JPH09247798A - Wireless remoto control hearing aid - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always recognize the service life of a cell and to use the cell with highest efficiency by adding a cell remaining life display part to the operation part of bracelet type wireless remote control device. SOLUTION: A new air cell is put into a hearing aid and a power switch 10 of a wireless remote control device is turned on to activate the hearing aid. Then a reset circuit 5 which resets the switch 10 is initialized and activated. The cell service life time is set and stored in a memory 8. A subtraction counter 3 operates when the switch 10 is turned on, and the reference vibrator of a clock circuit 4 oscillates to supply a pulse to the counter 3 per hour. These supplied pulses are substrated from the service like time stored in the memory 8, and this subtraction result is shown at a cell remaining life display part 1 which operates only when the power supply of the hearing aid is turned on. Thus it is possible to always recognize the cell service life and to use the cell with highest efficiency.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless remote control type hearing aid, and more particularly to a wireless remote control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ear-hook type and in-ear type hearing aids have become smaller and smaller in order to improve the aesthetics when worn. On the other hand, however, it is becoming more and more difficult for the wearer to operate the power switch and the volume control unit due to the miniaturization. Therefore, the hearing aid body is not provided in the hearing aid body, and the hearing aid is operated by a wireless remote control device using ultrasonic waves or radio waves.
No. 00 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-4380 have been proposed.

By the way, in a small hearing aid such as an ear-hook type or an ear-insertion type hearing aid, a primary battery such as an air battery is used as a power source to drive a microphone or an earphone. A feature of air batteries is that they are often used as long-life batteries for devices with high power consumption. FIG.
Shows the discharge characteristics of the air battery. As is clear from this figure, it is known that when this battery is used in a hearing aid, the battery life is about 300 hours, and the battery life is drastically reduced.

[0004]

However, this air battery is designed to maintain its rated voltage of 1.4 V until the end of its life, and is devised to operate the hearing aid function normally until the end of its life. Has been done. However, on the other hand, it is difficult for the hearing aid user to determine the battery life time, and the battery life may be exhausted when going out and the hearing aid may become unusable, and the remaining battery capacity cannot be known. Regarding the battery life, for example, there is a method of measuring the remaining battery capacity by measuring a self-discharge current, but incorporating this method into a hearing aid has a drawback in terms of cost and size reduction.

Further, in order to adjust the sound by a conventional earphone-type or ear-hook type hearing aid wearer, the operation is performed by the volume adjusting section provided in the hearing aid main body, which is very troublesome to operate. there were. As described above, the conventional hearing aid has poor operability and, in addition, has poor external appearance.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above circumstances, and provides a compact wireless remote-control type hearing aid that allows a hearing aid wearer to always recognize the battery life period and has excellent external appearance and operability. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, as a structure of a wireless remote control type hearing aid of the present invention, in claim 1, a wireless remote control type hearing aid which outputs a signal for operating a hearing aid to control the hearing aid. In, a power switch for outputting the hearing aid operating signal, a battery remaining time display section for displaying the remaining battery life remaining time, a volume adjustment switch for controlling the volume adjustment of the audio signal, and a wireless transmission section for transmitting the audio control signal are provided. The bracelet type wireless remote control device described above and a hearing aid main body for receiving a volume control signal and a voice signal from the wireless remote control device.

Further, in addition to the structure of claim 1, the structure of claim 2 further comprises a warning means for issuing a warning by an output signal from the battery replacement display portion.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. The wireless remote control type hearing aid of the present invention includes a wireless remote control device 200 and a hearing aid body 201. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a wireless remote control device 200 for a wireless remote control type hearing aid of the present invention. The configuration of the wireless remote control device of the present invention is the power switch 10 of the hearing aid body,
Battery remaining time display unit 1, volume control unit 11 and its display unit 17, wireless transmission unit 1 for transmitting to the hearing aid body
4. The battery remaining time display 1 is provided with a battery life time set button 101 and a warning lamp 102. The battery replacement time can be set in advance using the battery life time setting button 101.

