EP4231662A1 - Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit - Google Patents

Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit Download PDF

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Publication number
EP4231662A1
EP4231662A1 EP22157257.1A EP22157257A EP4231662A1 EP 4231662 A1 EP4231662 A1 EP 4231662A1 EP 22157257 A EP22157257 A EP 22157257A EP 4231662 A1 EP4231662 A1 EP 4231662A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
hearing device
speaker
membrane
volume
sound
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
EP22157257.1A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Thomas ZURBRÜGG
Antonio Hölzl
Samuel Harsch
Simon Köhler
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sonova Holding AG
Original Assignee
Sonova AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sonova AG filed Critical Sonova AG
Priority to EP22157257.1A priority Critical patent/EP4231662A1/fr
Publication of EP4231662A1 publication Critical patent/EP4231662A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/10—Earpieces; Attachments therefor ; Earphones; Monophonic headphones
    • H04R1/1016—Earpieces of the intra-aural type
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/20—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics
    • H04R1/22—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired frequency characteristic only 
    • H04R1/28—Transducer mountings or enclosures modified by provision of mechanical or acoustic impedances, e.g. resonator, damping means
    • H04R1/2807—Enclosures comprising vibrating or resonating arrangements
    • H04R1/2838—Enclosures comprising vibrating or resonating arrangements of the bandpass type
    • H04R1/2846—Vents, i.e. ports, e.g. shape thereof or tuning thereof with damping material
    • H04R1/2849—Vents, i.e. ports, e.g. shape thereof or tuning thereof with damping material for loudspeaker transducers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/20—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics
    • H04R1/22—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired frequency characteristic only 
    • H04R1/28—Transducer mountings or enclosures modified by provision of mechanical or acoustic impedances, e.g. resonator, damping means
    • H04R1/2807—Enclosures comprising vibrating or resonating arrangements
    • H04R1/2853—Enclosures comprising vibrating or resonating arrangements using an acoustic labyrinth or a transmission line
    • H04R1/2857—Enclosures comprising vibrating or resonating arrangements using an acoustic labyrinth or a transmission line for loudspeaker transducers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/20—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics
    • H04R1/22—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired frequency characteristic only 
    • H04R1/28—Transducer mountings or enclosures modified by provision of mechanical or acoustic impedances, e.g. resonator, damping means
    • H04R1/2869—Reduction of undesired resonances, i.e. standing waves within enclosure, or of undesired vibrations, i.e. of the enclosure itself
    • H04R1/2876—Reduction of undesired resonances, i.e. standing waves within enclosure, or of undesired vibrations, i.e. of the enclosure itself by means of damping material, e.g. as cladding
    • H04R1/288—Reduction of undesired resonances, i.e. standing waves within enclosure, or of undesired vibrations, i.e. of the enclosure itself by means of damping material, e.g. as cladding for loudspeaker transducers

