JP4919069B2 - Headphone manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing headphones, and more particularly, to a headphone of a type in which a main body is mounted on the inner side of an auricle and having a structure that provides a good wearing feeling and is difficult to drop off from the mounted auricle. About.

With the popularization of portable music players, the market for headphones that play music connected to the players is also rapidly expanding.
As this headphone, since it is lightweight and excellent in portability, a so-called inner-ear type worn inside the auricle is widely used.
In addition, the inner ear type includes a canal type that is used by inserting an earpiece into the ear canal. This canal type headphone has a housing that houses a speaker unit that converts an electrical signal into sound, and projects sound from the housing. A sound emission cylinder to be emitted, an earpiece attached to the sound emission cylinder, and a cord that extends from the housing and supplies an audio signal from an external device to the speaker unit, and the sound emission cylinder with the earpiece is inserted into the ear canal In addition, the housing is generally configured to be worn and used so as to be held inside the auricle.

Such headphones are held in the auricle mainly by the elastic repulsion force of the earpiece inserted into the ear canal and the frictional force between the earpiece and the ear canal.
Therefore, the holding force is not so high, and when the cord is pulled, it may come off easily, and in order to improve this, the shape of the housing has been devised so that it can be locked to the inner surface of the auricle Various headphones have been proposed.
An example of this is described in Patent Document 1 as an earphone.

  The earphone described in Patent Document 1 has a housing having an auricle support member. The auricle support member is formed in a loop shape so as to elastically contact the inner side surface of the auricle.

JP 2006-203420 A Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-29564 (described in “Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention”)

By the way, as mentioned above, the earphone described in Patent Document 1 described above is the inner wall surface of the auricle (the specific elastic contact position is the side that partitions the concha side and the opposite wheel side inside the auricle. The auricle support member elastically contacts the wall surface), and the auricle support member has a loop shape.
Therefore, although deformation in the inner direction along the plane in which the loop (auricle support member) extends is made flexible, deformation in a direction not along the plane (for example, deformation in a direction orthogonal to the plane) ) Is not flexible enough, and due to individual differences in the shape of the inner surface of the auricle, there is a possibility that it will not always be worn well by a person.

  In other words, the two-dimensional deformation is flexible and good, but the three-dimensional deformation is not sufficient in terms of flexibility, and is described in Patent Document 1. The earphone had sufficient room for improvement in conformity to the shape of the auricle having individual differences in shape three-dimensionally.

Further, the smaller the auricle to be worn, the larger the auricle support member must be deformed. However, since the deformation is performed in the plane described above, the elastic repulsion becomes stronger as the amount of deformation increases. .
For this reason, particularly when a person with small ear pinches wears this earphone, there may be a situation where a good wearing feeling cannot be obtained, and in some cases, the wearing itself is difficult. It was what you get.

