JPH0472898A - Ear speaker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize an ear speaker and to give a high performance to it by forming the ear speaker to such form and size that it can be set to the recessed part of a concha cavity and can be held by the elastic force and the frictional force of a tragus and an opposite tragus. CONSTITUTION:An electromotive speaker unit 40 is fixed to the side of a front sound hole 42a in a case 42, and a sound absorbing material 43 is interposed between the unit 40 and a rear sound hole 42b. The front on the side of the front sound hole 42a of the case 42 is covered with a cover 44 which is made of a porous elastic body and has the acoustic transmissivity. This ear speaker is formed to such form and size that it can be held by the elastic force and the frictional force of the concha cavity, a tragus (b), and an opposite tragus (c) of the ear when being set. Consequently, a cord 45 is led to the outside through a cut (e) between the tragus and the opposite tragus, and the cover 44 is brought into contact with the entrance of the external auditory meatus and is deformed in accordance with the form of the concha cavity and functions as a cushion for the setting part. Thus, the ear speaker is made small in size and light in weight and the frequency characteristic is made wide-band, and the ear speaker is surely set and held.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ear speaker in which a speaker is attached to the auricle so that sound from the speaker can be heard.

Deceptive ear speakers include those shown in FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d), which are classified according to the way the speaker is attached to the auricle. Figure 1 (a) shows what is generally called a headphone, which includes a pair of speaker units 1, a headband 2 connecting the pair of units 1,
It consists of a cord 3 that supplies electrical signals to the unit 1,
The structure is such that the elasticity of the headband 2 provides a pressing force for attaching and holding the unit 1 to the auricle. For this reason, a large amount of pressure is exerted on the auricle in the temporal region, and the usability cannot be said to be good. Further, due to its structure, since the unit 1 is placed on the pinna of the ear to listen to sound, there is a distance between the entrance of the external auditory canal and the unit 1, and the air volume therebetween is also large. Therefore, only a small portion of the acoustic energy radiated from the unit 1 is supplied to the ear canal, and the rest is not effective and cannot be said to be highly efficient. In addition, reflections from the acoustic circuit, unit, and surface of the auricle affect the acoustic characteristics, which is one reason why it is difficult to assemble the product.

FIG. 1(b) shows what is called a behind-the-ear ear speaker, which includes a speaker unit 10, an ear-hook loop 12 in which a part of the case of this unit 10 is looped, and a cord that supplies electrical signals to the unit 10. 14, and the unit 10 is held by hooking the loop 1-2 onto the pinna of the ear, but the attachment is unstable and not good, and it is also difficult to attach and detach. Furthermore, even in this case, the unit
Since it is held at a position that is in contact with or close to the pinna of the ear, its acoustic characteristics are similar to those of the headphones described above.

FIG. 1(c) shows what is called a stethoscope or chin-down ear speaker, which includes a pair of speaker units 20, a stethoscope-shaped band 22 that connects the units 20, and a cord 24 that supplies electrical signals to the units 20. It consists of
The unit 20 is
The band 22 is held in a state where it is hooked onto a part of the auricle by the pressing force of the band 22.

FIG. 1(d) shows what is generally called an earphone, which consists of a speaker unit 30, an ear plug 32 provided at the front of this unit 30, and a cord 34 that supplies electrical signals to the unit I.30. It is held by inserting an ear plug 32, which acts as an acoustic tube, into the external auditory canal. Both of FIGS. 1(C) and 1(d) have unstable mounting properties, are easy to remove, and are not comfortable to use.

Furthermore, since the structure is such that sound is radiated through an acoustic tube, it is not possible to improve the acoustic characteristics.

As mentioned above, conventional ear speakers are unable to meet the demands for small size and high performance as the future market needs for audio equipment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and its purpose is to provide a novel ear speaker that is small and has high performance.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 7.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 40 denotes an electrodynamic speaker unit 42 in which an alternating current signal is passed through a voice coil disposed in a magnetic gap of a magnetic circuit to vibrate the voice coil and a diaphragm connected thereto. is a case made of light metal such as aluminum or hard plastic, and has a front sound hole 42a and a rear sound hole 42b. 42a side, and the sound absorbing material 43 is attached to the unit 4
0 and the rear sound hole 42b, respectively. The front surface of the case 42 on the front sound hole 42a side is covered with a porous elastic material such as urethane foam or a cover 44 having acoustic transparency. The ear speaker in which the front surface of the case 42 is covered with the cover 44 has a height A of 1. It is made into a cylindrical shape with a diameter B of 0 mm and a diameter B of 1-5 mm, and includes a set of cords 45 that pass through the side wall of the case 42 for supplying electrical signals to the speaker unit 40 from the outside.