Reference numeral 103 is a portion of the bracelet lid,
The error action of the hearing aid is prevented, and the ornamental bracelet feels when the lid is closed. Reference numeral 104 denotes a bracelet ring portion having elasticity. next,
A procedure for operating the hearing aid with the wireless remote control device will be described. First, the lid 103 of the remote control device is opened. At this time, it is confirmed on the battery remaining time display unit 1 whether or not the battery is replaced. Next, the button (ON) of the power switch 10 of the hearing aid main body is pressed to operate the hearing aid main body and close the lid. When you stop using the hearing aid, the lid 1
03 is opened again, the button (off) of the power switch 10 is pushed to turn off the power of the hearing aid, and the lid is closed. Every time the hearing aid wearer opens the lid, he or she can see the battery remaining time display unit 1 as an eye, and can know the battery replacement time in advance. Volume adjustment switch 11 and volume display 17 of the hearing aid
Is not provided in the body of the hearing aid, but is provided in the wireless remote control device of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the battery remaining time display portion of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a signal processing block diagram corresponding to the wireless device body of the wireless hearing aid of the present invention. First, the signal processing relating to the battery life time display unit 1 will be described. When a new air battery is inserted into the body of the hearing aid and the power switch 10 of the wireless remote control device is turned on, the body of the hearing aid becomes active. The power switch 10 is initialized by the reset circuit 5, and the circuit is put into operation. The air battery life time is set by the battery life time set button 101 in FIG. At that time, the data is stored in the memory 8 of FIG. Power switch 10
Is turned on, the subtraction counter 3 operates, and at the same time, the reference oscillator of the clock circuit 4 is oscillated by the oscillation frequency dividing circuit, and a fixed period, for example, one pulse for one hour is supplied to the counter. The pulse amount supplied to the counter is subtracted from the battery life time stored in advance in the memory at the beginning of the operation, and the result is displayed on the remaining battery life display unit 1.

As another embodiment (not shown), a clock circuit having an independent power source may be added so that the battery remaining time display section always displays the battery replacement date. At that time, by the pulse supplied to the subtraction counter, it is converted and displayed on the date by the decoder. The alarm circuit 6 of FIG. 2 is connected so that the remaining battery life time can be known in advance by setting the battery replacement time in advance. When the battery replacement time comes, a warning lamp 102 of the battery remaining time display unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 is displayed to notify the wearer that the battery needs to be replaced. As a warning means at this time, the modulation circuit 12 is used as a warning sound signal in addition to the warning display
Is transmitted from the wireless transmission unit 14 to the main body of the hearing aid.

The remaining battery time display unit 1 operates only when the hearing aid is powered on. By setting the battery replacement time in advance in this way, it is possible to prepare the batteries required for replacement in advance in daily life, and it is possible to maximize the battery life. In a commonly used battery, a threshold value of the battery voltage is set and a warning sound or a display is made when the voltage becomes lower than this value.

Next, the basic structure and operation of the wireless remote control device body of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, when the power switch 10 is turned on, the power supply voltage is applied to the modulation circuit 12 having an oscillator. The oscillator produces a signal of the appropriate frequency. The output signal is output as a sound wave from the wireless transmission unit 14 in the amplification circuit 13 via the modulation circuit. When the power switch 1 is on, the signal is output with a constant amplitude. Frequency modulation is performed by the oscillator of the modulation circuit 12 according to the ON / OFF state of the volume adjustment switch 11. The output signal is amplified by the amplifier circuit as a modulated carrier frequency signal and transmitted from the wireless transmission unit 14 to the reception unit. In this embodiment, frequency modulation is used, but pulse modulation using a clock generator is very good. The band of the carrier frequency signal modulated here uses a band higher than the audible band.