  Accordingly, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing headphones that can be worn satisfactorily regardless of individual differences in the shape of the inner surface of the auricle.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following procedures 1) and 2) as means.
1) A speaker unit (7), a housing part (8) for housing the speaker unit (7) and having a hole (8b1) in the peripheral part, and the housing part (8) in a predetermined region of the housing part (8) And an annular outer housing (9) which is formed integrally with the housing portion (8) and which is more flexible than the housing portion (8), and a position corresponding to the hole (8b1) of the housing portion (8) in the peripheral portion of the outer housing (9) Of headphones for manufacturing a headphone (50) having a protrusion (9b) formed in the head and a gap (9c) formed in the protrusion (9b) and communicating with the hole (8b1). In the method
A placing piece fitting step for fitting a flexible placing piece (13) so that a part of the placing piece (13) protrudes from the hole (8b1) in the hole (8b1) of the housing portion (8) formed in advance; ,
The housing part (8) fitted with the placing piece (13) is mounted in a mold having a cavity corresponding to the outer shape of the outer housing (9), and the outer housing (9) is inserted into the housing part (9) by injection molding. 8) an outer housing forming step to be integrated with;
After the outer housing forming step, the placing piece removing step of extracting the fitted placing piece (13) from the inside of the housing portion (8) through the hole (8b1) to form the gap portion (9c), A method of manufacturing headphones, comprising:
2) The headphone manufacturing method according to 1), wherein the placing piece (13) is formed of a liquid silicone material or a thermoplastic elastomer material.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a headphone manufacturing method for manufacturing a headphone that can be satisfactorily worn regardless of individual differences in the inner shape of the auricle.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is an external view showing a headphone manufactured in an embodiment of the headphone manufacturing method of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the headphones 50 include a left speaker unit 1L, a right speaker unit 1R, cords 2L and 2R extending from the left and right speaker units 1L and 2R, and cords 2L and 2L, respectively. It has the connection part 3 which connects 2R, the plug 5 for connecting with an external audio equipment, and the main cord 4 which connects the connection part 3 and the plug part 5. FIG.
The audio signal from the external device connected to the plug 5 is supplied to the left speaker unit 1L via the plug 5, the main cord 4, and the connecting unit 3, and the L channel audio signal is supplied to the left speaker unit 1L via the cord 2L. The audio signal of the channel is supplied to the right speaker unit 1R via the code 2R and is emitted as sound from each of the speaker units 1L and 2R.

  Headphones manufactured using the present invention are not limited to so-called stereotypes such as the headphones 50, but as shown in FIG. 1B, a speaker unit 1, a cord 2 extending from the speaker unit 1, A so-called monaural type headphone 50 </ b> A having a plug 5 for connecting to an external audio device may be used. Further, it may be a wireless type that does not include the cord 2L, the plug 5, and the like but includes a wireless communication unit and can be supplied wirelessly from the outside.

Hereinafter, the stereo type headphones 50 will be described.
In the headphone 50, the left speaker unit 1L and the right speaker unit 1R have a bilaterally symmetric structure, and the left speaker unit 1L will be described in detail as a representative.

  First, the external appearance of the left speaker unit 1L is shown in FIG. This external view shows a state seen from slightly above the head diagonally left front when the left speaker 1L is attached to the left ear.

The left speaker portion 1L includes a speaker unit 7, an inner housing 8 (hereinafter referred to as an inner housing 8) that houses the speaker unit 7 together with a unit holder 6 (not shown in the figure), and a periphery of the inner housing. An outer housing 9 integrally formed by insert molding (hereinafter referred to as the outer housing 9), an ornament 10 mounted on the outer surface of the inner housing 8, and a cord 2L for supplying a signal from the outside to the speaker unit 7, It is comprised.
Hereinafter, the unit holder 6 and the inner housing 8 are collectively referred to as a housing portion 16.

The unit holder 6 is inclined and protruded so that it can be inserted into the ear canal, and is formed with a cylindrical sound emitting portion 6a that emits the sound of the speaker unit 7 from the tip. The sound emitting portion 6a is inserted into the ear canal. When done, an earpiece 14 that is in close contact with the inner wall is attached.
The outer housing 9 has a protruding portion 9b that protrudes slightly upward on the back of the head when mounted on the left ear.
A gap 9c is formed inside the protrusion 9b.

  FIG. 2 is an assembly diagram of the left speaker portion 1L of the headphones 50. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the cord 2L and the earpiece 14 are not displayed.

  The left speaker unit 1L includes a unit holder 6 having a sound emitting unit 6a, a speaker unit 7 that is built in the unit holder 6 and emits sound toward the sound emitting unit 6a, and a speaker unit that is built in the unit holder 6. 7, an inner housing 8 that is attached to the unit holder 6, an outer housing 9 that is attached around the inner housing 8 and is formed in a ring shape, and an opening 9 a on one side of the outer housing 9 is closed. And a cord bush 11 that engages with the ornament 10 and guides the extension to the outside while protecting the cord 2L (not shown).

The manufacturing procedure of the headphones 50 is as follows, and will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, the inner housing 8 and the outer housing 9 are integral members formed by integral molding as will be described later, but in FIG. 2, both are described as separate bodies for easy understanding. .

