Ear-phone or aid to hearing

Application filed March 11, 1932. Serial No. 598,232.

This invention relates to improvements in artificial hearing aids and pertains particularly to an ear-phone designed to be inserted into or attached to the ear.

⁶ . The primary object of the present invention is to provide an instrument which supplies an artificial ear-drum for the aid of the hearing in persons who have partly lost the same.

¹⁰ Another object of the invention is to provide a device for aiding the hearing which is provided with a freely vibrating element designed to be acted upon by the sound waves, and. a sounding fork which is caused to vibrate in resonance with the first mentioned. vibrating .member and which is located in the auditory meatus in close proximity to the tympanic membrane.

. A further object of the invention is to pro²⁰ vide an instrument of the above described character which may be made light in weight and of a size to be relatively inconspicuous.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following de²³ tailed description taken in connection°with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing ³⁰ of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications .mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

³⁸ In the drawing:—

Figure 1 is a view of the device embodying the present invention, in side elevation and.showing the same in applied position;

• ^FiS^ul‘^{e 2 is a} vertical longitudinal sec⁴⁰ tional view through the device;

Figure 3 is a view in front elevation of the device;

Figure. 4 is a face view of the sound receiving disks showing the manner in which ⁴⁸ the same are formed and showing a portion of the tuning fork to which the same are attached.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing wherein like numerals of reference ⁵⁰ indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 1 indicates as a whole the device embodying the present invention,. the same being shown in Figure 1 in applied position.

As is clearly shown the instrument com- ⁵⁵prises a sound receiving shell portion 2 which is roughly of bulbous formation and has extending from what may be termed the rear side thereof and at the reduced end, the sound conducting tube 3 which is open at its outer end as indicated at 4 and which is constricted intermediate its ends, as indicated at 5. The front.side of the shell 2 has cut therethrough a series of openings 6 by way of which sound waves enter the shell 2 and these openings are preferably arranged in a circular senes and radiating from a common center with one edge of the opening arched upwardly or outwardly and the opposite edge bent or arched inwardly.

The openings 6 are preferably confined to the lower portion of the shell or the portion of greatest width and disposed within the shell and secured at one end to the wall at the bottom thereof is a single elongated tuning bar i which extends to the opposite or reduced end portion of the shell where it is bent, to form a neck 8 which directs the free end into and along the longitudinal center of the tube 3 where it. merges into the tuning fork terminus 9 which extends through the tube 3 and has its free ends terminating adjacent the opening 4.

Mounted upon the bar 7 to extend from the front to the rear of the shell upon the axial center of the circular series of sound receiving openings is a pin member 10 upon which are supported three spiral oscillating disks or tambours 11, two of which are in front of the sounding bar 7 and one to the rear thereof.

These disks are separated a suitable distance by suitable spacing washers or rings 12 so that they will not touch or otherwise interfere one with the other. !

. As previously stated the sound inlet openings 6 are disposed in fan-like fashion in the front wall or dome of the shell and have their adjacent edges oppositely curved so as to cause the sound waves to enter the shell in '

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1,908,850 sound vibration receiving openings in one wall, a tube leading from the opposite wall of the shell from the said openings to carry sound vibrations into the auditory meatus of the ear, the tube being designed to snugly ⁷⁰fit therein, a vibrating element disposed in the shell before said openings, and a second vibrating element connected with tlie first element and extending into the tube and designed to be caused to vibrate in resonance ⁷⁸with the first element.

2. An ear-phone of the character described comprising a shell having one wall provided with inlet openings for the reception of sound vibrations, a tube leading from a wall ⁸⁰opposite the first mentioned wall and open at its free end and further being designed to extend into and snugly engage in the auditory meatus of the ear, a vibrating bar secured at one end to the wall of the shell in ⁸⁸which it is housed and having its other end extended in and longitudinally of said tube, and a tambour disposed in the shell before said openings to receive the sound vibrations entering the same and connected with said 8® bar for transmitting the vibrations thereto.

3. An ear-phone of the character described comprising a shell body having a series of apertures in one wall for the reception of sound vibrations, a tubular member extend- W ing from the opposite wall from that in which the apertures are formed and having the free end open and further being designed to snugly fit in the auditory meatus of the ear. a bar member in the shell secured at one 1®° end to the wall of the shell and extending therethrough to a point adjacent the opposite side thereof and haying its other end extended at right angles into said tube, a pin carried by said bar and disposed in a line M5 extending transversely of the wall in which the openings are formed, and disk elements disposed in spaced relation upon said pin and of a character to be set into vibration by sound waves entering the shell, the said MO waves being transferred to said bar for conduction into the auditory meatus through the free end of the bar.

4. An ear-phone of the character described comprising a shell body having a series of 115 apertures in one wall for the reception of sound vibrations, a tubular member extending from the opposite wall from that in which the apertures are formed and having tlie free end open and further being designed tfO to snugly fit in the auditory meatus of the ear, a bar member in the shell secured at one end to the wall of the shell and extending therethrough to a point adjacent the opposite side thereof and having its other end 1£5 extended at right angles into said tube, a pin carried by said bar and disposed in a line extending transversely of the wall in which the openings are formed, and disk elements disposed in spaced relation upon 13® a spiral manner for contact with the spiral disks or tambours which are mounted on the pin 10. These tambours are made of very fine metal pierced or cut in the form of ® a spiral so that they will more readily react to the contact of sound waves therewith. The sound waves set up an oscillation of the tambours ajid these . waves are transferred therefrom through the pin 9 to the tuning IO bar 7 which is caused to vibrate in resonance therewith and this resonant vibration is then conducted to the fork 9 which is housed in the tube 3 and from there the vibrations are transferred to the bony process of the head 15 with which the tube is in contact and to the tympanic membrane which is in close proximity to the open end 4.

As shown in Figure 1 the present instrument is placed in operative position by in88 serting the tube 3 into the auditory meatus oif the ear where it is held by the engagement of the tragus and antitragus in the constricted portion 5.

Another function of the instrument re⁸⁸ sides in the transferal of the sound vibrations received by the tambours and passed on by the tuning fork, to the bony structure of the ear to bring about bone conduction of sound or what may be described as collateral ⁸® hearing. Thus, it will be seen that the present device will aid the hearing by acting as an artificial eardrum, in persons whose drums have been destroyed through injury or disease. In aiding the hearing by conduc⁸⁸ tion of sound by way of the bony structure of the ear and skull, collateral hearing is brought about by resonating the sound to the metal ear and thus by bony conduction causing the perilymph to be set in motion 4® which in turn acts upon the endolymph which sets into vibration the three hammei bones as a whole and wafts the sound to the cilia of the auditory nerve. .

It is also found that in the partly deaf, in 4® whom the middle ear is destroyed and also the three hammer bones (the incus, halles, and stapes), which in the normal do not act independently, but act as a whole, if these become fixed and do not vibrate, the inner W or basilar surface of the drum or tympanum may be reached by the sound waves by a combination of resonance and bone conduction. . , _Ί .

While in the foregoing a single design ⁸⁸ of disk or tambour has been shown and described it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to this structure for it will be apparent that these disks may be pierced in any design which may be found ®® to give the best results as regards sensitivity to sound waves. .