Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices – Hearing aids – electrical – Specified casing or housing
Patent
1998-11-16
2000-12-05
Kuntz, Curtis A.
Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices
Hearing aids, electrical
Specified casing or housing
381 60, 381 231, 381323, H04R 2500
Patent
active
061577286
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an interfacing device, and particularly to an inductive coupling unit for effecting signal transmission between hearing instruments and peripheral electronic devices, the coupling unit being easily attachable to the outer surface of the hearing instrument without requiring specially-designed input pads or adapters.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wearers of hearing instruments such as hearing aids sometimes have the need to directly connect the hearing instrument to peripheral electronic devices such as radios, television sets, telephones, etc. The reasons may be to improve the quality of reception, to gain privacy, or to avoid disturbing others. In FIG. 1, a typical currently-available interfacing adapter 4 is illustrated along with a hearing instrument 1 with switch 2 set to the `M` (microphone position), and a male plug 6 which connected via a cable 7 to a peripheral device (not shown). To couple the hearing instrument 1 to the peripheral device using this adapter 4, the hearing instrument 1 must have special input pads 3 such as the ones shown in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, these pads 3 are necessary to receive and make contact with the input connectors 5 disposed in the adapter 4, which in turn receive the plug 6 which is connected to the peripheral electronic device.
This type of connection suffers from a number of shortcomings. For one, it is not adaptable for all types of hearing instruments because the hearing instrument must have these specially-designed input pads to receive the input connectors of the interfacing adapter. Note that the input pads must be directly connected to the amplifier of the hearing instrument which is usually located deep inside the hearing instrument. Therefore, the existing hearing instrument wearers who do not have the special input pads in their hearing instrument cannot be connected to the peripheral devices. Simply stated, the existing interfacing adapter is not universally adaptable. Not only does this type of connection create problems for the wearers who do not have these input pads, the pads impose an additional design constraint to manufacturers of the hearing instruments.
Furthermore, this type of interfacing adapter is cumbersome to use because the adapter must be positioned precisely so that the input connectors mate properly with the input pads of the hearing instrument. The input pads must also be kept clean to facilitate a good electrical contact. Hence the user may have to remove the hearing instrument from the ear to make the connection, or in the minimum, expend unnecessary time and effort to mate the connectors to the input pads. While this may not be a monumental task for some people, it can be a vexing problem for children, elderlies, and other people with disabled or undeveloped dexterity.
Moreover, this interfacing adapter and the hearing instrument that it is attached to can be damaged if the wearer, particularly a child, inadvertently jerks on the cable because the interfacing adapter does not easily disengage from the hearing instrument from all angles. So if someone inadvertently pulls the cable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the insertion, the cable and the adapter may break off from the instrument, or the hearing instrument may be dislodged from the user's ear and drop to the ground. In either case, a possibility of damage exists.
Hence, it would be highly desirable to have a coupling device which can accommodate virtually all types of existing hearing instruments without needing any significant modification, and which can be easily attached and removed by hearing instrument wearers with even poor dexterity.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of this invention to overcome the shortcomings stated above, and to provide a coupling unit which can accommodate virtually all types of hearing instruments, and which can easily be attached and removed without special adapters.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an inductive coupling unit which
REFERENCES:
patent: 3659056 (1972-04-01), Morrison et al.
patent: 4489330 (1984-12-01), Marutake et al.
patent: 4827524 (1989-05-01), Rising
patent: 5010575 (1991-04-01), Marutake et al.
patent: 5217011 (1993-06-01), Bisch
Chang Joseph Sylvester
Tong Yit Chow
Chung David D.
Ho Lawrence V. D.
Kuntz Curtis A.
Lui Jacqueline C. T.
Multitech Products (PTE) Ltd.
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