Hearing assistance device with balanced feed-line for antenna

• US 10,231,066 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2017
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Polinske, Beau Jay, Pooladian, Nasser Thomas, Rabel, Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Kaufman, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US15/493,353
• Publication Number:
  US 20170289710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 381 231, 381 60, 381151, 381312, 381315, 381322, 381324, 381330, 381331, 343700 MS, 343720, 343866, 343867, 600 25
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/273 Adaptation for carrying or wearing by persons or animals
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/0216 BTE hearing aids having a receiver in the ear mould
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/51 Aspects of antennas or their circuitry in or for hearing aids
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/30 Monitoring or testing of hearing aids, e.g. functioning, settings, battery power
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/609 of circuitry of electronic switches or control elements H04R25/603

Abstract

A hearing assistance device, such as a hearing aid, includes an antenna connected to a communication circuit through a feed-line for wireless communication. The antenna and the feed-line are configured and placed such at capacitance between their conductors is approximately minimized. In one embodiment, the feed-line includes feed-line conductors each including a major portion approximately perpendicular to an antenna conductor. In another embodiment, the feed-line includes a feed-line conductor crossing the antenna conductor, and at least one of the antenna conductor and the feed-line conductor includes a notch in the crossing area to reduce the crossing area.

Claims

1. A hearing aid, comprising,

an antenna housed in the hearing aid and including an antenna conductor;

a communication circuit housed in the hearing aid and configured to perform wireless communication using the antenna;

a feed-line providing connections between the antenna and the communication circuit, the feed-line including a feed-line conductor crossing the antenna conductor; and

a crossover between the antenna conductor and the feed-line conductor, the crossover resulting in a capacitance,

wherein at least one of the antenna conductor and the feed-line conductor includes a notch positioned to reduce the capacitance by reducing an area of the crossover.

2. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the antenna conductor includes the notch.

3. The heating aid of claim 1, wherein the feed-line conductor includes the notch.

4. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein the hearing aid comprises a behind-the-ear (BTE) type hearing aid.

5. The hearing aid of claim 4, wherein the hearing aid comprises a receiver-in-canal (RIC) type hearing aid.

6. The hearing aid of claim 4, wherein the hearing aid comprises a receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) type hearing aid.

7. The hearing aid of claim 4, wherein the antenna comprises a parallel loop antenna.

8. The hearing aid of claim 1, wherein one or more dimensions of the notch are determined by balancing the capacitance resulting from the the crossover and a resistive loss resulting from the notch.

9. The hearing aid of claim 8, wherein the feed-line conductor crosses the antenna conductor at a plurality of areas, and wherein at least one of the antenna conductor and the feedline conductor includes a notch in each area of the plurality of areas where the feed-line conductor crosses the antenna conductor.

10. A hearing aid, comprising,

an antenna housed in the hearing aid and including an antenna conductor;

a communication circuit housed in the hearing aid and configured to perform wireless communication using the antenna; and

a feed-line providing connections between the antenna and the communication circuit, the feed-line including a feed-line conductor crossing the antenna conductor to form a crossover resulting in a capacitance, the feed-line conductor including a notch positioned to reduce the capacitance by reducing an area of the crossover.

11. The hearing aid of claim 10, wherein the hearing aid comprises a behind-the-ear (BTE) type hearing aid.

12. The hearing aid of claim 11, wherein the antenna comprises a parallel loop antenna.

13. The hearing aid of claim 10, wherein the antenna conductor comprises another notch in another area where the feed-line conductor crosses the antenna conductor.

14. A method for wireless communication with a hearing aid, comprising:

providing a hearing aid with an antenna including an antenna conductor;

providing the hearing aid with a communication circuit configured to perform the wireless communication using the antenna;

connecting the antenna to the communication circuit using a feed-line including a feedline conductor, the connection resulting in at least one crossover area where the feed-line conductor crosses the antenna conductor to result in a capacitance; and

forming a notch in at least one of the antenna conductor and the feed-line conductor in the crossover area to reduce the capacitance by reducing a size of the crossover area.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising determining one or more dimensions of the notch is determined by balancing the capacitance resulting from the feed-line conductor crossing the antenna conductor and a resistive loss resulting from the notch.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising forming the notch in the antenna conductor.

17. The method of claim 14, comprising forming the notch in the feed-line conductor.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the connecting results in a plurality of crossover areas where the feed-line conductor crosses the antenna conductor, and further comprising forming notches in at least one of the antenna conductor or the feed-line conductor, the notches each formed in a crossover area of the plurality of crossover areas.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising forming notches in the antenna conductor and the feed-line conductor.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein providing the hearing aid with the antenna comprises providing a behind-the-ear (BTE) type hearing aid with a parallel loop antenna.