Patent No. 5295191 Hearing aid intended for being mounted within the ear canal

 

Patent No. 5295191

Hearing aid intended for being mounted within the ear canal (Van Vroenhoven, Mar 15, 1994)

Abstract

An in-the-ear canal hearing aid comprises a microphone, an amplifier, an electromechanical transducer, for example in the form of a telephone, and an infrared detector. The hearing aid also includes an elongated extraction element for extracting the hearing aid from the ear canal. The extraction element is in the form of an optical conductor for conducting infrared radiation. One end of the optical conductor is mechanically attached to the hearing aid housing in a manner such that the end of the conductor is optically coupled to the infrared detector. As a result, the extraction element is a dual function device in which its second function is to conduct the infrared radiation to the infrared detector of the hearing aid.

Notes:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a hearing aid intended to be mounted within an ear canal, comprising a microphone, an amplifier and an electromechanical transducer, for example, a telephone, accommodated in a housing, and including an extraction means for extracting the hearing aid from the ear canal, the input to the microphone being acoustically coupled to a sound entrance in the housing.

2. Description of the Related Art

Such a hearing aid is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,312. A contact hearing aid is discussed there, in which the electromechanical transducer is in the form of a piezoelectric element generating vibrations which are transferred directly to the tympanic membrane. For this purpose, the hearing aid is to be mounted deep within the ear canal. It is more customary for the transducer to have the form of a telephone (loudspeaker) with which acoustic signals are generated which hit the tympanic membrane. In this embodiment too there are hearing aids which are to be mounted deep within the ear canal. For extracting such hearing aids from the ear canal, the hearing aids comprise extraction means.

The extraction means in the prior art hearing aid is in the form of a rod of ferromagnetic material which at one end cooperates with a magnet and the other end is capable of cooperating with a magnetic ring attached to the housing of the hearing aid. The magnet may be disposed in two positions relative to the rod. In one position of the magnet the hearing aid may be extracted from the ear canal by means of a magnetic force exerted on the ring of the hearing aid by the other end of the rod. In the other position of the magnet the rod can, prior to the hearing aid being extracted, be inserted into the ear canal without a force being exerted on the hearing aid by the rod. The prior-art hearing aid thus has the drawback of requiring a separate accessory for extracting the hearing aid. It is known to use, in lieu of a separate accessory, a component which is mechanically, hinged or not, coupled to the housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to propose a different type of extraction means so that a separate accessory is not required either.

The hearing aid according to the invention is thereto characterized, in that the hearing aid comprises a detector accommodated in the housing, this detector being arranged for receiving infrared signals, for converting the infrared signals into electric signals and for supplying these electric signals at an output, and including a signal processing means with an input coupled to the output of the detector, for processing the electric signals supplied by the detector, in that the extraction means is in the form of an elongated radiation conductive element for conducting the infrared signals, in that an end of the radiation conductive element is mechanically coupled to the housing in the place of the detector, so that the detector is optically coupled to said end of the radiation conductive element.

The measure according to the invention is based on the recognition that with respect to the extraction means a choice is to be made so that further problems that may occur with a hearing aid can be remedied simultaneously.

Hearing aids per se are known comprising an infrared detector for receiving infrared signals. They may be, for example, infrared remote control signals for the hearing aid. However, wireless transmission of audio signals to the hearing aid may also be concerned. If such a hearing aid is arranged as an in-the-ear canal apparatus, which is to be worn deep within the ear canal, the following problem may occur. Since the hearing aid is mounted deep within the ear canal, it is possible that there is no "visual contact" with the surroundings outside the ear canal as a result of the shape of the ear canal. The infrared transmission to the detector may therefore be seriously disturbed. By implementing the measure according to the invention the extraction means is arranged in the form of the elongated radiation conductive element, so that it likewise serves as an optical conductor for the external infrared signals to the detector. Since the other end of the radiation conductive element protrudes from the ear canal, a better reception of the infrared signals in the detector is thus realised by means of the external infrared signals being conducted via the radiation conductive element to the detector. The radiation conductive element thus has a twofold object. On the one hand the element serves as an extraction mechanism and on the other hand the element serves as a conductor for the infrared signals.

The other end of the radiation conductive element preferably comprises an optical converging means. This may realise an enhancement of the infrared signal reception. The optical converging means may also be used as a gripping means, as required, so that the hearing aid may be extracted from the ear canal in a simple manner.