HEARING PROTECTION MEANS

Abstract: Hearing protection means (1) including a resiliently yieldable shaped band (2) which has two end parts (4) to lie adjacent the head of a user in the vicinity of the ears of the user. A tragus deflector pad (8) on each band end part (4) with the pads (8) facing each other and with a spacing therebetween such that the band end parts (4) have to be spread apart to enable the pads (8) to engage the tragi of the user. The resilience of the band (2) develops a restoring force when the band end parts (4) are spread apart, and the restoring force causes the tragi of the user to be deflected by the pads (8) to respectively cover the associated auditory canal of the user.

Description: HEARING PROTECTION MEANS TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to means to protect persons from noise likely to damage their hearing nerves or cause distress or annoyance. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The idea of providing means to achieve the above is not new. There are many forms of 'hearing protection device' already available. At the two ends of the spectrum of devices used there is the muff, which totally covers the ears, and ear plugs, which are adapted to be forced into the ear canals connected to the hearing sensory regions. Both of these means for hearing protection have disadvantages. In the case of ear muffs, there is a discomfort factor. The ears of the muff wearer are completely isolated from cooling air and as a result the ears can become very hot. This can be as much of an annoyance to the wearer and cause discomfort, of a different form but of a degree, almost as great as that which would result from the noise muffled by the muffs. In the case of ear plugs there is a danger associated with their use, as with anything forced into the ear canal. There is the problem of adjustment to achieve comfort and sound deadening. There is also the problem of removal and replacement if normal hearing is required for some purpose for short period of time. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to overcome the foregoing problems by providing a device for wearing which will substantially close off the auditory canal of each ear and so limit the access to the inner delicate hearing mechanisms for sound producing air vibrations. This is achieved by deflection of the tragi of the wearer so that each will overlie the entrance to its adjacent auditory canal. BROAD STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION A hearing protection means including a band which is shaped to partly embrace the head of a user, the band has two end parts which when the protection means is in use will respectively lie closely adjacent the head of a user in the vicinity of the ears of the user, the band is resiliently yieldable allowing the band ends parts to be moved apart, a tragus deflector pad on each band end part, said pads face each other and are spaced apart such that in order to engage said pads with the tragi of a user of the protection means the band will have to resilient yield and in so doing generate a restoring force sufficient to cause deflection of the tragi of the user. By way of example two embodiments of the above are hereinafter described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 is an elevation of a simple form of the hearing protection means of the invention, Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a connection between a pad of the protection means and its mounting band, Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing another form of pad to band connection, Figure 4 is a plan view of a hearing protection means according to the invention with an associated eye shielding means, Figure 5 is a side elevation of the hearing protection means of Figure 5 with the forehead, nose and ear of a user shown in ghost outline and Figure 6 is an enlarged elevational view of a preferred form of pad as used in the protection means of Fig.5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As illustrated in Fig.1 the hearing protection means indicated 1 comprises a head band 2 with a curved central portion 3 for partial embrace of the head of a user. The band terminates with end parts 4. The material from which the head band 2 is made is strong enough to substantially maintain the illustrated shape even though in use there will be forces tending to force the end parts 4 apart. It is envisaged that the head band would not be completely rigid but would have some inherent resilience allowing it to resiliently yield to applied forces. The required characteristics can be achieved in several ways, as by making the head band from a thick panel of material and of an appropriate width, or the head band can be made of thinner material and be provided with exterior reinforcing ribs extending the length of the head band. There is an aperture 5 in each arm 4. The apertures can be holes or slots, as will be later discussed. Mounted in each aperture 5 there is a deflector pad assembly 6. Each assembly 6 includes a stem 7 with an associated pad head 8. As shown in Fig. 2 the stem 7 is externally threaded as indicated and the aperture 5 is in the form of a slot with ridges 9 adapted to