The ear speaker having the above-mentioned configuration has a fourth conchal cavity d located in the recess of the concha cavity d between the tragus and the antitragus C, immediately in front of the auricular canal (external auditory canal) a of the pinna, as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in the figure, the shape and size allow the case 42 to be fitted and worn, and to maintain its fitted state by the elastic force and frictional force of the concha cavity d of the auricle, the tragus, and the antitragus C. is formed. The cord 45 of the ear speaker attached to a predetermined location on the auricle is pulled out through the intertragal notch e as shown in FIG. As shown, it is brought into contact with the entrance of the external auditory canal a, and is deformed to follow the shape of the concha cavity d, and serves as a cushion for the attachment portion of the auricle.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the front part 42' of the case 42
By forming the front cover 44' in an arc shape that matches the shape of the concha cavity d at the entrance of the external auditory canal, the ear speaker can be more easily attached to the auricle, and its attachment state can also be maintained. It becomes stable. In this example,
A hole 44a' communicating with the sound hole 42a' of the front part 42' of the case 42 is bored in the cover 44-.

Further, in the above embodiment, only the front surface of the case 42 is covered with the cover 44 made of an elastic material, but the entire circumference of the case may be covered with an elastic material to give elasticity to the surface, or the entire circumference may be covered with cloth or rubber. ,
Alternatively, the ear speaker can be covered with leather to increase the frictional force on its surface, thereby making the ear speaker easier to attach to the auricle.

FIG. 7 shows the frequency characteristics of the ear speaker according to the present invention and the conventional ear speaker using solid lines and broken lines, respectively. In the case of the ear speaker according to the present invention, the sensitivity around 500 Hz at an input of 1 mW is 96% in sound pressure level. Although it was measured as .5db, it is thought that leakage occurs in the low frequency X section. As can be seen from the frequency characteristics of the ear speaker according to the present invention, the characteristics are designed to have a wide band.

As described above, the present invention includes a speaker unit and a case housing the unit, and is capable of being attached to the recess of the concha cavity between the tragus and antitragus of the auricle. The ear speaker is formed in a shape and size that allows the ear speaker to be held in place by the elastic force and frictional force between the tragus and anti-tragus of the auricle. For this reason, it is small, lightweight, and highly portable, and the ear speaker is held by the natural elastic force of a part of the auricle, and in order to attach it to the auricle, pressing force cannot be applied from the outside or There is no need to insert part of the ear canal into the ear canal, and there is no need to put undue force on the ear canal, making it more comfortable to use.In addition, since the record is only connected to the outside, it is securely held in place. can be done. Furthermore, since the speaker unit is located very close to the ear canal, the escape of sound to the outside is reduced and the sound propagation space is reduced, improving efficiency. Furthermore, since it does not have an acoustic tube, it can have wide frequency characteristics, and especially when an electrodynamic speaker unit is used, it can provide sound quality that is comparable to HI FI headphones. Excellent effects such as

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 (a) to (d) are views showing conventional ear speakers, Figure 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the ear speaker according to the present invention, and Figure 3 is a view of the auricle viewed obliquely from the front. 4 is a diagram showing the state in which the ear speaker according to the present invention is attached and held to the auricle, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the state in which the ear speaker according to the present invention is attached and maintained in FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the ear speaker according to the present invention, and a graph showing a comparison of frequency characteristics between the ear speaker according to the present invention and a conventional earphone. 40...Speaker unit 42...Case patent applicant Pioneer Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is equipped with a speaker unit and a case containing the speaker unit, and can be attached to the hollow part of the concha cavity between the tragus and antitragus of the auricle, and can be attached to the hollow part of the ear. An ear speaker characterized in that the ear speaker is formed in a shape and size that can be held by the elastic force and frictional force between the tragus and the antitragus of the intercus.