First, the unit holder 6, the inner housing 8, the ornament 10, and the cord bush 11, which are molded parts, are formed in advance by injection molding or the like with materials described later.
Further, a placing piece 13 used in insert molding described later is also formed.
The outer housing 9 is integrally molded with the molded inner housing 8 by insert molding using the placing piece 13 to form the integral housing 12. This insert molding will be described later in detail.
The speaker unit 7 is fitted into the unit holder 6. An adhesive may be used in combination.
The integral housing 12 is fixed to the unit holder 6 to which the speaker unit 7 is attached by ultrasonic deposition. You may adhere and fix using an adhesive agent.
The cord bush 11 is engaged and fixed to the ornament 10, and the ornament 10 is fixed to the integral housing 12 by so-called snap fit. A well-known claw engagement structure can be adopted for the snap engagement fitting structure, which is omitted in FIG. Of course, an adhesive may be used for adhesive fixing.
A lead wire (not shown) extending from the speaker unit 7 is inserted through the opening in the inside and pulled out from the cord bush 11 to the outside as a cord 1L (not shown).
The cords 1L and 2L are connected to the plug 5 via the connecting portion 3 and the main cord 4 in advance.
The right speaker unit 1R is similarly assembled and connected to the cord 2R.
In this way, the headphones 10 are manufactured.

Next, details of each member will be described.
The unit holder 6 is formed by injection molding with a thermoplastic resin. As a resin material to be used, there is ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), for example.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, which are external views as seen from an angle different from FIG. 2, the unit holder 6 has a base portion that is formed in a bowl shape that is generally flat and has an elliptical outer shape. 6c and a sound emitting portion 6a projecting inclined from a base surface 6c1 corresponding to the bottom surface of the ridge.
The inclination direction of the sound emitting part 6a is a direction along the elliptical long axis CLn of the base part 6c, and the inclination angle, that is, the angle formed between the axis CL6 and the long axis CLn of the sound emitting part 6a is θ (for example, θ = 60 °).
The reason why the inclination angle θ (= 60 °) is set is that the external auditory canal is inclined at approximately 60 ° with respect to the lateral surface of the head, and the sound emitting portion 6a is adjusted so as to match the inclination angle of the external auditory canal. By setting the inclination angle, the sound emitting part 6a can be naturally inserted into the ear canal together with the earpiece 14, and a very good wearing feeling can be obtained.

  Further, the sound emitting portion 6a is formed in a cylindrical shape with a part being a small diameter portion 6a1. A projection of an ear piece (not shown) is engaged with the small diameter portion 6a1 to prevent the ear piece from coming off.

Inside the base portion 6c, a storage portion 6b is formed in which the speaker unit 7 is fitted and stored without any gap.
The base surface 6c1 is formed with a communication hole 6c2 that communicates the space on the front side of the diaphragm with the external space when the speaker unit 7 is fitted into the storage portion 6b.
In this embodiment, three communication holes 6c2 are provided in an arc shape.

The outer housing 9 is integrally formed with the inner housing 8 by so-called insert molding.
In insert molding, first, the inner housing 8 is formed.
As shown in FIG. 4, which is an assembly view seen from a different angle with respect to FIG. 2, the inner housing 8 has a circular opening 8a and has a substantially ring shape, and is formed by injection molding of a thermoplastic resin. It is formed by.

  PC (polycarbonate), PA (polyamide), or PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) can be suitably used as this thermoplastic resin, and details of material selection will be described later.

In FIG. 4, the unit holder 6 is shown together, but the inner housing 8 is attached to the ring-shaped one open end 8a side (see also FIG. 2).
At that time, a part of the speaker unit 7 attached to the unit holder 6 is accommodated in the opening 8a. In this state, the center C8 of the opening 8a coincides with the center of the speaker unit 7. Further, the axis CL6 of the sound emitting part 6a is set so as to intersect with the axis C8z of the center C8. The axis C8z coincides with the drive axis of the speaker unit 7.