engage in the valleys between the crests of the threads on the stem 7. It follows that with this arrangement the deflector pad assembly 6 can be 'threaded' in and out to provide pressure on the tragus of the wearer and also accommodate differences in the width of the heads of wearers. The arrangement also allows the assembly 6 to be moved up and down to accommodate the variation in distance between wearers in the dimension between the top of the skull and the tragi of the wearer. It would also allow for differences in that dimension in a particular wearer between the top of the skull and each of the wearer's tragus. Whilst a slot has been described allowing up and down movement this is a refinement and preferred. It is to be understood that the apertures 5 can be merely threaded holes to receive the threaded stems 7 of the assemblies 6. To facilitate the entry of a stem 7 into an aperture 6 the end 11 of the stem 7 can be tapered. It is anticipated that the stem 7 of an assembly 6 would be made from a tough resilient material, a suitable plastic is envisaged. It is also anticipated that the engagement of the threaded zones of the aperture 5 and stem 7 would be such that there would be a firm frictional fit there between, perhaps even a fit which would require deformation of the stem 7. At the inner end of each stem 7 there is the pad head 8 to bear on a tragus of the wearer of the device and it is of such size that it will not enter the auditory canal. The domed contact surface 12 of the pad 8 is profiled such that there will always be a convex pad portion in a position to engage the tragus of the engaged ear. The pad 8 is preferably made of a resilient but firm material to provide user comfort and would have characteristics for hygiene, such as being a water repellent closed cell plastic able to be cleansed. Fig.3 shows another form of the invention wherein the stem 7 is not threaded but is made of material which can be deformed under pressure. In this arrangement the tapered nose 13 of the stem 7 is entered into the aperture 5, which is a circular hole in Fig.3 and may be threaded or unthreaded. The stem 7 is then forced through the hole 5, with substantial deformation of the stem 7, either with a linear movement or a rotating movement of the stem , until the required position for the stem 7 is achieved. The degree of deformation is such that the stem 7 will be retained in its selected position, either by the engagement of the end edges of the hole 5 with the stem 7 where is emerges from the hole 5, or by the friction between the stem 7 and the bore of the hole 5, as would be enhanced if the hole 5 was threaded. The foregoing descriptions of the first form of the invention are of preferred forms of the invention as applied to a head band and it is to be understood that changes can be made to the details of the components described and their interactions without departing from the inventive concepts herein disclosed. By way of example, only one pad need be adjustable. In another arrangement, a positioning pad can be mounted on the member 3 to sit upon the head of a user of the device and in that provide means to readily maintain the device seated upon the head. This will overcome any tendency of the member 3 to move relative to the head of the user device as might occur with sudden movements of the head of the user. In another variation of the device, the pads 8 can be enlarged to provide a greater bearing surface between the pads 8 and the ears of the wearer of the device. In a further variation of the device intended to enhance the appearance of the device, decorative caps can be mounted over the ends of the stems 7 projecting beyond the arms 4. Besides providing an pleasing appearance to the projecting ends of the stems 7 caps, as proposed, with smooth profiles would eliminate the possibility of the ends of the stems catching on clothing or external articles, such as cloth with which the wear of the device may come into contact whilst wearing the device. The second embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figures 4 to 6 combines the features of the first embodiment with the additional feature of an eye shield. The eye shield portion of the hearing protection means consists in a plastics frame 14 supporting darkened and toughened plastic lenses 15 and side lights 16. The frame 14 comprises a bridge piece of inverted shape adapted to span the nose 17 of the user, and includes or carries nose pads 18 adapted to rest on the nose to support the shield. In other embodiments the eye shield may take other forms. For example it may comprise a one piece, so called wrap around, transparent plastics goggles that may or may not be self supporting, that is to say without a frame and with an integral bridge piece, the side lights may be omitted or replaced by opaque elements, and the lenses are not necessarily darkened. Hinges 19 are provided at the outer edges of the eye shield for the hinged connection of elongated side arms 20. Towards the rear end of each rear arm part 20 there is mounted an elastomeric pad 21. Each pad 21 includes a domed head 22, preferably hemi-spherical, with a shank 23 mounted in the arm 20. The pad shank 23 is adapted