JPH1188973A - Speech equipment utilizing bone conduction voice signal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress detection of noise by a piezoelectric element to the utmost by configuring a 1st housing with a hard part that supports the piezoelectric element to be in contact with a concha hole and a damping part that is placed toward a base from the hard part to absorb mechanical vibration. SOLUTION: The speech equipment 1 is provided with a bone conduction voice pickup section 2 to detect a bone conduction voice signal and an earphone section 3 to hear a voice signal of a speech opposite party. The bone conduction voice pickup section 2 is provided with a 1st housing 21 that is in contact with a concha hole of an ear of a person and the earphone section 3 is provided with a 2nd housing 33 containing a reception earphone 31 and mounted in the concha hole. The 1st housing 21 is provided with a hard part 27 that supports a piezoelectric element 22 and is in contact with the concha hole and a damper section 42 that is placed toward a base 4 from the hard part 27 to absorb mechanical vibration.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a first housing which is inserted into a concha region of a human ear so as to be in contact therewith, and which is housed in the first housing and is attached to the ear. A bone conduction sound pickup unit provided with a piezoelectric element for detecting transmitted bone conduction sound, a second housing inserted into the concha of the concha, and housed in the second housing; An earphone unit provided with a receiving earphone that emits voice to one side, and the first housing and the second housing are bifurcated,
The present invention relates to a communication device using bone conduction voice, wherein a base for supporting them is provided, and the base is configured to hold the signal cable of the piezoelectric element and the earphone for receiving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such a communication device using a bone conduction voice transmits a bone conduction voice transmitted as vibration from a vocal cord to an ear.
A piezoelectric element housed in the housing converts the electric sound signal into an electric sound signal and outputs the same. On the other hand, the sound electric signal input from the outside is converted into a sound by the earphone for receiving sound housed in the second housing. It is a device that communicates with others by telling it to your ear. In such a communication device using bone conduction voice, if the earphone for receiving and the piezoelectric element are simply arranged close to each other for compactness of the device, mechanical vibration generated in the earphone for receiving is detected by the piezoelectric element. It may be sent back to the other party, causing so-called echo or howling. For this reason, conventionally, a first housing for accommodating a piezoelectric element and a second housing for accommodating a receiving earphone are supported on a base so as to form a forked shape, and a machine generated by the receiving earphone while achieving compactness. The mechanical vibration is hardly transmitted to the piezoelectric element.

[0003]

However, even when the first housing and the second housing are bifurcated as in the above-described conventional configuration, the piezoelectric element detects vibrations other than bone-conducted sound and generates noise. In some cases, the caller is uncomfortable. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to suppress detection of noise by a piezoelectric element as much as possible.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the first housing, the piezoelectric element is supported by the hard portion that comes into contact with the concha of the concha of the ear to accurately transmit the bone conduction sound. The vibration can be detected, and the vibration transmitted to the piezoelectric element from the base side can be suppressed by the vibration suppression unit located closer to the base side than the hard part. That is, as a result of studying the cause of noise detected by the piezoelectric element, the inventor of the present invention found that the first housing and the second housing were made to have a forked shape, and the vibration of the receiving earphone was hardly transmitted to the piezoelectric element. When the signal cable of the piezoelectric element and the receiving earphone comes into contact with the user's body or the like, vibration is generated, and the noise is transmitted to the piezoelectric element of the first housing through the base holding the signal cable. I found something. Furthermore, piezoelectric vibrations may occur due to the vibration of the wind noise caused by the signal cable cutting off the wind at a well-ventilated place such as a train platform, or the vibration of the signal cable caused by loud external noise such as a signal of the train being fired by a whistle. It has been found that the element may vibrate to generate noise. Therefore, based on these findings, the vibration transmitted from the signal cable to the piezoelectric element of the first housing is suppressed by the vibration damping unit, so that the detection of noise by the piezoelectric element can be suppressed as much as possible, resulting in a comfortable communication. Became possible.

