CN101166376A - Hearing device with conducting metal clip - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to decrease interference effect of power-supply in a hearing aid, to provide such a hearing aid with an antenna for receiving and/or sending induction signal, a signal processing device (12) connecting with the antenna, a power-supply unit (11) for supplying power to the signal processing device and a conducting object for electric connecting the power supply unit (11) and the signal processing device (12). The conducting object (13) is like L or U-shape and abuts on power-supply unit (11). Furthermore, the conducting object constitutes into one part of a basic round or rectangle ring, the ring axes has a main direction component vertical to the antenna longitudinal axis. Therefore the magnetic field generated by the conducting object (13) vertical to the antenna, minimizing the magnetic interference of the magnetic field.

Description

Hearing aid with conductive metal bow

technical field

The invention relates to a hearing aid with an antenna for receiving and/or transmitting induction signals, a signal processing device connected to the antenna, a power supply unit for supplying power to the signal processing device and a device for connecting the power supply unit with the signal processing device Electrically connected electrical conductors. The term "antenna" is here also understood in particular to mean coil parts and coils.

Background technique

Hearing aids are wearable hearing aids for the hearing impaired. Different hearing aid structures are available to meet a large number of individual needs, such as behind-the-ear hearing aids (HdO), in-ear hearing aids (IdO) and external ear hearing aids. Hearing aids are typically designed to be worn on the outer ear or in the ear canal. Additionally, there are bone conduction hearing aids, implantable or vibrating (tactile) hearing aids on the market. The impaired hearing is thus stimulated mechanically or electronically.

In principle, a hearing aid has an input transducer, an amplifier and an output transducer as basic elements. The input transducers are typically acoustic receivers such as microphones and/or electromagnetic receivers such as induction coils. The output transducer is mainly implemented as an electro-acoustic transducer such as a microspeaker, or an electro-mechanical transducer such as a bone conduction earpiece. Amplifiers are usually integrated in signal processing units. This principle construction is illustrated in the example of a behind-the-ear hearing aid in FIG. 1 . One or more microphones 2 are installed in the hearing aid housing 1 for wearing behind the ear for receiving sounds from the environment. Also integrated in the hearing aid housing 1 is a signal processing unit 3 which processes the microphone signal and amplifies it. The output signal of the signal processing unit 3 is passed to a loudspeaker or earpiece 4 which emits an acoustic signal. When necessary, the sound is transmitted to the eardrum of the hearing aid wearer via a microphone that is fixed in the ear canal with an otoplastik. The hearing aid and in particular the signal processing unit 3 are powered via a battery 5 which is likewise integrated in the hearing aid housing 1 .

When using the inductive transfer system in a hearing aid, the influence of internal interference, ie the influence of interference occurring within the hearing aid itself, must be kept low. Electromagnetic interference signals generated in the hearing aid are applied to the reception path (empfangspfad) to the transmission system, so that only external signals whose signal strength is greater than the signal strength of the interference signal can be received.

Typical sources of electromagnetic interference are, for example, earpieces designed as magnetic transducers or hearing aid electronics which themselves emit electromagnetic interference signals. In addition, all connecting wires between the components of the hearing aid are also a source of interference, these connecting wires acting as induction antennas due to the current flowing through these wires. The superimposition of these numerous electromagnetic interference signals emitted by different interference signal sources is received at the location of the receiving antennas or receiving coils of wireless signal transmission systems using the induction range or typically the high-frequency range.

Assuming that the local arrangement of all components in the hearing aid is rigid, purposeful wire loops can be provided, through which current flows and which cause a corresponding counterfield to be generated at the receiving antenna. A corresponding hearing aid with a wire loop for compensating induced interference fields is known in patent document DE 10 2004 051 226 B3. In particular, it is proposed to route the conductor loop such that its axis runs parallel to the axis of the transmitting/receiving coil. However, the compensation of the induced interference field has the disadvantage that the magnitude of the interference field must be known, at least in an order of magnitude. Another disadvantage of such wiring is that the wires may become jammed, frayed or loosened when the hearing aid is switched off. Furthermore, such wiring requires, for example, sufficient space around the batteries of the hearing aid.