On the other hand, the inner housing 8 has a protruding portion 8b that protrudes along the long axis CLn8 that is parallel to the long axis CLn when the unit holder 6 is attached.
A through hole 8b1 that communicates the inside and the outside of the inner housing 8 is formed at the distal end surface of the protruding portion 8b.
In this embodiment, the through hole 8b1 is a long hole that opens in the direction along the base surface 6c1.

The outer housing 9 is formed by insert molding of so-called LIM (Liquid Injection Molding) using a thermosetting liquid silicone material.
Specifically, the inner housing 8 formed in advance by injection molding is loaded into a mold for LIM molding of the outer housing 9, and the outer housing 9 is wrapped so as to wrap a part of the outer peripheral surface. It is formed by LIM molding.

As the liquid silicone material, a material having a relatively low hardness is selected so that a silicone rubber having high flexibility after curing can be obtained. For example, it is a material whose hardness after curing is 13 (Shore A).
With regard to the hardness after curing, when a material of 10 to 20 (Shore A) is used, the material has a so-called waist and is softly fitted to the auricle, so that the wearing feeling is particularly good.
The material of the outer housing 9 is not limited to the silicone rubber material, but the silicone rubber material is most preferable because it is excellent in weather resistance and heat resistance and has no influence on the human body.

In this insert molding, the outer housing 9 is molded in close contact with the inner housing 8.
Therefore, it is desirable that the inner housing 8 be formed of a material that adheres well to the outer housing 9 formed by curing the liquid silicone material by applying a primer treatment.
Among the above-mentioned PC (polycarbonate), PA (polyamide), or PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), it is particularly preferable because it has excellent adhesion to a liquid silicone material obtained by curing PA and PBT.

  FIG. 5 is a three-sided view (partially cross-sectional view) of the integrated housing 12 obtained by such insert molding, in which the inner housing 8 and the outer housing 9 are integrated.

FIG. 5A is a plan view seen from the side on which the ornament 10 is worn (the outer side when wearing the left auricle), and the upper and lower sides of this figure attach the speaker unit 1L to the left auricle. It becomes the parietal side and the neck side, respectively. Moreover, the left side of the figure is the front side of the head, and the right side is the back side of the head.
In FIG. 5A, the outer shape of the outer housing 9 is asymmetric.

Specifically, the outer housing 9 also has a protruding portion 9b substantially corresponding to the protruding portion 8b of the inner housing 8, and the protruding portion 9b protrudes so as to be biased toward the top of the head.
This uneven protrusion will be described more specifically. The outer shape of the outer housing 9 is farthest from the center C8 in the range on the right side of the drawing (back side of the head) with respect to the center C8 of the opening 8a of the inner housing 8. The position MR of the part (hereinafter also referred to as the maximum diameter position MR) is not on the long axis CLn, but is located on the upper side (the top of the head) with respect to the long axis CLn8. Here, the distance from the center C8 to the maximum diameter position MR is Rmax.

  In addition, regarding the outer shape of the outer housing 9, the maximum horizontal position Mx at which the distance from the short axis CLt8 that passes through the center C8 and is orthogonal to the long axis CLn8 of the inner housing 8 is maximum is not on the long axis CLn but the long axis CLn8. Is on the upper side (the parietal side). Here, the distance from the center C8 to the maximum horizontal position Mx is assumed to be Xmax.

  That is, in FIG. 5A, the outer housing 9 is opposite to the side where the sound emitting part 6a is inclined (the left side in the figure) from the center C8 of the opening 8a, which is also the center of the speaker unit 7. On the rear side, the part MR having the maximum distance from the center C8 and the part Mx having the maximum distance from the short axis CLt8 are positioned on the upper side (the top of the head) in the figure with respect to the long axis CLn8. It is set to be.

