Earphone assembly

• US 8,983,101 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shure Acquisition Holdings Inc. (Shure Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Shure Acquisition Holdings Inc. (Shure Incorporated)
• Inventors: Grinker, Scott Charles, Tsangaris, Paris Nicholas, Grosz, Steven R., Glavan, Kyle Patrick, Frohlich, Lajos, Zanoni, Gabor, Breneman, Mark Bui
• Primary Examiner(s): Ensey, Brian
• Application Number:
  US13/477,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20130315431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 381/312, 381/328, 381/330, 381/322
• US Class Current: 381/322
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1075 Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/24 Structural combinations of separate transducers or of two parts of the same transducer and responsive respectively to two or more frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2853 using an acoustic labyrinth or a transmission line
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2857 for loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/48 using constructional means for obtaining a desired frequency response H04R25/652 takes precedence

Abstract

An earphone assembly for an in-ear listening device and method for filtering a portion of an audible sound output are disclosed. An earphone comprises a housing configured to receive a nozzle, a plurality of drivers each having an acoustical output disposed within the housing, and an elongated passageway disposed within the housing configured to filter at least an audible portion of a sound wave output from at least one of the plurality of drivers. The method comprises providing an elongated passageway to provide an increased path length and connecting an output of the at least one driver to the elongated passageway to configure the sound output to be received within the elongated passageway to acoustically filter a portion of the sound output from the at least one driver.

Claims

1. An earphone assembly comprising:

a housing;

a first driver configured to produce a first audio output;

a second driver configured to produce a second audio output;

a nozzle coupled to the housing; and

an elongated passageway connected to the first driver and contained within the housing, the elongated passageway having a length and cross sectional area and comprising a tortuous path having multiple turns winding internally within the housing, wherein at least a portion of the elongated passageway forms a labyrinth comprising a plurality of integral layers, wherein the length and cross-sectional area of the elongated passageway are configured as an acoustic filter for filtering at least an audible portion of the sound from the audio output of the first driver.

2. The earphone assembly of claim 1 wherein one or more of the layers of the labyrinth form an elongated channel extending lengthwise, widthwise, or combinations thereof on the largest surface area of the layer.

3. The earphone assembly of claim 2 wherein the elongated channel of the one or more layers is formed as a wave or spiral shape.

4. The earphone assembly of claim 2 further comprising a manifold wherein the manifold comprises a passageway which forms part of the elongated passageway.

5. The earphone assembly of claim 4 wherein the manifold comprises a plurality of integral layers wherein one or more of the layers of the manifold form an elongated channel and wherein an elongated channel formed in one or more of the layers of the manifold is a greater length than the length of an elongated channel formed in one or more of the layers of the labyrinth.

6. The earphone assembly of claim 4 wherein the manifold further comprises an additional passageway for receiving sound directly from the second driver, the second driver configured to output a higher frequency sound than the first driver.

7. The earphone assembly of claim 4 wherein a damping mechanism is provided in the manifold and wherein the damping mechanism comprises a plurality of holes formed into a layer forming the manifold.

8. The earphone assembly of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the shape of the elongated passageway is spiral or wave.

9. The earphone assembly of claim 1 wherein the elongated passageway is integrally formed within a portion of the housing.

10. The earphone assembly of claim 1 wherein the elongated passageway has a constant diameter.

11. The earphone assembly of claim 1 wherein the labyrinth is formed in the shape of a prism.

12. An earphone assembly comprising:

a housing configured to receive a nozzle for outputting sound; and

a plurality of drivers each having an output disposed within the housing, wherein at least one of the drivers is connected to an elongated passage acoustically coupled to the nozzle;

wherein at least a portion of the elongated passageway forms a labyrinth comprising a plurality of integral layers, wherein the elongated passageway is formed of a network of differently shaped passages disposed within the housing, wherein the elongated passageway extends in each of the X, Y, and Z directions, and wherein the length and cross-sectional area of the elongated passageway are configured to filter at least an audible portion of a sound wave output from the at least one of the plurality of drivers.

13. The earphone assembly of claim 12 wherein at least a portion of the path of the elongated passageway comprises a wave or a spiral shape.

14. The earphone assembly of claim 12 wherein an elongated channel extending lengthwise, widthwise, or combinations thereof is formed on one or more of the layers of the labyrinth on the largest surface area of the layer.

15. The earphone assembly of claim 14 wherein the earphone assembly further comprises a manifold and wherein the manifold provides a pathway which provides at least a portion of the elongated passageway.

16. The earphone assembly of claim 15 wherein a damping mechanism is provided in the manifold and wherein the damping mechanism comprises a plurality of holes formed into a layer forming the manifold.

17. The earphone assembly of claim 15 wherein the manifold comprises a plurality of integral layers wherein one or more of the layers of the manifold form an elongated channel and wherein an elongated channel formed in one or more of the layers of the manifold is a greater length than the length of an elongated channel formed in one or more of the layers of the labyrinth.

18. The earphone assembly of claim 12 wherein the labyrinth is formed in the shape of a prism.

19. A method of filtering an acoustic output in an earphone comprising:

forming an elongated passageway from a plurality of stacked layers;

housing the elongated passageway and at least one driver configured to provide an acoustic output within an earphone casing;

connecting the output of the at least one driver to the elongated passageway and configuring the acoustic output to be received within the elongated passageway to acoustically filter at least a portion of the acoustic output from the at least one driver.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the plurality of stacked layers and the passageway form a labyrinth and wherein a first subset of the stacked layers have passages formed of different shapes.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein a second subset of the stacked layers have holes permitting sound to pass through each of the second subset of stacked layers into an adjoining one of the first subset of the stacked layers.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising laser welding the stacked layers together.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of stacked layers comprises alternating layers of the first and second subsets.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein the at least one driver is a low frequency driver and the elongated passageway is configured to filter high frequency sound from the low frequency driver.

25. The method of claim 19 further comprising providing a manifold wherein the elongated passage is partially formed within the manifold.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising forming the manifold from a series of stacked layers.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising providing a damping mechanism in the manifold by providing a plurality of holes in a layer forming the manifold.

28. The method of claim 19 further comprising forming at least a portion of the path of the elongated passageway as a wave or a spiral shape.

29. The method of claim 19 further comprising forming the elongated passageway such that it extends in each of the X, Y, and Z directions.

30. The method of claim 19 wherein the labyrinth is formed by 3D printing.

31. The method of claim 19 wherein the labyrinth is formed by micro lithography.