, in the ear microphone according to the present invention, the microphone portion in which the bone conduction sensor is covered with the soft cover member is inserted into the ear canal.
Since the noise can be reduced by increasing the detection accuracy of the bone conduction sensor, stable and high performance can be expected as a microphone. In use, the main body with a built-in speaker is also held by the auricle, so that the wearing stability is improved. hardly fall off Te, furthermore, it is easy to carry because the size reduction can be promoted further, and so detects the sound from the vibration of the ear canal inner wall also suitable for use in noisy, suited to the eardrum from the speaker
The voice passage is secured by a groove cut in the microphone.
To prevent the function of the earphones from deteriorating .
It has various excellent effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing an appearance of an ear microphone according to an embodiment and an internal structure of a microphone unit thereof.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of a main body of the ear microphone.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the ear microphone.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the ear microphone.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the ear microphone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body part 2 Case 3 Speaker 4 FET amplification part 5 Plug 6 Cable 7 Microphone part 8 Piezoelectric element (bone conduction sensor) 9 Soft cover member 9a Groove

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A soft cover member comprising: a main body having at least a speaker built therein so as to be attachable to an auricle; a cable derived from the main body; and a bone conduction sensor for converting bone conduction vibration into an electric signal. the outer peripheral portion of the in the ear canal becomes coated with inserted shape capable a microphone portion projecting from the side of the body portion <br/> Bei example, the compliant cover member of the microphone
A groove extending along a direction in which the microphone section protrudes .