This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0077395, filed on Jul. 4, 2018 in the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein entirely by reference. Further, this application is the National Stage application of International Application No. PCT/KR2018/010133, filed Aug. 31, 2018, which designates the United States and was published in Korean. Each of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety into the present application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an earring hearing aid, and more particularly, to an earring hearing aid using a receiver in the tube (RIT) that fits each user and cancels an acoustic feedback phenomenon.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, human ear is largely divided into outer ear, middle ear and inner ear.

Vibration of outside sound is collected by the pinna and transmitted to the eardrum along the external auditory meatus.

The external auditory meatus is a sort of resonating tube that is closed by the eardrum on one side, and vibration of the eardrum is transmitted to the inner ear through three ossicles (malleus, incus, and stapes) in the middle ear.

When the vibration of the ossicles is transmitted to the cochlea in the middle ear through the footplate of the stapes, the lymph fluid in the cochlea moves, a few thousand hair cells in the middle part of the cochlea sense the vibration of the lymph fluid and convert the stimulus to an electrical signal.

Additionally, the electrical signal is transmitted to the brain through the central nervous system, thus human can hear ‘sound’.

A hearing aid is a device for helping a person with hearing loss to hear sound by converting external acoustic waves to an electrical signal through a microphone, amplifying the electrical signal through an amplifier, converting the electrical signal back into acoustic waves through a receiver and outputting to the external auditory meatus of the person with hearing loss.

Hearing loss using hearing aids is categorized into conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, and combined hearing loss.

These three types of hearing loss can be all alleviated by hearing aids, but in general, people with sensorineural hearing loss wear hearing aids, and people with conductive hearing loss usually have medication or surgery for treatment.

Additionally, it is desirable that people with combined hearing loss wear hearing aids after treatment with medication or surgery.

The types of hearing aids are classified into a box type, an earring type and an in-the-ear type according to the shape.

The basic structures of hearing aids are nearly similar irrespective of signal processing methods and types, and an acoustic signal entering a hearing aid is converted to an electrical signal by a microphone called a transmitter.

In the next step, an amplifier is necessary to increase the electrical signal converted by the microphone to a sufficiently large magnitude for a person with hearing loss to hear, and to implement hearing aids that people with hearing loss can conveniently wear in various hearing environments, digital hearing aids using a digital signal processing (DSP) device are developed.

In the last step of sound amplification, a receiver converts the amplified electrical signal back into an acoustic signal that the listener can hear.

In this instance, the amplified acoustic signal has changes in gain and sound pressure specific for each frequency of the hearing aid due to the resonance effect of the receiver, a tube connected to the hearing aid, an acoustic filter or a damper that interrupts the sound flow and the length of the external auditory meatus.

To avoid excessive amplification to protect against further hearing loss and guarantee a clear voice recognition function, it is necessary to perform hearing aid fitting that is best suited for a user.

Here, hearing aid fitting refers to a procedure involving selecting a suitable hearing aid according to the hearing ability of a person with hearing loss, accurately adjusting the amount of amplification and the maximum output range for each frequency range of the hearing aid, periodically checking the hearing aid and taking actions for trouble-free use of the hearing aid.

The function of the microphone is to convert acoustic energy entering the hearing aid to electrical energy, and an ideal microphone produces an output electrical signal of the same waveform as an input voice signal.

The microphone generally has one acoustic inlet (sound hole), and this is referred to as an omni directional microphone.

Some recent hearing aids use a directional microphone having two or more acoustic inlets to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is higher by 3-5 dB than omni directional microphones.

The basic role of the amplifier is to convert a small signal converted to an electrical signal by the microphone into a large energy signal.

The amplifier increases the voltage or current of the electrical signal, and in some cases, amplifies the voltage and the current at the same time.

As a result of amplification, the amplitude of the output signal is higher than the amplitude of the input signal by an integrated circuit (IC or hybrid IC) including one transistor or a few hundreds of thousands or a few million transistors, resistor and condenser in combination.

The receiver has a very similar structure to the microphone, and in the signal flow, the receiver is the reverse of the microphone.

An earring hearing aid directs sound reproduced by the receiver into the auditory canal through a tube connected to an ear mold or tip, causing the eardrum to vibrate.

FIG. 1is a diagram showing an earring hearing aid in which a conventional receiver is embedded in a body.

As shown inFIG. 1, the earring hearing aid according to the related art includes a microphone5and a receiver7embedded in a body1to transmit sound reproduced by the receiver7to a closed ear tip2through a hook type tube4and a sound tube3so that a patient can hear the sound, and in this case, because the transmission pathway is complex and long, sound dropouts and distortions becomes severer in the course of transmission, and the microphone5and the receiver7are disposed near the body1, leading to severe interference, so the patient has difficulty in accurately hearing the original sound.

Moreover, the earring hearing aid according to the related art has a problem with acoustic feedback in itself because both the microphone5and the receiver7are embedded in the body1, and as sound coming from the receiver7is transmitted to the ear tip2inserted into the ear through the sound tube3, acoustic feedback occurs frequently when amplifying sound to make it just a little bit louder.

FIG. 2is a diagram showing a receiver in the canal (RIC) type earring hearing aid in which a conventional receiver is embedded a hearing aid shell inserted into the ear.

To prevent acoustic feedback occurring in the earring hearing aid as shown inFIG. 1, the RIC type earring hearing aid as shown inFIG. 2has been suggested and is being widely used.

The RIC type earring hearing aid is configured such that a receiver12used to output an acoustic signal from an acoustic processing means through a lead wire11is inserted into a receiver tube13, and the receiver tube13is received in a hearing aid shell20inserted into the ear.

