Hearing-aid with integrated circuit electronics
AssigneeRobert Bosch GmbH
InventorsAlbert Eggert, Rainer Goldschmidt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hearing-aid has an electronic voltage stabilizing circuit (16) to compensate for change in supply voltage due to battery (18) aging and use. The electret microphone (11) is located within a housing, the voltage stabilizing circuit (16) being located within the same microphone housing, thus requiring no additional space or terminal connections. Preferably, an impedance transformer is provided; the electronic components (31-34) are placed on the same semi-conductor chip as the components (35, 36) of the voltage stabilizing circuit.
Claims13
A miniaturized, battery-weakening-compensated hearing-aid device (10) including
- a microphone (11);
- a microphone housing structure (12) within the hearing-aid device (10);
- a sound amplifier (20,23) to amplify the electric signal from the microphone;
- an earphone (22) receiving the amplified signals from the sound amplifier;
- a current supply battery (18) powering the hearing-aid device;
- and
- means for compensating for decreases in the output voltage of said battery as it ages and weakens;
- wherein, in accordance with the invention, said compensating means comprises an integrated voltage stabilizer circuit (16) located, for miniaturization purposes, within the microphone housing (12) of the microphone and connected in parallel to the microphone (11).
A miniaturized, battery-weakening-compensated hearing-aid device including the microphone (11);
- a microphone housing structure (12) within the hearing-aid device;
- a sound amplifier (20,23) to amplify the electric signal from the microphone;
- an earphone (22) receiving the amplified signals from the sound amplifier;
- a current supply battery (18) powering the hearing-aid device;
- and
- a voltage stabilizer circuit (16), connected to the battery, the microphone, and the sound amplifier,
- wherein, in accordance with the invention, the voltage stabilizer circuit is located within the microphone housing (12) of the microphone and is connected in parallel to the microphone;
- and wherein an impedance transformer (32) is provided, and the microphone (11) is of the electret microphone type, the impedance transformer being located within the microphone housing structure (12).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.