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AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsRobert J. Oliveira, Davis W. Chamberlin, Martin P. Babcock
Estimating the term…
Disposably attached to the ear piece of a hearing aid, which includes any sound transmission device, is a user-disposable sleeve comprising soft polymeric retarded recovery foam that can be compressed to be freely insertable into a person's ear and allowed to recover to become wedged in the canal. Preferably, the sleeve is disposably attached to the ear piece by mating of screw threads on the sleeve and the ear piece. The ear piece may be a separate component from the hearing aid. The component is made either of rigid or flexible plastic and has connecting portions of various lengths depending on the depth of insertion of the sleeve into the canal. The sleeve may be of various lengths depending on the depth of insertion into the ear canal desired. The sleeve/ear piece assembly may also have a layer of sound transmitting scrim over its central opening to minimize penetration of the connecting portion past the end of the sleeve.
An ear piece component for use with a user-disposable sleeve, having a duct and soft polymeric foam firmly secured to the duct, to facilitate transmission of sound to an ear canal of a user, said ear piece component comprising:
An assembly for transmitting sound to an ear canal of a user, comprising:
A user-disposable sleeve freely insertable into an ear canal of a user for facilitating transmission of sound to the ear of the user, comprising:
A user-disposable sleeve for limited insertion into the rim of an ear canal of a user for facilitating a transmission of sound to the ear of the user, comprising:
An assembly for transmitting sound to the ear canal of a user, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.