Next, an embodiment of the hearing aid main body 201 serving as a receiving portion will be described. When using a hearing aid, the wireless remote control device 200 according to the present invention is worn on the arm, and the hearing aid body (ear-hook type or insertion-ear type) having a receiving antenna is worn on the ear. In addition to the receiving antenna, the hearing aid main body 201 is provided with a microphone for collecting sound, which is an original function. Microphone As described above, in the present invention, the operation unit such as the volume adjusting unit and the battery life time display unit is separated from the hearing aid main body as a wireless remote control device and attached to the bracelet so that the wearer can easily operate.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit block diagram of the hearing aid main body 201, which serves as a receiver for the transmission wave from the wireless remote controller. The basic configuration of the hearing aid main body 201 is a microphone 21 that receives a transmission wave or sound from the wireless remote control device, a frequency separation circuit 23 that separates mixed signals in each band, a volume control circuit 26 that controls the sound volume of the separated sound signals, and a sound. It comprises an amplifier circuit 27 for amplifying a signal and an earphone 28 for outputting a voice.

The macrophone 21 receives the transmission wave and the voice transmitted from the wireless remote control device, and the amplification circuit 22.
Amplified by The control signal for adjusting the volume of the transmitted wave, the audio signal, and the mixed signal are separated by the band filter of the frequency separation circuit 23 to extract the control signal and the audio signal. The extracted audio signal is amplified by the amplifier circuit 27 and output by the earphone 28. The control signal for adjusting the extracted volume is pulsed by the counter circuit 25 and supplied to the volume control circuit.

The sound output from the earphone is adjusted by the sound volume control circuit in accordance with the sound volume control signal and displayed on the sound volume display section of the operation section of the present apparatus shown in FIG. In this way, since the bracelet-shaped volume adjusting operation portion is provided, operability is improved as compared with the conventional hearing aid. Furthermore, since a very simple circuit configuration is not required and a complicated circuit is not required, a wireless remote control device with low cost and good operability can be obtained.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With a simple configuration in which the battery remaining time display unit is provided together with the operation unit of the wireless remote control device, it is possible to know the replacement date before the end of the battery life, and it is possible to replace the battery without affecting daily life. Further, the life of an expensive air battery can be fully utilized, resulting in cost reduction. further,
By using the bracelet type, it is excellent in portability, and the operation of the hearing aid such as the adjustment of the reception volume and the transmission operation can be performed near the ear, and the operation is also easy.

Conventionally, no consideration has been given to the external aesthetics, but since it is a Bressette type and is compact, the external aesthetics are extremely excellent. Further, since the present invention is provided with the hearing aid operation switch and the battery remaining time display portion, the power switch must be turned on when using the hearing aid. Therefore, when the power switch is turned on, the battery replacement date display naturally comes into the eye, and it is possible to prevent forgetting the battery replacement date.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a wireless remote control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a signal processing block diagram of the wireless remote control device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a signal processing block diagram of the hearing aid main body of the present invention.

[Fig. 4] Discharge characteristics of an air battery

[Explanation of symbols]

 200 wireless remote control device 201 hearing aid body 1 battery life time display unit 2 decoder and driver 3 counter 4 clock circuit 5 alarm circuit 10 power switch 11 volume control switch 12 modulation circuit 14 wireless transmission unit 21 microphone 23 frequency separation circuit 26 volume control circuit 28 earphone

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wireless remote control hearing aid for outputting a hearing aid operating signal to control a hearing aid, comprising: a power switch for outputting the hearing aid operating signal; a battery remaining time display section for displaying a remaining battery life remaining time; and a voice signal. A bracelet-type wireless remote control device provided with a volume control switch for controlling volume control and a wireless transmission section for transmitting a voice control signal, and a hearing aid body for receiving the volume control signal and the voice signal from the wireless remote control device. A wireless remote control type hearing aid characterized by being equipped. 2. The wireless remote-control type hearing aid according to claim 1, further comprising warning means for issuing a warning by an output signal from the battery remaining time display section.