Different forms of antennas extending in a plane are described in WO 2005/081583 A1. The antenna is installed in the hearing aid so that it contacts the battery of the hearing aid over as large an area as possible. The battery thus shields the antenna from electromagnetic radiation emitted by other components of the hearing aid, such as the loudspeaker.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem addressed by the invention is to keep the interference field effects in the hearing aid small in a simple manner.

According to the invention, this technical problem is solved by a hearing aid with an antenna for receiving and/or transmitting induction signals, a signal processing device connected to the antenna, a power supply unit for powering the signal processing device and a An electrical conductor electrically connected to a power supply unit and a signal processing device, wherein the electrical conductor abuts the power supply unit in an L or U shape and the electrical conductor forms a circular or rectangular ring whose axis has a main direction component perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the antenna part.

By structuring the interference field of the electrical conductor through which the current flows perpendicular to the maximum sensitivity of the interference-sensitive components of the hearing aid, the influence of the interference field is advantageously minimized. The interference between the disturbance field and the work field is thereby minimized and differs from attempts to compensate in a targeted manner.

The hearing aid can be designed as an in-the-ear hearing aid with a face plate, wherein the longitudinal axis of the antenna is arranged perpendicular to the face plate, and one leg of the electrical conductor is likewise formed perpendicular to the face plate. Space can often be saved by this arrangement, since generally the greatest space is available within the hearing aid in the direction perpendicular to the panel.

The electrical conductor is preferably substantially made of metal strip. The arrangement of the metal strips in a given orientation saves space compared to a round conductor with the same conducting cross-section.

If the power supply unit has a cylindrical battery, it is advantageous if the electrical conductors run partly in the radial direction of the battery and partly in the axial direction of the battery. In this way, short electrical conductors running around the battery can be achieved.

According to a particular embodiment, the electrical conductors can be welded on the battery contacts. Alternatively, the electrical conductors can also be part of the battery contacts. In the latter case, a reduction in parts is achieved in an advantageous manner.

The construction and arrangement of the electrical conductors according to the invention has particular advantages in a modularly constructed hearing aid, wherein the signal processing components together with the electrical conductors and the power supply unit are mounted on the panel and form the first module, while the hearing aid with the earpiece The hearing aid housing forms the second module. Since the receiving coil is placed in such a modular hearing aid independently of the rest of the hearing aid electronics, it is advantageous not to prescribe a compensation quality for the interference field, but to keep the interference as small as possible from the start by the vertical arrangement.

Description of drawings

Explain the present invention in detail below according to accompanying drawing, in accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 shows the principle structure of a hearing aid with its basic components, while

Fig. 2 shows a panel of an in-the-ear hearing aid with electrical conductors arranged according to the invention.

Detailed ways

The embodiments described in detail hereinafter are preferred embodiments of the present invention.

The invention is based on the recognition that the spatial orientation of the receiving coils can shift within certain angular limits. On the one hand, this is limited by the need to ensure the radio transmission function, and on the other hand, the available space in the ear canal is also limited by the appearance. All current-carrying wires inside a hearing aid or hearing aid act as an induction antenna generating a disturbing magnetic field. The disturbing influence of the magnetic field on the receiving antenna depends on the magnitude and direction of the magnetic field with respect to the orientation of the receiving antenna. The wires can now be guided geometrically according to different spatial orientations of the receiving coils, so that the coupling of the magnetic field within the receiving antenna is minimized. Interfering influences of the magnetic field on the receiving coil can be kept as low as possible by this measure not only locally but also in a larger space.

In order to ensure optimum radio transmission even in the case of hearing aids, the transmitting and receiving coils are arranged parallel to one another. In an in-the-ear hearing aid, the antenna or coil is within a certain boundary determined by the orientation of the ear canal and is therefore oriented perpendicular to the plane of the panel. Now, if the leads in the in-the-ear hearing aid are guided in the plane of the panel, as is usually the case, the leads unfold into current loops and generate a magnetic field which is oriented predominantly parallel to the receiving antenna. This results in maximum interference coupling.

According to the invention, however, it is not provided that the lead wires run parallel to the plane of the panel, but instead run perpendicular to the plane of the panel, as shown in FIG. 2 .

