US 12,439,193 B2
Earphone, earphone control method, and program
Takanobu Machida, Fukuoka (JP)
Assigned to Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka (JP)
Filed by PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD., Osaka (JP)
Filed on Jun. 12, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/333,306.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-095155 (JP), filed on Jun. 13, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0403493 A1, Dec. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. H04R 1/10 (2006.01); H04R 1/28 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 1/1041 (2013.01) [H04R 1/1016 (2013.01); H04R 1/2849 (2013.01); H04R 2460/11 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An earphone comprising:
a housing having a space therein and an air-permeable path from one end of an ear canal of a user to another end of an ambient environment located at the other end of the ear canal;
an opening and closing valve accommodated in the housing and capable of blocking a part of the path;
a speaker accommodated in the housing and configured to output a sound signal; and
a control unit configured to cause the speaker to output the sound signal,
wherein the control unit, in operation, sets, based on a volume of the sound signal, the opening and closing valve to a closed state when the volume of the sound signal is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and sets the opening and closing valve to an open state when the volume of the sound signal is less than the first threshold.