Definitions

  • the invention is in the field hearing devices with active noise control.
  • Active noise control is the principle of reducing or suppressing unwanted sound by addition of a sound signal cancelling the unwanted sound.
  • Hearing devices with active noise control include devices that receive an electronic sound signal communicated wirelessly or by wire to the hearing device, especially so-called earphones or earbuds that for example couple to mobile phones or other audio devices. Sometimes, the term 'hearables' is used to designate smart earphones or earbuds. Hearing devices with active noise control also include so-called active earplugs, the primary purpose of which is to suppress noise in loud environments. Further, also hearing instruments, especially hearing aids, may include active noise control. For example, a beamformer of a hearing instrument may benefit from suppression of direct noise. Hearing aids are medical devices that help someone hard of hearing to better hear ambient sound by capturing ambient sound, processing the thus obtained signal in a frequency dependent manner, and emitting a processed and often amplified sound signal into the ear canal.
  • the hearing device usually has an earpiece having an acoustic sealing function and being shaped to be inserted at least partially into the ear canal to fit tightly to the ear canal ('sealed fit').
  • earpieces include both, earpieces of a standardized shape and having elasticity as well as earpieces of customized shape adapted to an ear canal of an individual user.
  • a sealed fit to the user's ear canal leads to a high occlusion and entails the risk that the membrane of the speaker of the hearing device may become biased.
  • so-called 'vents' are proposed, which are basically thin tubes connecting the volume of the ear canal with the ambience. Such vents are, however, acoustic leakage paths adversely influencing the frequency response for an ANC application.
  • moving coil speakers In addition to MEMS speakers. While balanced armature speakers are popular for hearing aids for having some specific advantages, moving coil speakers feature the advantage of providing a better sound quality at least for low frequencies. Moreover, they are less costly and more robust. Also, moving coil speakers tendentially act as pressure sources and not as volume velocity sources
  • Moving coil speakers have the property of having a membrane that, when arranged in a housing, can be arranged to divide a volume of the housing into a front volume, from which the sound is emitted, and a back volume. If the back volume is closed, the efficiency of the acoustic transducer is reduced, especially at low frequencies, because the membrane has to vibrate against the closed volume. Also, the low frequency sensitivity depends on the acoustic load. It therefore has already been proposed to provide the back volume with an acoustic port so that it is open to ambience. This is beneficial in view of the low-frequency efficiency and sensitivity of the transducer.
  • the acoustic resonance properties of the speaker then depend strongly on the acoustic load which in turn depends on individual parameters such as the quality of the sealing between the earpiece and the ear canal as well as the ear volume of the user.
  • both options yield an only limited predictability and invariance of the acoustic properties.
  • the predictability and invariance of the acoustic property is important.
  • EP 3 849 206 it has been proposed to provide a hearing device having an acoustic transducer, for example of the moving coil type, with a resistive member between the front and back volumes, parallel to the membrane. A second resistive member is placed between the back volume and the ambience. This reduces acoustic side effects arising from acoustic resonances and hence adds to the invariance of the acoustic properties.
  • the resistive members are additional elements that add to the complexity of the manufacturing process.
  • the hearing device (earphone, 'hearable', earbud, earplug, hearing aid, etc.) of the above-mentioned kind with a moving coil speaker and with an active noise control feedback circuit has at least one hole in the speaker membrane and/or, if present, in another element of the partition between the speaker front side and the speaker back side to which the membrane belongs.
  • Such other element of the partition may for example be a membrane frame surrounding the membrane and connecting it to a housing of the speaker.
  • the speaker has the property of the back side being coupled to ambience, for example via at least one rear port.
  • the path through the hole(s), due to the back side being coupled to environment, allow for an equalization of the pressure between the front side and the back side.
  • the membrane is subject to a bias due to a pressure difference.
  • the hole(s) ensure that the leakage path from the ear canal volume to the ambience is well-defined and predictable.
  • small holes in a thin element have an acoustical impedance having the characteristic of a resistor if they are small enough, with diameters of 0.5 mm or smaller, especially 0.4 mm or smaller. for example between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm.
  • An acoustic resistance leads to an acoustic damping, allowing for a mitigation of the resonance peak of the acoustic port, which resonance peak when pronounced can lead to undesired side effects in active noise control.
  • the size, number and arrangement of the hole(s) allows to engineer the acoustical impedance of the leakage path without adding substantial distortion.
  • the approach according to the invention allows to add the controlled leakage path without there being a necessity for further elements such as dedicated resistive members.
  • the approach according to the invention provides the controlled leakage path without there having to be an additional opening in the housing of the speaker, especially without any additional opening in the region facing the inner part of the ear canal. Hence the risk of obstruction due to pollution, for example by earwax, is reduced.
  • a front acoustic port is an acoustic port that connects the front volume to ambience.
  • the microphone may be an inner microphone acoustically coupled to the front volume and thereby configured to pick up sound from the ear canal volume.