The integral housing 12 has a gap 9 c inside the protruding portion 9 b in the outer housing 9.
The gap 9c can be formed as follows in insert molding using a liquid silicone material.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the placing piece 13 having a shape corresponding to the space shape of the gap 9c is fitted into the through-hole 8b1 in the inner housing 8 formed in advance from the outside. Therefore, the position of the gap 9c and the position of the through hole 8b1 correspond to each other.
After the inner housing 8 fitted with the placing piece 13 is loaded into an insert mold having a cavity corresponding to the outer shape of the integrated housing 12, the mold is heated to a predetermined temperature range, and liquid silicone is placed in the cavity. The outer housing 9 is formed by injecting the material.
In order to improve the adhesiveness between the liquid silicone materials in the inner housing 8, a primer treatment is performed in advance.
Then, after the integrated housing 12 is released from the insert mold and taken out, the placing piece 13 is removed from the inner housing 9.

  Here, since the placing piece 13 is formed using the same thermosetting liquid silicone material as that of the outer housing 9, the placing piece 13 has high flexibility and can be easily deformed from the inside of the inner housing 9. Can be extracted.

  Since the integrated housing 12 is formed by insert molding using such a placing piece 13, the gap portion 9 c and the inside of the inner housing 8 form a communication space.

Since the placing piece 13 is made of a liquid silicone material that is thermosetting and has excellent heat resistance after curing, it can withstand LIM molding performed at high temperatures and can be used repeatedly.
Further, since it is formed of the same material as the outer housing 9, there is little biting with each other by molding, and it can be easily and satisfactorily extracted from the inner housing 8, that is, out of the mold.
Further, as a material other than the liquid silicone material, TPE (Thermo Plastic Elastomer) can be used.
Since TPE has a low affinity with the liquid silicone material and has flexibility, it can be easily removed from the mold without being bonded to the outer housing 9 after the insert molding.
Since this TPE is thermoplastic, it is not suitable for repeated use. However, the material cost is superior to that of a liquid silicone material, so that it should be selected according to the purpose.

  When the placing piece 13 is formed of a material different from the material of the outer housing 9 (for example, a phenolic resin that is thermosetting and excellent in heat resistance), an extraction space for removing the placing piece 13 straight when extracting from the inner housing 8 When it is applied to the speaker part of a headphone, it is difficult to provide the extraction space in terms of layout, so that it can be extracted in a narrow extraction space using a deformable material as in the embodiment. It is good to do.

  As described above, the gap portion 9c is open in the inner direction of the integrated housing 12 to form a space communicating with the interior of the integrated housing 12 through the through hole 8b1 of the inner housing 8. In injection molding, it is an undercut portion that cannot be formed without so-called ordering.

In order to form such an undercut member by injection molding, it is necessary to devise a mold.
In particular, in the case where such an outer direction is blocked by a wall and a void portion that is released toward the inner side is formed, the inner slide structure and Patent Document 2 (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-29564) have been described. It was necessary to take the Koma-type core structure.

  However, since the speaker unit 1L of the headphone 50 is an extremely small component that can be attached to the inside of the auricle, there is a problem that it is extremely difficult to adopt an inner slide structure or a piece-type core structure. .

In the present invention, as described above, a flexible placing piece is used, and after the insert molding, the placing piece is deformed and extracted using a slight removal space provided in the inner housing 8. Thus, the gap portion 9c can be formed.
This method is partially repeated, but will be described in detail below.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a pre-molded inner housing 8 and a placing piece 13 attached to the inner housing 8.
The placing piece 13 is formed, for example, by LIM molding of a liquid silicone material.

In FIG. 8, the inner housing 8 has a substantially circular opening 8a centered on the axis C8z. The axis C8z is coaxial with the drive axis of the speaker unit 7.
Further, on the side of the inner housing 8 on which the ornament 10 is mounted, a shelf 8c that is recessed by one step according to the outer shape of the inner housing 8 is formed.
Referring also to FIG. 5B, an extraction hole 8d communicating with the through hole 8b1 is formed on the tip side of the protruding portion 8b in the shelf portion 8c.