[0005] In addition, by providing the structure of the second aspect, the vibration damping section made of a viscoelastic body suppresses vibration transmitted from the signal cable to the piezoelectric element. The viscoelastic body is
Since the vibration is effectively absorbed by the viscoelasticity, the vibration transmitted from the signal cable to the piezoelectric element can be effectively suppressed.

[0006] With the above configuration, the base supporting the first housing and the second housing elastically supports and holds the piezoelectric element and the signal cable of the earphone for receiving. Therefore, the transmission of the vibration from the signal cable is suppressed by the holding of the signal cable itself.

[0007] Further, with the configuration according to the fourth aspect, the earphone damping unit provided in the second housing supports the earphone for receiving and absorbs the mechanical vibration of the earphone. Accordingly, not only the first housing for housing the piezoelectric element and the second housing for housing the earphone for receiving are formed into a forked shape, but also the vibration of the earphone for receiving is transmitted to the piezoelectric element by providing the earphone damping portion. Can be further suppressed.

[0008] Further, with the configuration according to the fifth aspect, the earphone damping section made of metal supports the receiving earphone and mainly utilizes the weight of the earphone damping section. Absorbs the mechanical vibration of the receiving earphone. That is, since the second housing side has a relatively large volume due to the provision of the earphone for receiving, it is possible to increase the weight of the earphone vibration damping portion made of metal. On the side of the first housing where the volume is small, mechanical vibration is absorbed by a vibration damping portion made of a viscoelastic body, and the shape of the first housing and the second housing is taken into consideration, so that the entire device is formed. It is assumed that mechanical vibrations can be reasonably absorbed.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The communication device 1 using the bone conduction voice
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus mainly includes a bone conduction voice pickup unit 2 for detecting bone conduction voice, and an earphone unit 3 for listening to the voice of the other party. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bone conduction voice pickup unit 2 has a first housing 21 mounted in a concha region 52 of a human ear so as to be in contact therewith, and a first housing 21 thereof.
A piezoelectric element 22 that is housed in the housing 21 and detects a bone conduction sound transmitted to the ear part is provided. On the other hand, the earphone part 3 includes a second housing 33 that is mounted in the concha cavity 52, , Housed in the second housing 33,
A receiving earphone 31 that emits sound is provided inside the ear. First housing 21 and second housing 3
1 and the like, as shown in FIG. 1 and the like, they are supported by a base 4 so as to be bifurcated, and the base 4 holds the piezoelectric element 22 and the signal cable 6 of the receiving earphone 31.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3A, which is a plan view of the first housing 21, the first housing 21 holds the piezoelectric element 22 and makes contact with the concha region 52. And a vibration damping portion 42 that is located closer to the base portion 4 than the hard portion 27 and absorbs mechanical vibration. As shown in FIG. 3, the hard portion 27 is wide in a plan view and has a wide portion 21 on the distal end side which comes into contact with the concha region 52.
A and a narrow portion 21B connected to the wide portion 21A and narrowing in a plan view. The surface of the wide portion 21A which contacts the bottom 52A of the concha region 52 is the external auditory canal 51.
When viewed from the depth direction, the bottom surface side of the concha region 52 is formed as a convex curved surface, and the contact area with the concha region 52 is increased.

The material of the hard portion 27 is, for example, a polyamide resin or an ABS resin. The hard portion 27 is hard to accurately transmit the weak vibration of the concha region 52 to the piezoelectric element 22.
In addition, a material that easily retains humidity is employed. In addition, the surface in contact with the skin is polished into a mirror surface to improve the adhesion to the skin. The vibration damper 42 has a hardness of 30 to 5 for example.
It is made of a viscoelastic material such as a rubber material of 0 degree or vinyl chloride to suppress transmission of vibration from the base 4 to the piezoelectric element 22, and the signal cable 6 comes into contact with another object to generate vibration. Even in this case, the deterioration of the S / N ratio due to the vibration can be suppressed.