  • the active noise control circuit then will be an active noise control feedback circuit.
  • the microphone may be an outer microphone coupled to ambience and be configured to pick up ambient sound to be suppressed.
  • the hearing device comprises both, at least one outer microphone and at least one inner microphone, wherein both, the signal by the inner microphone and the signal picked up by the outer microphone may be used for noise control.
  • the hole(s) is/are in the membrane itself.
  • This approach features the advantage that the membrane can be dimensioned to use any available space in the speaker housing because no space is needed for an acoustic connection between the volumes in the front and in the back of the membrane.
  • the size of the membrane has an influence on the sound quality and speaker efficiency.
  • the hearing device may comprise a housing encompassing a speaker volume that is divided by the partition - i.e., the membrane and possibly a membrane frame surrounding the membrane - into a speaker front volume and a speaker back volume.
  • the housing may comprise a rear acoustic port - or more than one rear acoustic ports that connect(s) the back volume to ambience.
  • front volume There may optionally also be a connection between the front volume and the ambience, for example via a front acoustic port.
  • a front acoustic port is not a requirement, due to the approach according to the invention, the front volume is anyway connected to the ambience via the perforation and the rear acoustic port.
  • the hearing device will consist of the earpiece, i.e. all elements of the hearing device may be physically integrated in the one part (earpiece) that in use is partially or fully inserted in the ear.
  • the hearing device in addition to the earpiece comprises a further physical element separate therefrom and for example connected by a cable or tube to the earpiece.
  • the electronic control or parts thereof may belong to such separate physical element, whereas the speaker will be integrated in the earpiece.
  • the hearing device may further comprise a battery (especially a rechargeable battery) or a battery compartment.
  • a battery especially a rechargeable battery
  • a battery compartment is optional if the earpiece is connected to another part of the hearing device, such as a behind-the-ear piece, or an external device (such as a mobile phone), via a cable.
  • the earpiece to which the housing may belong, may comprise a flexible member tightly fitting to the ear canal.
  • the flexible member then may carry the housing. It for example accommodates a spout that serves as the sound outlet and that belongs to the housing and forms a housing extension towards the ear canal volume.
  • the flexible member may be generic (for example by being provided in one shape and size or in a choice of shapes and/or sizes) or may be custom made.
  • the earpiece may have a custom shaped housing adapted to the anatomy of the person wearing it.
  • the hearing device may especially be an earphone or earbud and may to this end be configured to generate the electrical signal (that is converted into the sound signal by the speaker, by the membrane being set into vibration by the electric signal) depending on a received electronic sound signal.
  • the electronic sound signal in this, in embodiments, may be an electronic representation of the sound the user is supposed to hear, whereas the feedback obtained from the inner microphone is used to deduct therefrom any undesired sound portions by adding, to the electronic sound signal when the electrical signal is calculated by the electronic control, a signal portion that causes the membrane to produce a corresponding sound portion that negatively interferes with the undesired sound portions.
  • the electronic sound signal may, as is known in the art, be received wirelessly or via a wired connection.
  • the electronic control may thus comprise an according interface.
  • An interface for receiving an electronic sound signal from an external source may optionally be present also if the hearing device is an earplug having the primary purpose of cancelling sound, for example for persons working in a loud environment.
  • the hearing device may comprise an outer microphone equipped to pick up an ambient sound signal.
  • the present invention also concerns a method of producing sound in an ear using a hearing device as described in this text by coupling the hearing device to the ear in a manner that the earpiece seals off an ear canal volume from ambience (with, of course, a path between the ear canal volume and ambience remaining through the opening(s)), emitting the sound by causing the membrane to vibrate in that an electrical signal is fed to a coil of the moving coil speaker, the coil being coupled to a central portion of the membrane and being in a magnetic field, and using a signal picked up by the microphone to influence the electrical signal so that undesired sound portions in the ear are cancelled.
  • the undesired sound portions correspond to noise picked up by the microphone.
  • the microphone is an inner microphone
  • the undesired sound portions may be, as is known per se in active noise control, sound portions picked up by the inner microphone, which sound portions do not belong to an electronic sound signal representing the wanted sound.
  • Signal processing in a manner that sound measured in the ear canal or a difference between measured sound and wanted sound in the ear canal is minimized in a feedback control circuit is known in the art and not described in any more detail here.
  • the hearing device may optionally also apply feed-forward noise cancelling, for example by using an outer microphone.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an ear canal 1 that on one side is terminated by the tympanic membrane (eardrum) 2.
  • An ear canal volume 3 is terminated by the eardrum 2 on one side and by a closed-fitting earpiece 10 on the other side.
  • the closed-fitting earpiece 10 comprises a speaker 11 (electroacoustic transducer).
  • a sound processing unit 12 feeds an (electrical) transducer input signal to the speaker 11.
  • the sound processing unit in the depicted embodiment receives an audio signal from a remote device via a wireless interface 14 and could additionally, or alternatively, receive an audio signal from an optional outer microphone 15 picking up ambient sound, especially for example if the hearing device is a hearing aid.