Here, considering the internal layout of the speaker unit 1L, the external size of the speaker unit 1L is limited to a certain extent because it is assumed to be mounted in the auricle.
Conversely, it is desirable that the speaker unit 7 to be used has a large diameter in order to achieve high sound quality.
Further, the speaker unit 7 having such a large diameter as possible is fitted in the opening 8a, but at least a side surface of the speaker unit 7 is blocked by a wall of the inner housing 8 in order to provide excellent reproduction sound. It is necessary to be

  That is, the partition wall 8e that separates the opening 8a and the extraction hole 8d cannot be deleted in order to maintain the performance of the speaker unit 1L, and the size and capacity of the extraction hole 8d are naturally small and small.

On the other hand, the placing piece 13 to be mounted in the through hole 8b1 before the insert molding to form the gap 9c is mounted in the direction of the arrow D1 from the outer side of the inner housing 8 at the time of mounting. Then, the outer housing 9 is formed. This state is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 9, the unit holder 6 attached to the inner housing 8 after the placing piece 13 is removed is shown together, and the speaker unit 7 is not shown.

And in the extraction after shaping | molding, since the outer side of the through-hole 8b1 is obstruct | occluded by the outer housing 9, this placement piece 13 can only be extracted from the inside.
However, as described above, the extraction hole 8d is small, and the presence of the partition wall 8d makes it difficult to extract as it is in the direction of the arrow D1.

  Therefore, in the embodiment, the placing piece 13 has flexibility and can be easily deformed, so that the placing piece 13 can be removed while being deformed from the extraction hole 8d which is an extremely small space. it can.

FIG. 10 shows a process of removing the placing piece 13 using the tweezers-like jig 15. Although the outer housing 9 has already been integrally formed at the time of this operation, it is not shown in FIG. 10 for easy understanding.
The position where the placing piece 13 is pinched by the tweezers-like jig 15 is not limited to the mode shown in FIG. Since the placing piece 13 has flexibility, it can be easily pinched if it is a jig with a sharp tip.

FIG. 11 shows a state after the placing piece 13 is removed. FIG. 11 shows the unit holder 6 together, and the speaker unit 7 is not shown.
In FIG. 11, a gap portion 9 c corresponding to the shape of the removed placing piece 13 is formed inside the protruding portion 9 b of the outer housing 9.

In order to remove the placing piece 13 more easily, as shown in FIG. 12A, a recess 13a for pinching the placing piece 13 may be formed in advance.
Further, as shown in FIG. 12B, a recess 8f may be formed on the side of the extraction hole 8d so that the tip of the jig can be inserted so that the placing piece 13 can be easily pinched.
The jig is not limited to tweezers.
Further, the placement piece 13 may not be directly sandwiched and removed. For example, the placement piece 13 may be taken out by suction using the fact that the placement piece 13 is formed of an extremely soft material.

  Although the gap 9c is formed as described above, this gap 9c is formed at a position biased inside the protruding portion 9b of the outer housing 9, and will be described in detail below.

In FIG. 5A, the short length H of the outer housing 9 is 12 mm, and the distance Xmax is 11 mm.
Further, the curvature radius R9c1 below the major axis CLn in the gap 9c is set smaller than the curvature radius R91 below the major axis CLn in the outer shape of the protrusion 9b.
Further, the curvature radius R9c2 above the major axis CLn in the gap 9c is set smaller than the curvature radius R92 above the major axis CLn in the outer shape of the protrusion 9b.

  Based on these settings, the thickness between the gap 9c and the outer shape of the outer housing 9 when viewed in the radial cross section with respect to the center C8 in the protrusion 9b is from the maximum horizontal position Mx to the maximum diameter position MR. The range up to is the thinnest, and is formed so as to gradually become thicker as it goes upward and downward from there.

