Earpiece with actuator
AssigneeZoku, Inc.
InventorSimon Austen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An earpiece for an earphone comprising a leading portion, a trailing portion, and a resilient bridge interconnecting the leading portion and trailing portion. The resilient bridge is configured to flex so that the earpiece can conform to ear canal geometry as it is received in a user ear canal and to provide a biasing effect so that the leading portion and/or trailing portion contact the ear canal wall. An actuator to augment low frequency sound is provided on the leading portion.
Claims19
An earpiece for an earphone to locatable in the ear canal of a user comprising:
- a leading portion locatable beyond the isthmus of the ear canal in proximity to the tympanic membrane of a user;
- a trailing portion to be in proximity to the auricle of the user;
- a resilient bridge interconnecting the leading portion and the trailing portion, arranged to form a V-shape to conform to ear canal geometry as it is received in a user ear canal, the sizes of the leading portion and trailing portion being chosen so as the leading portion and the trailing portion do not block the flow of ambient noise directly through the ear canal to the tympanic membrane and the resilient bridge provides a biasing effect to bias the leading portion and/or trailing portion against the ear canal wall;
- an actuator carried by the leading portion configured to vibrate the ear canal wall in response to received signals.
An earpiece for an earphone to locatable in the ear canal of a user comprising:
- a leading portion locatable beyond the isthmus of the ear canal in proximity to the tympanic membrane of a user;
- a trailing portion to be in proximity to the auricle of the user;
- a resilient bridge interconnecting the leading portion and the trailing portion, arranged to form a V-shape to conform to ear canal geometry as it is received in a user ear canal, the sizes of the leading portion and trailing portion being chosen so as the leading portion and the trailing portion do not block the flow of ambient noise directly through the ear canal to the tympanic membrane and the resilient bridge provides a biasing effect to bias the leading portion and/or trailing portion against the ear canal wall;
- an actuator carried by the leading portion configured to vibrate the ear canal wall in response to received signals;
- wherein the actuator is mounted between the ends of a pair of leaf spring members, at least one of the leaf spring members being biased to contact the ear canal wall.
An earpiece for an earphone locatable in an ear canal of a user comprising:
- a resilient substrate comprising two arms having rectangular or square cross section bent around an apex to form a leading portion, the arms being substantially parallel in the leading portion, and further bent at an angle to form a trailing portion with the arms diverging, the leading portion locatable beyond an isthmus of the ear canal in proximity to a tympanic membrane of a user;
- a trailing portion configured to be in proximity to an auricle of the user, and to conform to ear canal geometry as it is received in a user ear canal;
- a piezoelectric actuator mounted between a pair of opposed leaf springs between the arms in the leading portion, at least of the leaf springs bearing on one of the arms to transmit vibration of the piezoelectric actuator to the arm and from the arm to the wall of the ear canal of the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.