US 12,464,279 B2
Ear pad or earmold for an earphone, and earphone with an ear pad or earmold
Jan Peter Kuhtz, Celle (DE); Anders Hed, Wedemark (DE); and Werner Pfeffer, Hannover (DE)
Assigned to Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH, Wedemark (DE)
Filed by Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH, Wedemark (DE)
Filed on Jul. 31, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/228,498.
Claims priority of application No. 22188713 (EP), filed on Aug. 4, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0048890 A1, Feb. 8, 2024
Int. Cl. H04R 1/10 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 1/105 (2013.01) [H04R 1/1066 (2013.01); H04R 2430/01 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ear pad or earmold for an earphone, wherein the ear pad or earmold is adapted for being mounted on a receptacle of the earphone, and wherein the ear pad or earmold has a sound channel that is suitable for guiding sound from a transducer inside the earphone,
wherein the ear pad or earmold has at least one recess which is acoustically connected with the sound channel of the ear pad or earmold when the ear pad or earmold is mounted on the receptacle of the earphone and forms a cavity then, and which is suitable for acting as an acoustic resonator in an audible frequency range, wherein a volume of the cavity is smaller than a volume of the sound channel, and wherein the at least one recess extends only over a part of an inner circumference of the ear pad or earmold by an angle a1 with a1<360°, wherein the sound channel of the ear pad or earmold can be acoustically connected to the cavity or disconnected from the cavity by rotating the ear pad or earmold around its longitudinal axis L.
 
4. An earphone comprising:
a housing comprising a sound transducer; and
an ear pad or earmold, the ear pad or earmold being mounted on a tubular receptacle of the housing,
wherein the receptacle serves as a sound channel of the housing, and wherein the ear pad or earmold is configured such that sound from the sound transducer inside the housing can be directed out of a first opening of the receptacle and/or through a sound channel of the ear pad or earmold, wherein the ear pad or earmold has at least one recess which forms at least one cavity with the receptacle of the earphone when the ear pad or earmold is mounted on said receptacle, and
wherein the at least one cavity of the ear pad or earmold is acoustically connected with the sound channel of the ear pad or earmold and/or the sound channel of the receptacle and is configured for acting as an acoustic resonator in an audible frequency range,
wherein the ear pad or earmold is rotatable on the receptacle about its longitudinal axis L, and wherein a user can selectively either establish or break the acoustic connection of the sound channel with the at least one cavity by rotating the ear pad or earmold.
 
14. An ear pad or earmold for an earphone, wherein the ear pad or earmold is adapted for being mounted on a receptacle of the earphone, and wherein the ear pad or earmold has a sound channel that is suitable for guiding sound from a transducer inside the earphone,
wherein the ear pad or earmold has at least one recess which is acoustically connected with the sound channel of the ear pad or earmold when the ear pad or earmold is mounted on the receptacle of the earphone and forms a cavity then, and which is suitable for acting as an acoustic resonator in an audible frequency range, wherein a volume of the cavity is smaller than a volume of the sound channel, and
wherein the at least one recess extends annularly over the entire inner circumference of the ear pad or earmold.