Accordingly, the protruding portion 9b is most likely to be deformed not on the long axis CLn but in a region in the range from the maximum horizontal position Mx to the maximum diameter position MR above it.
Therefore, when this speaker portion 1L is attached to the left auricle, the force (elastic repulsive force) toward the center C8 obtained by the protruding portion 9b elastically contacting and deforming the inner wall of the auricle is the long axis. In addition to the force FCLn in the CLn direction, a force FMx from slightly above is also generated.
Since this force FMx acts to push the speaker part 1L between the tragus and the rosicle, the speaker part 1L is better held in the auricle. This pushing action (also referred to as a first pushing action) will be described later with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, according to FIG. 5 (b) showing a cross section along the long axis CLn in FIG. 5 (a) (viewed from the ground side when the speaker portion 1L is attached to the left ear),
The thickness between the gap 9c and the outer shape of the outer housing 9 is larger than the thickness d92 on the head side when the speaker portion 1L on the lower side of the figure is attached to the left auricle. The thickness d91 on the side far from the head, which is the upper side in the figure, is formed thinner. That is, d91 <d92.
Accordingly, the protruding portion 9b is more easily deformed on the side farther from the sound emitting portion 6 than on the closer side.

Therefore, when the speaker portion 1L is attached to the auricle, the force (elastic repulsive force) toward the axis C8z of the center C8 obtained by the protruding portion 9b elastically contacting and deforming the side wall in the auricle is as follows: In addition to the force Fp in the direction orthogonal to the axis C8z, a force Fin from the upper side in FIG.
Since this force Fin acts to push the sound emitting part 6 into the external auditory canal, the speaker part 1L is more favorably held in the auricle and difficult to come out of the external auditory canal. This pushing action (also referred to as second pushing action) will be described below with reference to FIG.

The above-described effect will be partly repeated, but will be specifically described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 is a plan external view of the pinna of the left ear, and the speaker unit 1L mounted in the pinna is indicated by a one-dot chain line.

Inside the ear canal, the sound emitting part 6 is inserted together with the earpiece 14 (both not shown).
The protruding portion 9 of the outer housing 9 is formed in a shape that is large enough to be in contact with the side wall E1 of the inner surface of the adult auricle even if there are individual differences. The speaker unit 1L can be attached. And by this mounting | wearing, the protrusion part 9 contact | abuts elastically to the side wall part E1, deform | transforming.
This deformation is easily performed because the protrusion 9 has a gap 9c and the outer housing 9 itself is made of a highly flexible material.

  Further, as described above, the elastic repulsive force FMx that biases the speaker portion 1L from the upper side toward the ear canal, obtained by biasing the position of the gap portion 9c toward the parietal side with respect to the long axis CLn. As shown in FIG. 6, the speaker unit 1 </ b> L is pushed in between the tragus and the counter bead and is held well. This is the first pushing action described above.

  On the other hand, FIG. 7 is an S1-S1 cross section in FIG. 6, and a part of the speaker unit 1L is schematically shown.

  In FIG. 7, the speaker is obtained because the thickness d91 on the opposite side (outside) of the outer housing 9 is thinner than the thickness d92 on the head side with respect to the gap 9c. Since the sound emitting part 6 is pushed into the ear canal together with the earpiece 14 by the elastic repulsive force Fin that urges the part 1L from the outside toward the head side, the speaker part 1L is better held in the auricle. In addition, it is difficult to remove from the ear canal easily. This is the second pushing action described above.

By the way, when an opaque material is used as the material of the outer housing 9, the gap portion 9c is not visually recognized from the outside. However, when a transparent material is used, the gap portion 9c can be visually recognized from the outside, and the flexibility of the protruding portion 9b is increased. It is possible to appeal more visually to the user.
The excellent wearability of the headphones 50 is due to the formation of the gap portion 9c. Therefore, in the case of a sales strategy that visually appeals the characteristics of the product, the gap portion 9c is thus externally provided. It should be visible.

