WO2013117223A1

WO2013117223A1 - A pumping device and a method to make the pumping device for inflating/deflating an ear mold of a hearing device and the pumping device

Info

Publication number: WO2013117223A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/052129
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anton Gebert
Original assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte Ltd
Current assignee: Sivantos Pte Ltd
Priority date: 2012-02-08
Filing date: 2012-02-08
Publication date: 2013-08-15
Anticipated expiration: 2014-08-08

Description

A pumping device and a method to make the pumping device for inflating/deflating an ear mold of a hearing device and the pumping device

The invention relates to a pumping mechanism for inflating/deflating an ear mold of a hearing device. In a hearing device, earphones work as interface for trans^¬ ferring sound into a user's ear. For effective functioning, the earphones are worn by a user into an exterior part of his ear. However, wearing the earphone on the ear is uncomfort^¬ able for a user due to tough mold of the earphone which is in contact to the exterior part of the user's year. To make wearing comfortable, the mold of the earphone is made sub^¬ stantially smooth and soft by using stretchable material.

However, making the mold of the earphone from the stretchable material still has fitting problem on the exterior part of the ear, specially related to the ventilation through the user's ear. At the same time, such ear-phones are not fit- able to various users willing to use the same ear-phones. The issue is dealt through an inflatable ear mold in which the air can be adjusted to fit the user's ear. For inflating the ear mold, manual pump can be used. The ear mold is first in^¬ flated and then the user tests the ear mold for fitting. The user have to keep on inflating or deflating the ear mold till the ear mold gets proper fitting for the user ear. And for each testing, the user has to take out the ear mold out of the exterior of the ear and test it. It is a time consuming process and tiring for the user.

It is an object of the invention to provide a comfortable fitting of an ear mold to the user' s ear in a user friendly way . The object is achieved by a device of claim 1 and a method of claim 7.

According to an embodiment of the pumping device for inflat- ing/deflating an ear mold for a hearing device, the pumping device includes a first segment and a second segment. The first segment is adapted to be in a first state to form a container for encapsulating a volume of air into the pumping device and to be in a second state to inflate the container for inflating/deflating the ear mold. The second segment is adapted to be in a third stage to form a closed end of the container and to be in a fourth stage to allow passage of the volume of air for inflating/deflating the ear mold. The first segment and the second segment are adapted to be coupled to pump the air into or out of the ear mold. The segments are made of compressible material, so that the state change of the segments can be easily and swiftly done.

According to another embodiment of the device, wherein the first segment comprising a first electro-active polymer ele^¬ ment and the second segment comprising a second electro- polymer element, such that the electro-active polymer ele^¬ ments are electrically coupled together to allow physical coupling of the segments to the air into or out of the ear mold. Using electro-active polymer elements make the pumping mechanism automatic and easily controllable by an user of the hearing device.

According to yet another embodiment of the device, the seg- ments are discontinuous to form various parts such that the parts of the segments are coupled together to form continuity and to pump the air into or out of the ear mold. Such discon^¬ tinuous segments make the pumping mechanism efficient as the volume of air to be transferred in one pumping cycle is small and controllable for the user.

According to one embodiment of the device, wherein the parts of the first segment is aligned into a first selection and a second selection and the parts of the second segment into a third selection and a fourth selection. That makes each of the first selection and the second selection to be in either of the first state or the second state at a particular time. That also makes each of the third selection and the fourth selection can be in either of the third state or the fourth state at a particular time. Making such selections of the parts of the segments standardizes pumping cycle according to an structure of the pumping device and also states of the parts of the segments in various time frames of the pumping cycle .

According to one exemplary embodiment of the device, the pumping device is included into the hearing device. Such pumping devices are small, light and portable which makes fitting management of the ear mold easy for different users of the same hearing device.

The above-mentioned and other features of the invention will now be addressed with reference to the drawings of a pre^¬ ferred embodiment of the present pumping device for inflat^¬ ing/deflating an ear mold for a hearing device. The illustrated embodiment of the pumping device is intended to illus^¬ trate, but not limit the invention. The drawings contain the following figures, in which like numbers refers to like parts, throughout the description and drawings.

FIG 1A illustrates a pumping device attached to an ear mold in a first time frame of a pumping cycle.

FIG IB illustrates the pumping device attached to an ear mold in a second time frame of a pumping cycle.

FIG 1C illustrates the pumping device attached to an ear mold in a third time frame of a pumping cycle. FIG ID illustrates the pumping device attached to an ear mold in a fourth time frame of a pumping cycle.

FIG 2 illustrates an exemplary pumping device attached to an ear mold.

