Headphone set

• US 20100166204A1
• Filed: 11/09/2009
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JVC Kenwood Corporation
• Original Assignee: Victor Company of Japan Limited (JVC Kenwood Corporation)
• Inventors: Yanagishita, Yuuji, Katsuyama, Shinnosuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,526,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/71.600
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1075 Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/107 Monophonic and stereophonic headphones with microphone for two-way hands free communication

Abstract

A headphone set is equipped with left- and right-ear headphone units. Each unit includes a housing body having a first plane section and a second plane section that faces the first section, the sections being almost perpendicular to a cross section of a cavum conchae of a user'"'"'s ear when the housing body is fit in the cavum conchae, a speaker and a microphone aligned between the sections, the speaker being located at the first section side, the microphone being located at the second section side. A sound output section is provided at the first section, to give off sounds output by the speaker to an outer space of the housing body. A sound pick-up hole is provided at the second section, through which the outer space communicates with an inner space of the housing body created between a sound pick-up section of the microphone and the second section.

Claims

1. A headphone set comprising:

a housing body having a first plane section and a second plane section that faces the first plane section, the first and second plane sections being almost perpendicular to a cross section of a cavum conchae of a user'"'"'s ear when the housing body is fit in the cavum conchae;

a speaker and a microphone aligned between the first and second plane sections, the speaker being located at the first plane section side, the microphone being located at the second plane section side;

a sound output section provided at the first plane section, to give off sounds output by the speaker to an outer space of the housing body;

a sound pick-up hole provided at the second plane section, through which the outer space communicates with an inner space of the housing body created between a sound pick-up section of the microphone and the second plane section.

2. The headphone set according to claim 1, wherein the speaker and the microphone are aligned between the first and second plane sections in a longitudinal direction of the housing body, the housing body having a first end at which side the speaker is located and a second end at which side the microphone is located,

wherein the first end is provided as an arc-like large-radius section having a first radius and the second end is provided as an arc-like small-radius section having a second radius that is smaller than the first radius.

3. The headphone set according to claim 2, wherein the speaker has an almost flat cylindrical shape with a first center and the microphone has an almost flat cylindrical shape with a second center, the first and second centers agreeing with centers of the first and second radii, respectively.

4. The headphone set according to claim 2, wherein the housing body has an inner housing and an outer housing, the inner housing being closer than the outer housing to a user'"'"'s ear when the housing body is fit in a cavum conchae of the user'"'"'s ear,

wherein the outer housing has a slant section that inclines towards the inner housing as the slant section becomes closer to the pick-up opening in which, with the slant section, the pick-up opening opens in a direction away from the speaker.

5. The headphone set according to claim 1 further comprising:

a plug to be connected to an audio output terminal of an external audio apparatus; and

a noise canceller to generate an first audio signal having a reverse phase of a second audio signal generated by the microphone based on sounds picked up by the microphone through the sound pick-up hole, and add the first audio signal to a third audio signal supplied to the noise canceller from the external audio apparatus via the plug, the third audio signal being supplied to the speaker.

6. The headphone set according to claim 2, wherein a distance between the first and second ends is determined so that, when the housing body is fit in the cavum conchae, the large-radius section is situated between a tragus of the user'"'"'s ear and the cavum conchae while the small-radius section is touched by an inner wall of a helix of the user'"'"'s ear.

7. The headphone set according to claim 6, wherein the sound pick-up hole is positioned so that, when the housing body is fit in the cavum conchae, the sound pick-up hole faces the inner wall of the helix.