The RIC type earring hearing aid is inconvenient for users having different ear sizes when wearing it because the length of the lead wire11is uniformly set in the manufacture, and because the receiver12is inserted into the external auditory meatus, failures occur frequently due to corrosion caused by earwax and sweat.

InFIG. 2, the reference number14not described herein is an earwax entry prevention element for preventing earwax from entering the receiver tube13, the reference number15is a face plate covering an inlet of the hearing aid shell20, and the reference number15ais a through-hole formed in the face plate15, into which the receiver tube13is inserted.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Technical Problem

The present disclosure is designed to solve the conventional problems as described above, and therefore the present disclosure is directed to providing an earring hearing aid using a receiver in the tube (RIT) that fits each user, and cancels an acoustic feedback phenomenon and solves a frequent receiver failure problem.

Technical Solution

To achieve the above-described objects, the present disclosure provides an earring hearing aid using a receiver in the tube (RIT) including a case100which receives therein a microphone130, an interface socket140, an acoustic processing means200, a memory button150, a volume controller160, a battery170and a battery electrode180, a receiver300which outputs an acoustic signal through a lead wire210having one end connected to the acoustic processing means200, and is connected to the other end of the lead wire210and inserted into a receiver tube302having a predetermined length, a third capacitor C3which filters out high-level noise included in direct voltage supplied from the battery170to the receiver300to prevent the high-level noise from being applied to the receiver300, a hearing aid shell400which receives an end of the receiver tube302disposed at an opposite side to a side where the receiver300is inserted in the receiver tube302along a lengthwise direction, and is inserted into an ear to allow the hearing of sound outputted from the receiver300, a face plate500covering an inlet of the hearing aid shell400, and an earring hook600having one side inserted into an outer peripheral surface of an exit hole117of the case100to cover an outer peripheral surface of the lead wire210exiting through the exit hole117, and the other side rounded to be held and fixed to the ear, wherein a plurality of markers T1,T2,T3is formed at a predetermined interval along the lengthwise direction on an outer periphery of the receiver tube302adjacent to the case100.

In this instance, when the receiver300connected to the other end of the lead wire210is inserted into the receiver tube302and fixed at a predetermined location, the receiver tube302may be cut along two or more of the plurality of markers T1,T2,T3formed in the receiver tube302such that a length from the case100to the hearing aid shell400inserted into the ear fits for a user's ear size, and the receiver tube302having the inserted receiver300may be connected to the receiver tube302connected to the hearing aid shell400.

In another configuration, the receiver300may be inserted into the receiver tube302, and the receiver300may be fixed to a location where one of the plurality of markers T1,T2,T3is formed in the receiver tube302such that a length from the case100to the hearing aid shell400inserted into the ear fits for a user's ear size.

Meanwhile, the case100includes a case body110, and a cover120having a screw hole120ato cover an opening of the case body110by fastening with a fastening bolt90, and the case body110includes a first receiving space111which receives the microphone130, a second receiving space112which receives the acoustic processing means200, a third receiving space113which receives the memory button150, a fourth receiving space114which receives the volume controller160, a fifth receiving space115which receives the battery170, a sixth receiving space116which receives the battery electrode180in contact with each of a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the battery170, an exit hole117through which the lead wire210exits, the lead wire210for outputting the acoustic signal from the acoustic processing means200to the receiver300, and a screw hole118for the fastening bolt90to couple the case body110and the cover120.

Furthermore, the acoustic processing means200includes a voltage regulator202to, when a switch172is operated to switch on, receive the direct voltage supplied from the battery170, regulate to a predetermined direct voltage and output it, a first capacitor C1to filter out high-level noise included in the direct voltage regulated to the predetermined direct voltage by the voltage regulator202and supply to the microphone130, a second capacitor C2to receive an acoustic signal received by the microphone130and filter out high-level noise included in the acoustic signal, an A/D converter204to receive the analog acoustic signal having undergone high-level noise filtering by the second capacitor C2and convert into a digital acoustic signal, an amplification means206to receive the digital acoustic signal outputted from the A/D converter204and amplify to a predetermined level, an EEPROM208to receive a news hearing parameter M1, a music hearing parameter M2, a conversation hearing parameter M3and a conversation hearing in noise parameter M4from a personal computer through the interface socket140and store an interfaced mode signal, an equalizer E to receive a corresponding parameter among the news hearing parameter M1, the music hearing parameter M2, the conversation hearing parameter M3and the conversation hearing in noise parameter M4when the memory button150is pressed once to four times, receive the digital acoustic signal amplified to the predetermined level by the amplification means206and amplify and mix them, a D/A converter212to convert the digital acoustic signal amplified and mixed by the equalizer E into an analog acoustic signal, a volume controller160to receive the analog acoustic signal outputted from the D/A converter212, control volume and output it, and a third capacitor C3to filter out high-level noise included in the direct voltage supplied from the battery170to the receiver300to prevent the high-level noise from being applied to the receiver300.

Advantageous Effects

By the above-described technical solution, the present disclosure has the following effects.

The present disclosure installs the receiver connected to the other end of the lead wire within the receiver tube and inserts only the end of the receiver tube disposed at the opposite side to the installation side of the receiver into the hearing aid shell, thereby cancelling an acoustic feedback phenomenon.

Additionally, the present disclosure forms a plurality of markers at a predetermined interval along the lengthwise direction on the outer periphery of the receiver tube, and adjusts the length of the lead wire or the receiver tube as needed, and thus the present disclosure fits each user.

Further, the present disclosure inserts the receiver into the receiver tube adjacent to the case, and receives only the end of the receiver tube disposed at the opposite side to the installation side of the receiver in the hearing aid shell, thereby preventing the conventional problem with frequent failures due to corrosion caused by earwax and sweat because of the receiver configured to be inserted into the external auditory meatus.