Discussing FIG 1A, FIG IB, FIG 1C and FIG ID together to describe a pumping cycle for inflating an ear mold 2 having a representation of the pumping device 1 in first time frame, the second time frame, the third time frame and the further time frame respectively of the pumping cycle. As per the fig^¬ ures, a pumping device 1 is coupled to the ear mold 2 such that a volume of air enters into the ear mold 2 to inflate the ear mold 2. The pumping device 1 includes a first segment 3 and a second segment 6 for inflating or deflating the ear mold. The first segment 3 moves into either a first state 16 or a second state 5 according to pressure applied onto it. In normal state, when no pressure is applied onto the first seg^¬ ment 3, the first segment 3 gets into the first state 16 and forms a container 4 for encapsulating the volume of air. When the pressure is applied on the first segment 3, the first segment 3 moves into the second state 5 and deflates the con^¬ tainer 4 for further shifting the air into the pumping device towards the ear mold for inflating the ear mold 2. The second segment 6 moves into either a third state 7 or a fourth state 9 according to pressure applied onto it. When the pressure is applied on the second segment 6, the second segment 6 moves into the third state 7 and forms a close end 8 of the con^¬ tainer 4. When no pressure is applied or pressure is released than the second segment 6 moves into a fourth state 9 and al^¬ low passing of the air towards the ear mold 2.

The segments 3, 6 are discontinuous such that the first seg^¬ ment 6 is embedded between two parts of the second segment 6. This helps to form the container with two ends 8 for better encapsulating of the volume of the air. To allow automated application and releasing of pressure onto the segments 3, 6, the first segment 3 includes a first elec^¬ tro-active polymer element 10 and the second segment 6 in^¬ cludes a second electro-active polymer element 11. The first electro-active polymer element 10 actuates the first segment 3 to move into the first state 16 to release pressure and into the second state 5 to apply the pressure. The second electro-active polymer element 11 actuates the second segment 6 to move into the third state 7 to apply pressure and into the fourth state 9 to release the pressure.

FIG 1A shows the pumping device in a first time frame of a pumping cycle. The container 4 is formed by a combination of the first state 16 of the first segment 3 and the third state 7 of a part of the second segment 6. The container 4 is open at one end as other part of the two-parted second segment 6 is in the fourth state 9. There is no pressure applied by the first electro-active polymer 10 onto the first segment 3. The second electro-active polymer 11 applies pressure onto one part of the second segment 6 and not onto other part of the second segment 6. As the container 4 is formed, the volume of air is encapsulated into the container 4.

FIG IB shows the pumping device in a second time frame of a pumping cycle. The container 4 is deflated by applying pressure to the first segment 3 by the first electro-active poly^¬ mer 10 to move the volume of air towards the ear mold 2. This brought the first segment into the second state 5. The pres^¬ sure is released from the other part of the second segment 6 which was closed in the first time frame. This brings the other part of the second segment 6 which was closed in the first time frame into the fourth state 4. The pressure is re^¬ leased by the actuation of the by the second electro-active polymer 11. In an alternate embodiment, the pressure from the other part of the second segment 6 which was closed in the first time frame need not be released. FIG 1C shows the pumping device in a third time frame of a pumping cycle. The pressure from the first segment 3 is re^¬ leased by actuation of the first electro-active polymer 10 and the second electro-active polymer 11 gets actuated to ap- ply pressure onto part of the second segment 6 nearer to the ear mold 2. This again forms the container 4 by the first segment 3, as the first segment moves into the first state 16 and the part of the second segment 6 closer to the ear mold 2 to form the closed end 8, the part of the second segment 6 closer to the ear mold 2 moves into the third state 7.

FIG ID shows the pumping device in a fourth time frame of a pumping cycle. The pressure is applied onto the part of the second segment 6 away from the ear mold 2 by the second elec- tro-active polymer element 11 to bring the part of the second segment 6 into the third state 4. This helps to form the con^¬ tainer 4 closed at two ends 8 formed by both the parts of the second segment 6, as both the parts of the second segment 6 are in third state 7 and the first segment 3 is in first state 16.

This completes the pumping cycle of the pumping device and the four time frames as mentioned in the FIG 1A, FIG IB, FIG 1C and FIG ID can be repeated again and again by the pumping device 1 to keep on pumping the ear mold 2.

For deflating the ear mold 2, the pumping cycle can be reversed, i.e., firstly the segments 3, 6 moves into states 16, 5, 7, 9 in fourth time frame, than in third, subsequently in second and finally in first. Further the pumping cycle will occur in same fashion for deflation of the ear mold 2 till the ear mold 2 is deflated up to a proper fitting onto an ex^¬ terior of a user's ear. While discussing FIG 2, the references are also made to FIG

1A, FIG IB, FIG 1C and FIG ID collectively to discuss pumping cycle in exemplary pumping device of FIG 2. According to FIG 2, the pumping device 1 is attached to the ear mold 2. The pumping device is discontinuous with two parts of the first segment 3 are alternatively present be^¬ tween three parts of the second segment 6. The figure shows the pumping device 1 in one of the time frame of a pumping cycle. In this time frame of the pumping cycle, selection is made for the parts of the first segment 3, such that a first selection 14 is made for one part to be in second state 5 and a second selection 15 is made for another part to be in the first state 16. Also, selection is made for parts of the sec^¬ ond segment 6, such that two parts, one farthest to the ear mold 2 and one nearest to the ear mold 2, is made into a third selection 17 to be in the fourth state 9 and the re^¬ maining part of the second segment 6 to be in the third state 7.