As shown in FIG. 3B, which is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3A, the piezoelectric element 22 fixedly supports one end in the longitudinal direction on the wide portion 21A of the hard portion 27. As shown in FIG.
A circuit board 25 on which a field-effect transistor 26 electrically connected to the piezoelectric element 22 is mounted so as to have a circuit configuration shown in FIG. 5, is housed, and the entire piezoelectric element 22 and the circuit board 25 are covered with a shield case 23. The S / N ratio is improved. Piezoelectric element 22, shield case 23 and first
The fixing between the housings 21 is made as strong as possible to reduce vibration transmission loss.

The second housing 33 is made of a metal having a relatively large specific gravity, such as brass or iron.
4, a receiving earphone 31 is attached to and supported by an opening of the earphone damping part 34, and a protector 32 for protecting the receiving earphone 31 covers the front of the receiving earphone 31. It is attached to the vibration damper 34.

The base 4 that supports the first housing 21 and the second housing 33 having the above-described configuration is formed of a material that is harder than the vibration damper 42. Also, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the base portion 4 protrudes downward in a mounting posture with respect to the ear portion 50, and protrudes downward with the first housing portion 21.
A holding member 5 for holding the two edges is provided. The holding member 5 is formed of a rubber material having a hardness of 59 degrees to 80 degrees or an elastic material such as vinyl chloride.
Can be securely clamped.

A weight mounting hole 44 for mounting a weight is formed at a lower end position of the holding member 5, and a thread is passed through the weight mounting hole 44 as shown in FIG.
Hanging. Due to the load of the weight 45, the contact pressure between the bone conduction pickup unit 2 and the bottom surface of the concha region 52 increases, and the bone conduction sound is not affected by the body hair and the like, and the bone conduction sound is reliably transmitted to the piezoelectric element. 22. Also, various shapes of the weight 45 can be used, and the weight 45 can be appropriately replaced according to the user's preference and fashion, and can be used for improving fashionability.

The base 4 has a piezoelectric element 22 and a receiving earphone 31 shown in FIG.
The signal cable 6 in which the wirings 46 and 47 are gathered is held, and the tapered pipe section 43 has a cable passage 43a through which the signal cable 6 is inserted, as shown in FIG. 1 is tapered toward the signal cable 6 at the outer end (lower end in FIG. 1) of the cable passage 43a. On the upper side in FIG. 1), the base 4 and the signal cable are separated from each other,
The contact area between the cable and the signal cable 6 can be reduced, and the transmission of vibration can be suppressed. Further, the tapered pipe portion 43 is formed of an elastic material such as vinyl chloride, and the signal cable 6 is elastically supported by the base portion 4. In this respect, the vibration of the signal cable 6 to the piezoelectric element 22 is also reduced. Transmission is suppressed. In addition, the outer surface of the tapered pipe portion 43 is formed to have a periodically different diameter to prevent the signal cable 6 from being bent.

When the communication device 1 using the bone conduction voice having the above configuration is used by attaching it to the concha region 52 of the ear 50,
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bone conduction voice pickup unit 2 is in contact with the bottom 52 </ b> A of the concha cavity 52, and the earphone unit 3 is positioned so as to substantially face the opening of the ear canal 51.
The edge of the concha cavity 52, more specifically, the extending portion between the tragus 53 and the tragus 54 is clamped by the bone conduction audio pickup unit 2 and the clamping member 5. The bottom 52A of the concha region 52 against which the bone conduction voice pickup unit 2 contacts
It is closest to the vocal cords in the concha region 52 and is suitable for accurately capturing vibrations generated in the vocal cords.

