Patent · US Expired

Ear canal microphone

US5987146A · kind A · utility

383Cited by
9References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 3, 1997
Grant dateNov 16, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 3, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04R2460/09
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An open ear canal hearing aid system is disclosed which comprises a plurality of ear canal tubes sized for positioning in an ear canal of a user so that the ear canal is at least partially open for directly receiving ambient sounds. The open ear canal hearing aid system further comprises a sound processor for amplifying ambient sounds received through one of the ear canal tubes within a predetermined frequency range and to produce processed sounds and for supplying the processed sounds to the second ear canal tube. According to other embodiments of the present invention, the speaker and/or microphone can be located in the ear canal at the end of the ear canal tubes. In these embodiments, the speaker and/or microphone are electrically connected to the sound processor by wires in the ear canal tubes.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.