  • the speaker 11 has a sound outlet communicating with the ear canal volume 3.
  • An inner microphone 13 is also acoustically coupled to the ear canal volume 3 to pick up the sound in the ear canal volume, and to provide a feedback signal for an active noise control (ANC) loop to the sound processing unit.
  • ANC active noise control
  • FIG. 2 shows the earpiece of the hearing device with the speaker 11 and the inner microphone 13.
  • the speaker 11 is a moving coil speaker that is housed in a housing 40. It has a membrane 41 dividing the housing between a front volume 31 and a back volume 32.
  • the front volume 31 connects to the ear canal volume 3 via a spout 51.
  • the back volume connects to the ambience via a rear acoustic port 52.
  • the rear acoustic port 52 may for example be a hole in the rear housing, optionally provided with a mechanical protection element, and/or may comprise a rear spout or other access to the rear volume.
  • the earpiece comprises a flexible member 21 that fits tightly to the ear canal and carries the housing 40 by accommodating the spout 51 in an interior passage.
  • the flexible member is of the acoustically untransparent 'closed fitting' kind, i.e. it substantially closes off any passage between the ear canal volume and ambience except possibly via the spout 51 and the speaker as described in more detail hereinafter.
  • the inner microphone 13 is illustrated to be arranged within the speaker's front volume 31. This, however, is not a requirement. Rather the inner microphone 13 could also be arranged elsewhere in communication with the ear canal volume 3, for example via a separate access port in the flexible member 21 or in the spout 51 (c.f. Fig. 6 ) or in the inner part of the housing 40.
  • the speaker has a moving coil driver 45 - comprising a magnet - held by a support structure, also called basket 44.
  • the basket 44 is open in that it comprises a plurality of through openings, as is known for many moving coil speakers, i.e. acoustic waves generated on the backside of the membrane can get through the basket in to the remaining part of the rear volume.
  • the membrane 41 - and for example also the basket 44 - is/are held by a membrane frame 43 that in the depicted embodiment serves as a part of the partition and divides the volume inside the housing into the front volume and the rear volume together with the membrane (to be very precise, in addition to the membrane frame 43 and the membrane 41, also any protective cover (dust cap) of the speaker, if present, belongs to the partition.
  • the membrane has a vaulted central part 48; however, in alternative embodiments the membrane may have a central hole, sealed off by a protective cover).
  • the membrane 41 has a plurality of holes between the speaker front side and the speaker back side, i.e. the front side volume and the back side volume are connected by the holes in the membrane.
  • the holes are comparably small piercing holes.
  • the holes are provided in the membrane frame 43 instead of in the membrane, and in both, the membrane 41 and the membrane frame 43, respectively.
  • the basket 44 can optionally be closed.
  • the embodiment of Figure 5 comprises a plurality of the rear acoustic ports 52.
  • the embodiment of Figure 6 comprises in addition to the rear acoustic port 52 also an optional front acoustic port 55.
  • the hearing device has, in addition to the controlled acoustic leakage path via the holes in the membrane and/or the membrane frame, a further controlled acoustic leakage path from the ear canal volume 3 to ambience via the front acoustic port 55.
  • a further controlled acoustic leakage path from the ear canal volume 3 to ambience via the front acoustic port 55.
  • front acoustic port may, depending on its placement, have the disadvantage of being exposed to possible staining in the ear canal, it may nevertheless in embodiments be desired, for example to influence the frequency dependence of the overall leakage, to avoid undesired resonances, etc.
  • Figure 7 shows, for embodiments having the holes 45 in the membrane 41, a possible distribution of the holes.
  • the holes 45 can for example be essentially uniformly distributed across the surface of the membrane, for example by being arranged in approximately equal distances on concentric circles.
  • Alternative arrangements, for example grid-like or similar, are also possible.
  • the number of holes is greater than one, for example at least 4, at least 8 or even at least 12.
  • the holes may in embodiments be manufactured by laser cutting/laser punching or by laser piercing.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Headphones And Earphones (AREA)
EP22157257.1A 2022-02-17 2022-02-17 Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit Pending EP4231662A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP22157257.1A EP4231662A1 (fr) 2022-02-17 2022-02-17 Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP22157257.1A EP4231662A1 (fr) 2022-02-17 2022-02-17 Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP4231662A1 true EP4231662A1 (fr) 2023-08-23

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Family Applications (1)

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EP22157257.1A Pending EP4231662A1 (fr) 2022-02-17 2022-02-17 Dispositif d'aide auditive avec contrôle actif du bruit

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EP (1) EP4231662A1 (fr)

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2019018549A1 (fr) * 2017-07-18 2019-01-24 Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. Transducteur de microphone à bobine mobile avec orifice secondaire
EP3849206A1 (fr) 2020-01-10 2021-07-14 Sonova AG Dispositif auditif intra-auriculaire doté d'un boîtier renfermant des parties de volume couplées acoustiquement

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2019018549A1 (fr) * 2017-07-18 2019-01-24 Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. Transducteur de microphone à bobine mobile avec orifice secondaire
EP3849206A1 (fr) 2020-01-10 2021-07-14 Sonova AG Dispositif auditif intra-auriculaire doté d'un boîtier renfermant des parties de volume couplées acoustiquement

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