In the state of being mounted as described above, the center of gravity of the bone conduction audio pickup unit 2 and the earphone unit 3 is located on the inner side of the concha region 52 with respect to the support point 5A of the holding member 5, The load on the bone conduction voice pickup unit 2 and the earphone unit 3 acts on the bottom of the concha cavity 52. Therefore, in the mounting posture to the concha region 52, substantially the entire bone conduction audio pickup unit 2 and a part of the earphone unit 3 are covered by the tragus 53 and the tragus 54, and the bone conduction audio pickup unit 2 Are the forces from the tragus 53 and the antitragus 54, the loads on the bone conduction audio pickup unit 2 and the earphone unit 3 acting on the bottom surface of the concha cavity 52, the clamping force between the clamping member 5, and In this way, the weight of the weight 45 is accurately maintained in contact with the bottom surface of the concha region 52. still,
The contact force between the bone conduction pickup unit 2 and the concha region 52 needs to be large enough to eliminate the effects of skin irregularities and skin hair, which are factors that hinder contact, but are not so large. If it is large, it will cause discomfort to the user,
The weight is set to be in the range of about 2 grams to 20 grams, and if the necessary contact force is secured without the weight 45, the weight 45 is unnecessary.

When the user has a conversation with the other party of the call while wearing the communication device 1 as described above, the vibration of the vocal cords due to the utterance transmits the skull and the like, and the concha region 52
And vibrates the first housing 21 to be detected by the piezoelectric element 22. The bone conduction sound detected by the piezoelectric element 22 is converted into an electric signal, is subjected to impedance conversion and the like by the field effect transistor 26, and then is transmitted to a communication device (not shown) to which the signal cable 6 and the plug 14 of the signal cable 6 are connected. To the other party on the call. On the other hand, the voice emitted by the other party is transmitted from the other party's communication device, transmitted to the receiving earphone 31 via the communication device (not shown) and the signal cable 6, converted into a voice, and emitted to the ear canal 51. Through this series of operations, conversation is performed between the user and the other party of the call while reducing the influence of external noise.

[Other Embodiments] Other embodiments of the present invention will be listed below. In the above embodiment, the bone conduction voice pickup unit 2
Although the vibration damping part 42 provided in the first housing 21 is made of a viscoelastic body, it may be made of a member having strong elasticity such as a leaf spring. In the above embodiment, the earphone damping portion 34 provided in the second housing 33 of the earphone portion 3 is made of metal, but may be made of a viscoelastic material such as a rubber material or vinyl chloride. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a communication device using bone conduction voice according to an embodiment of the present invention, as viewed from a side.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the communication device using bone conduction voice according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a bone conduction audio pickup unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a mounted state according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a mounted state according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Bone Conduction Voice Pickup Unit 4 Base 6 Signal Cable 21 First Housing 22 Piezoelectric Element 27 Hard Part 31 Earphone for Receiving 33 Second Housing 34 Damping Unit for Earphone 42 Damping Unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A first housing inserted into and in contact with a concha region of a human ear, and a bone conduction sound transmitted to the ear is stored in the first housing. A bone-conducting audio pickup unit provided with a piezoelectric element that performs the operation, a second housing that is inserted into the concha cavity, and a sound that is housed in the second housing and emits sound toward the inward side of the ear. An earphone unit provided with a receiving earphone for receiving a call; a base for supporting the first housing and the second housing in a bifurcated manner; and a base for supporting the piezoelectric element. And a communication device using a bone conduction voice configured to hold a signal cable of the earphone for reception, wherein the first housing supports the piezoelectric element and is in contact with the concha of the concha Hard part Its hard portion communication apparatus of the bone conduction sound utilization is constituted by a damping portion for absorbing mechanical vibrations be located on the base side of the. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration damper is formed of a viscoelastic body. 3. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the signal cable is elastically supported by the base. 4. The bone conduction according to claim 1, wherein the second housing is provided with an earphone damping portion that supports the earphone for receiving and absorbs mechanical vibration. An audio communication device. 5. The communication device according to claim 4, wherein the earphone damping unit is made of metal.