A panel 10 equipped with a battery 11 and a circuit board 12 is specifically shown in FIG. 2 . The axis of the battery 11 is parallel to the plane of the panel, ie to the main plane of extent of the panel 10 . Metal bows 13 are used to conduct current from the battery 11 to the circuit board 12 . The metal bow is rigidly constructed and made of a strip-shaped conductive material. The electrically conductive material is not insulated here, since it does not come into contact with other electronic components than the electrodes of the battery 11 .

In the selected example, the metal bow is L-shaped. The legs 131 of the bow protrude from the axis of the cell in the radial direction of the cell and perpendicularly above the plane of the panel. The other leg 132 of the metal bow 13 extends over the housing surface of the battery 11 in the axial direction of the battery. At its free end the first leg 131 is integrally connected to the battery contact 133 and held in a specific section of the panel 10 . The second leg 132 is connected to the printed circuit board 12 at its free end, which is not visible in FIG. 2 . The metal bow 13 thus forms part of a substantially rectangular ring, the axis of which runs parallel to the plane of the panel. The AC component within the metal bow 13 thus induces a magnetic field with a principal component parallel to the plane of the panel.

Since, as mentioned above, the receiving antenna is usually arranged almost vertically on the panel 10, ie its main direction component is perpendicular to the plane of the panel, the disturbing magnetic field caused by the metal bow 13 is substantially perpendicular to the receiving antenna. In this way, the influence of interfering fields is minimized.

Since the metal bow is a solid component and is welded to the battery contact 133 or is itself part of the battery contact 133 , structural tolerances are reduced compared to routing loose wires. For the construction of so-called "semi-modular" hearing aids in the ear, ie, as mentioned, the first panel with the signal processing electronics is formed as the first module, while the housing with the earpiece forms the second module. module, and to place the receiving coil independently of the rest of the hearing aid electronics, a clearly defined position of the metal bow is necessary for the function of the transmission system.

Provided that the orientation of the receiving antenna must remain within certain limits, the position of the receiving coil within the hearing aid can be varied, since interference effects on a larger spatial area are minimized according to the invention. A construction technique for hearing aids in which the receiving antenna is placed independently of other components can thus be realized.

The solution according to the invention further eliminates the outlay for additional conductor loops which generally only locally generate an inversion field. Furthermore, the greater freedom with regard to the spatial position of the receiving antenna enables smaller in-the-ear hearing aids to be constructed.

Claims (7)

1. a hearing aids has

-be used to receive and/or send the antenna of induced signal,

-the signal processing apparatus (3,12) that links to each other with antenna,

-be used to the power supply of this signal processing apparatus power supply unit (5,11) and

-be used for electric conductor (13) that power supply unit (5,11) is electrically connected with signal processing apparatus (3,12),

It is characterized in that,

-electric conductor (13) abut against on the power supply unit (5,11) with being L or U-shaped and

-electric conductor (13) has constituted the part of the ring of circle or rectangle, and the axis of this ring has the major directional component perpendicular to the antenna longitudinal axis.

2. hearing aids according to claim 1, this hearing aids is constructed to have the in-the-ear hearing aid of panel (10), wherein the longitudinal axis of this antenna is arranged perpendicular to this panel (10), and a leg (131) of this electric conductor (13) is configured to equally perpendicular to panel (10).

3. hearing aids according to claim 1 and 2, wherein electric conductor (13) is made by metal tape.

4. according to each described hearing aids in the claim 1 to 3, wherein, described power supply unit (5,11) has cylindrical battery, and this electric conductor (13) moving towards on the axial direction at battery in the radial direction and partly at battery partly.

5. according to each described hearing aids in the claim 1 to 4, wherein, this electric conductor (13) is welded on the battery contact (133).

6. according to each described hearing aids in the claim 1 to 4, wherein this electric conductor (13) is the part of battery contact (133).

7. according to each described hearing aids in the claim 1 to 6, this hearing aids modularly constructing, wherein Signal Processing Element (12) is installed in panel (10) together with this electric conductor (13) and this power supply unit (5,11) and goes up and formed first module, and the hearing aid shell body that has a receiver has formed second module.

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