As described above, the headphone 50 described in detail is configured so that the contact portion (protrusion portion 9) that elastically contacts the inner wall of the auricle can be three-dimensionally deformed. Absorbing the difference, any person can wear it well.
In addition, since the three-dimensional deformation is performed very flexibly, it is excellent in wearing feeling.
Further, since a pressing force into the external auditory canal is applied during wearing, the cord is not easily detached even when the cord is pulled, and is extremely easy to use.

The headphones manufactured in the embodiments are not limited to the configuration and procedure described above.
The space 9c formed according to the embodiment may not be filled with air. If the material does not hinder the flexible deformation of the protruding portion 9b, the inside of the void portion 9c may be filled with a substance other than gas.

  For example, when the outer housing 9 is formed of a transparent material and filled with a colored gel or the like inside the gap 9c, the gel color is recognized as an accent color from the outside in addition to a good wearing feeling, It can be a design appeal point.

Further, a light emitter such as an LED may be disposed in the back of the gap portion 9c, and the light emitter may be caused to emit light in an arbitrary pattern or a pattern based on an audio signal supplied to the speaker unit 7.
In this case, the emitted light can be visually recognized from the outside, and can be appealed as a feature of the product. This is particularly appealing to others when worn at night.

Further, the gap 9c may be formed as a sealed space. Specifically, after the gap portion 9c is formed by the manufacturing method described above, the inner side of the inner housing 8 is sealed with a sealing material or the like so that a sealed space remains inside.
In this case, due to the deformation of the protruding portion 9b when the speaker portions 1L and 1R are attached to the auricle, in addition to the elastic repulsive force of the outer housing 9 itself, the gas (air or the like) sealed inside is compressed. As a result, a repulsive force is generated, so that even when the outer housing 9 is made thinner, a good wearing feeling can be obtained.

It is an external view for demonstrating the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is an assembly figure for demonstrating the principal part of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating one member used for the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is another assembly drawing for demonstrating the principal part of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the principal part of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a 1st figure for demonstrating the effect | action of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is the 2nd figure for demonstrating the effect | action of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure explaining 1 process of the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure explaining the manufacture process of the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure explaining the other process of the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure explaining another process of the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention. It is a figure explaining the principal part modification of the headphones manufactured in the Example in the manufacturing method of the headphones of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Speaker part 1L Left speaker part 1R Right speaker part 2L, 2R Cord 3 Connection part 4 Main cord 5 Plug 6 Unit holder 6a Sound emission part 6a1 Small diameter part 6b Storage part 6c Base part 6c2 Communication hole 6c1 Base surface 7 Speaker unit 8 Inner Housing (inner housing)
8a Opening portion 8b Protruding portion 8b1 Through hole 8c Shelf portion 8d Extraction hole 8e Bulkhead 9 Outer housing (outer housing)
9a Opening 9b Protrusion 9c Gap 10 Ornament 11 Code bush 12 Integrated housing 13 Placement piece 14 Earpiece 15 Jig 16 Housing part 50, 50A Headphone CLn Long axis Fin, FMx force MR Maximum diameter position Mx Maximum horizontal position θ Angle

Claims (2)

A speaker unit; a housing part that houses the speaker unit and has a hole in a peripheral part; an annular outer housing that is integrally formed with the housing part in a predetermined region of the housing part and is flexible from the housing part; A headphone is manufactured that includes a protrusion formed at a position corresponding to a hole of the housing portion in a peripheral portion of the outer housing, and a gap formed inside the protrusion and communicating with the hole. In the manufacturing method,
A placing piece fitting step for fitting a flexible placing piece so that a part thereof protrudes from the hole in the hole in the housing portion formed in advance;
An outer housing forming step in which the housing portion into which the placing piece is fitted is mounted in a mold having a cavity corresponding to the outer shape of the outer housing, and the outer housing is formed integrally with the housing portion by injection molding; ,
A method of manufacturing headphones, comprising: a placing piece removing step of drawing the fitted placing piece from the inside of the housing portion through the hole to form the gap after the outer housing forming step.   The headphone manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the placing piece is formed of a liquid silicone material or a thermoplastic elastomer material.

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