Acoustics – Anatomic or prosthetic relation – Ear and mouth
Patent
1999-03-23
2000-09-19
Ip, Paul
Acoustics
Anatomic or prosthetic relation
Ear and mouth
381 711, 381 731, 381 941, 381 716, 128864, 128866, 128867, H04R 2500
Patent
active
061198056
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hearing protector, more particularly to a device for damping intense sound and thus reducing the risk of hearing damage to a person. Such a device is primarily intended to be able to be used by musicians, but also other sound-screening applications are conceivable.
Musicians in symphony orchestras, theater orchestras, big bands etc. often experience problems with high sound levels from sound sources behind them, which can result in permanent hearing damage for these musicians, such as a musician placed immediately in front of a source of intense sound in an orchestra, e.g. a violinist sitting in front of the brass section, i.e. trumpets, trombones etc. These wind instruments can often produce sound intensities of up to 130 dB. In order to protect the ears against such intense sound pressure, different types of protectors have been tested for the musician sitting in front, e.g. ear plugs. These, however, have the disadvantage that they also damp out sounds which the musician wishes to hear and must hear. Other methods of protecting hearing have been to place sound screens in front of the strong wind instruments or percussion instruments. Such screens can be of plexiglass, for example, and be provided with a soft damping material. Such screens, however, have a negative effect on the composite tone of the entire orchestra due to unfortunate sound reflections from the screens which have therefore had a negative effect for both the public and the players of loud instruments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One purpose of the present invention is to avoid the disadvantages of previously known sound reflectors and to provide a sound protection device which as needed can protect the ears from high sound levels but which does not block off the sound source itself, i.e. a protector in the form of an individual screen which can screen off only the ears and damp intense sound from behind and from the sides but at the same time allow the required perception of surrounding sounds, for example, listening to the other musicians in the orchestra while playing, and without negatively affecting the composite tone of the entire orchestra. At the same time, the protector must be easily removable from an active sound-deflecting position and be capable of assuming a ready position without requiring much space.
For solving this problem, the device according to the invention comprises a device for damping intense sound and thus reducing the risk of hearing damage to a person. Such a construction provides a device which when needed can be activated by the person himself, e.g. a musician, to protect his hearing temporarily during passages with high sound levels, but which makes possible listening to the other musicians without distorsion of the sound and which can easily be moved back to the ready position. The moving of the hearing protector between its active and passive positions can be done with the head, thus requiring no manual handling, which is of particular importance to a musician.
In order to facilitate the movement of the hearing protector portion between its active and passive positions, the post is preferably pivotally joined to the foot about a horizontal axis to be able to assume a first, active advanced position, in which the hearing protector portion screens the ears of the person from sound sources lying behind and to the sides, and a second, passive position, in which the hearing protector portion is retracted from the head of the person.
It is suitable that the post be lockable in its passive position and biased towards its active, advanced position and that the post be releasable from its locked, passive position by pressing the post somewhat backwards.
The hearing protector portion itself preferably has an outer casing of a relatively hard, sound-reflecting material and an inner relatively soft sound-absorbing material.
DRAWING FIGURE DESCRIPTION
The invention will now be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, i
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patent: 4977600 (1990-12-01), Ziegler
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patent: 5545859 (1996-08-01), Ultrich
Ip Paul
Martin Edgardo San
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