Low acceleration sensitivity microphone
First Claim
1. An implantable microphone, comprising:
- a housing having an internal chamber with an aperture thereto;
a first diaphragm sealably positioned across said aperture, wherein said first diaphragm is operative to move in response to an acoustic force and an acceleration force present in a media overlying said first diaphragm;
a cancellation surface interconnected to said housing, wherein at least a portion of said cancellation surface moves relative to said housing in response to said acceleration force acting on said housing; and
a sensor for generating a first output signal indicative of relative movement between said first diaphragm and said cancellation surface.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An implanted microphone is provided that has reduced sensitivity to vibration and attendant acceleration forces. In this regard, the microphone differentiates between the desirable and undesirable components of a transcutaneously received signal. More specifically, the present invention utilizes an output that is indicative of acceleration forces acting on the implanted microphone (e.g., an acceleration signal) to counteract and/or cancel the effects of acceleration induced pressures in an output signal of a microphone diaphragm. This may be done in a variety of ways, including but not limited to, pneumatically, mechanically, electrical analog, or digitally, or combinations thereof. In one arrangement, the generated output may be filtered to match the an acceleration response of the output signal of the microphone diaphragm such that upon removal of the motion signal from the microphone output, the remaining signal is an acoustic signal.
-
Citations
65 Claims
-
1. An implantable microphone, comprising:
-
a housing having an internal chamber with an aperture thereto; a first diaphragm sealably positioned across said aperture, wherein said first diaphragm is operative to move in response to an acoustic force and an acceleration force present in a media overlying said first diaphragm; a cancellation surface interconnected to said housing, wherein at least a portion of said cancellation surface moves relative to said housing in response to said acceleration force acting on said housing; and a sensor for generating a first output signal indicative of relative movement between said first diaphragm and said cancellation surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
-
28. An implantable microphone, comprising:
-
a housing having an internal chamber with an aperture thereto; a first diaphragm sealably positioned across said aperture; a second diaphragm at least partially disposed within said housing and in a spaced relation to said first diaphragm, wherein said first and second diaphragms define a trapped volume; a proof mass attached to said second diaphragm; and a sensor operative to sense pressure changes of said trapped volume and generate an output signal indicative thereof. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. An implantable microphone, comprising:
-
a housing having an internal chamber with an aperture thereto; a first diaphragm sealably positioned across said aperture, said first diaphragm being operative to receive pressure variations in overlying media and generate a corresponding first output signal; a cancellation surface interconnected to said housing, said cancellation surface being operative to generate a second output signal indicative of an acceleration acting on said housing; and a device for using at least a portion of each of said first output signal and said second output signal to generate a combined output signal, said combined output signal being operative to actuate an actuator of a hearing instrument. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
-
-
46. A method for use in an implantable microphone, comprising the steps of:
-
providing a first output corresponding to a transcutaneously received pressure signal, said first output having an acoustic component and an acceleration component; supplying a second output corresponding to an acceleration force acting on said implantable microphone; using at least a portion of each of said first and second outputs to generate a combined output, wherein an acceleration component of said combined output is less than said acceleration component of said first output. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
-
53. A method for use in an implantable microphone, comprising the steps of:
-
locating a diaphragm to receive ambient acoustic signals; positioning a cancellation surface to be isolated from ambient acoustic signals, wherein at least a portion of said cancellation surface is operable to respond to acceleration forces; providing a first output from said first diaphragm in response to an applied acceleration, wherein said first output includes a first acceleration component and an acoustic component; and supplying a second output from said cancellation surface in response to said applied acceleration, wherein said second output includes a second acceleration component. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
-
Specification