Bone conduction microphone with mounting means

• US 5,054,079 A
• Filed: 01/25/1990
• Issued: 10/01/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Stanton Magnetics LLC A Limited Liability Company of Florida
• Original Assignee: Stanton Magnetics, Inc. (Inmusic Brands Incorporated)
• Inventors: Untersander, Peter, Hofer, Alan, Frielingsdorf, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Jin F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cumming, William
• Application Number:
  US07/470,147
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 379/430, 381/88, 381/151, 381/157, 381/169, 381/187, 381/188, 381/200, 381/205
• US Class Current: 381/151
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/46 Special adaptations for use as contact microphones, e.g. on musical instrument, on stethoscope throat mountings H04R1/14

Abstract

A microphone assembly for mounting in a head gear of a person includes a microphone positioned in intimate contact with the person for receiving vibrations from the vocal cords by bone conduction, a housing for holding the microphone, a mounting ring for mounting the housing to the head gear and a damper element disposed between the microphone and the head gear for damping extraneous sides transmitted through the headgear before they are picked up by the microphone.

Claims

1. A microphone assembly for mounting in a head gear having a microphone cavity, said microphone assembly comprising:

microphone means for receiving vibrations by bone conduction, said vibrations corresponding to audio sounds produced by the wearer of said head gear, and for generating electrical signals corresponding to said vibrations;

housing means disposed between said microphone means;

mounting means for mounting said housing in said microphone cavity; and

damper means disposed between said microphone means and said mounting means for suppressing mechanical vibrations from said head gear to said microphone means wherein said damper means consists of a damper ring coupled to said housing and made of a soft, resilient material and said mounting means consists of a pivot ring made of hard flexible material which fits into a groove in said damper ring.

2. The microphone assembly of claim 1 wherein said damper means and housing means cooperate to form a housing cavity for said microphone means.

3. The microphone assembly of claim 2 wherein said microphone means is secured to said housing means.

4. The microphone assembly of claim 3 wherein said microphone means includes a contact surface for contacting the cranial bones of said wearer, said contact surface protruding from said microphone cavity.

5. A microphone assembly for generating electrical signals corresponding to audio signals produced by a person comprising:

a microphone for receiving vibrations from said person and converting them into corresponding electrical energy signals;

support means arranged and constructed to hold said microphone in an intimate contact with said person'"'"'s cranial bones for receiving vibrations corresponding to said audio signals by bone conduction;

head gear means;

mounting means for mounting said support means to said head gear means; and

damper means disposed between said microphone means and mounting means for suppressing mechanical vibrations from said head gear means to said microphone means wherein said damper means consists of a damper ring coupled to said housing and made of a soft, resilient material and said mounting means consists of a pivot ring made of a hard flexible material which fits into a groove in said damper ring.

6. The microphone assembly of claim 5 wherein said head gear means includes a microphone cavity, and said mounting means mounts said support means in said microphone cavity.

7. A microphone assembly comprising:

a cylindrical housing including a housing cavity with disk-shaped base and interior housing sidewalls;

a microphone disposed in said housing cavity and adhesively secured to said disk shaped, and spaced radially away from said interior sidewalls;

a damper ring coupled to said housing and made of a soft, resilient material for damping extraneous noise wherein said damper ring is formed with an annular groove; and

mounting means coupled to said damper ring for mounting said housing to a headgear worn by a person, said mounting means consists of a pivot ring disposed in said annular groove.

8. The microphone assembly of claim 7 comprising a rigid base adhesively secured to said microphone, a first rigid ring disposed axially on said base, said damper ring being axially mounted on said first rigid ring.

9. The microphone assembly of claim 8 further comprising a second rigid ring axially mounted on said damper ring.

10. The microphone assembly of claim 7 wherein said pivot ring is made of a hard flexible material.