To complete the pumping cycle with the pumping device 1 of the FIG 2, various combination of selections 14, 15 of the parts of the first segment 3 and selections 17, 18 of parts of the second segment 2 are required to be done in different time frame of the pumping cycle. Such selections of the vari^¬ ous parts of the segments 3, 6 are done automatically by us^¬ ing the first electro-active polymer elements 10 which actu^¬ ates the selection 14, 15 of the first segment 3 to be into any of the first state 16 or the second state 5, and the sec^¬ ond electro-active polymer element 11 which actuates the parts of the second segment to be into any of the third state 7 or the fourth state 9. The pumping device 1 is externally connectable to the ear mold 2 of the hearing aid device. In an alternate embodiment, the hearing aid may have the pumping device 1 permanently or temporarily attachable to the hearing device, such that the pumping device 1 can be portable along the hearing device.

The pumping device 1 can be usable to any type of hearing de^¬ vice which uses the ear phones as interface for transferring the sound to inside of the user's ear. Some examples of the hearing device for which the pumping device 1 can be usable are hearing aids, head-phones of music system, etc.

Claims

Patent Claims

1. A pumping device (1) for inflating/deflating an ear mold (2) for a hearing device comprising:

- a first segment (3) adapted to be in a first state (16) to form a container (4) for encapsulating a volume of air into the pumping device (1) and to be in a second state (5) to de^¬ flate the container (4) for inflating/deflating the ear mold (2) ,

- a second segment (6) adapted to be in a third state (7) to form a closed end (8) of the container (4) and to be in a fourth state (9) to allow passage of the volume of air for inflating/deflating the ear mold (2),

wherein the first segment (3) and the second segment (6) are adapted to be coupled to pump the air into or out of the ear mold ( 2 ) .

2. The pumping device (1) according to claim 1, wherein the segments (3, 6) are made of compressible material.

3. The pumping device (1) according to any of the claims 1 or 2, wherein the first segment (3) comprising a first electro- active polymer element (10) and the second segment (6) com^¬ prising a second electro-polymer element (11), such that the electro-active polymer elements (10, 11) are electrically coupled together to allow physical coupling of the segments (3, 6) to pass the air into or out of the ear mold (2) .

4. The pumping device (1) according to any of the claim 1 to 3, the segments (3, 6) are discontinuous to form various parts (12, 13) such that the parts (12, 13) of the segments (3, 6) are coupled together to form continuity and to pump the air into or out of the ear mold (2) .

5. The pumping device (1) according to claim 4, wherein

- the parts (12) of the first segment is aligned into a first selection (14) and a second selection (15), such that each of the first selection (14) and the second selection (15) to be in either of the first state (16) or the second state (5) at a particular time, and

- the parts (13) of the second segment (6) is aligned into a third selection (17) and a fourth selection (18), such that each of the third selection (17) and the fourth selection (18) to be in either of the third state (7) or the fourth state (9) at the particular time.

6. A hearing device comprising the pumping device (1) accord- ing to any of the claims 1 to 5.

7. A method to make a pumping device (1) for inflat^¬ ing/deflating an ear mold (1) for a hearing device comprising :

- assembling a first segment (3) and a second segment (6) to form the pumping device (1) for providing a physical coupling to pump the air into or out of the ear mold (2),

Wherein the first segment (3) is adapted to be in a first state (16) to form a container (4) for encapsulating a volume of air into the pumping device (1) and to be in a second state (5) to deflate the container (4) for inflat^¬ ing/deflating the ear mold (2), and the second segment (6) is adapted to be in a third stage (7) to form an end (8) of the container (4) and to be in a fourth state (9) to allow pas- sage of the volume of air for inflating/deflating the ear mold ( 2 ) .

8. The method according to claim 7 comprising:

- employing a first electro-active polymer element (10) in the first segment (3) and a second electro-active polymer element (11) in the second segment (6),

- electrically coupling the first electro-active polymer ele^¬ ment (10) and the second electro-active polymer element (11), such that to allow physical coupling of the segments (3, 6) to pass the air into or out of the ear mold.

9. The method according to any of the claims 7 or 8, wherein the segments (3, 6) are discontinuous forming various parts (12, 13), the method comprising:

- coupling the parts (12, 13) of the segments to form conti^¬ nuity and to pump the air into or out of the ear mold (2) .

10. The method according to the claim 9, wherein coupling the parts (12, 13) of the segments (3, 6) to pump the air into or out of the ear mold (2) by aligning;

- the parts (12) of the first segment (3) into a first selec^¬ tion (14) and a second selection (15), such that each of the first selection (14) and the second selection (15) to be in either of the first state (16) or the second state (5) at a particular time, and