in a suitable manner to be secured in and be movable along a slot 24 in the arm 20. In one example, as shown in Fig. 6, the pad shank 23 includes a shoulder 24 to bear against the inner face of the arm 20, a shaft portion 25 with a diameter substantially the same as the width of the slot 24, and an outer boss flange larger in diameter than the shaft 25. The spacing between the shoulder 24 and the flange 26 is substantially the same as or slightly less than the thickness of the arm 20. The flange 26 is shaped and dimensioned to allow it to distort and pass through the slot 24 when force is applied for that purpose. After passing through the slot 24 the flange 26 will expand and the arm 20 will be gripped between the facing surfaces of the shoulder 24 and the flange 26. The grip of the shoulder 24 and the flange 26 with the arm 20 and the neatness of the fit of the pad shaft 25 in the slot 24 is not such as to prevent movement of the pad along the slot 24 but is adequate to maintain the pad in a position to which it is moved. As will be understood location adjustment of the pad is required because of the variations in relative positioning of the ears and nose of possible users. The pad heads 22 are shaped to bear against the respective tragi of the user's ears and depress them thereby very effectively excluding sound from entry into the auditory canal. Each of the hinge connections 19 between the frame 14 and the side arms 20 is furnished with travel limit stop means to limit the spreading apart of the arms 20 at the rear ends thereof. In use the band, comprised of the arms 20 and the frame 14, will yield resiliently to the spreading force applied by a user in order to correctly position the hearing protection means with the pads 21 on his tragi. The resilient yield will generate a restoring force which will hold the pads 21 against the user's tragi with suffice pressure to cause the tragi to be deflected. To supplement the restoring force provided by the inherent resilience of the band of this embodiment, the pad units can be modified to make them axially adjustable relative to the arms 20. In such an arrangement the flanges 26 would not be present, the shafts 25 would resiliently engage with ridges on the inner faces of the slots 24 allowing the shafts 25 to be 'threaded' through the slots 24 to bring the pad heads 22 closer together or to be moved further apart. In a variation of the above, the shafts 25 would be threaded to threadingly engage in thread ridges on the inner faces of the slots 24, in the manner disclosed with reference to the first embodiment of the invention and as illustrated in Fig.2. While the second embodiment has been described as protecting the eyes from damaging agencies, according to this invention the lenses may be made opaque to exclude light from the eyes. A use would be to facilitate a person sleeping in a non-darkened environment. Alternatively, in sue h instances, a protective device substantially as described may be fitted with soft or moulded liners for the lenses adapted to exclude light from the wearer's eyes without causing discomfort such as would prevent the wearer from sleeping.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Hearing protection means including a band which is shaped to partly embrace the head of a user, the band has two end parts which when the protection means is in use will respectively lie closely adjacent the head of a user in the vicinity of the ears of the user, the band is resiliently yieldable allowing the band ends parts to be moved apart, a tragus deflector pad on each band end part, said pads face each other and are spaced apart such that in order to engage said pads with the tragi of a user of the protection means the band will have to resilient yield and in so doing generate a restoring force sufficient to cause deflection of the tragi of the user. 2. Hearing protection means as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of said pads is adjustable to allow the spacing apart of the pads to be varied. 3. Hearing protection means as claimed in claim 1 where said band is segmented and includes an eye shield part adapted to span the width of the face of a user, said eye shield part having a central bridge adapted to engage the nose of the user, two side arms extending respectively from outer edges of the eye shield and incorporating said end parts of said band. 4. Hearing protection means as claimed in claim 3 wherein said eye shield part includes toughened transparent lenses, 5. Hearing protection means as claimed in claim 3 wherein said eye shield part includes opaque lenses. 6. Hearing protection means as claimed in 1 wherein each tragus deflector pad is mounted to the band end part through a deflector pad stem threaded into an opening in said band end part. 7. Hearing protection means includes as claimed in claim 1 wherein each tragus deflector pad has a mounting stem which is externally threaded and the threaded deflector pad stem is engaged in a correspondingly profiled opening in the band end part. 8. Hearing protection means as claimed in 7 wherein the opening in the band end part is elongated in the length direction of the band. 9. Hearing protection means as claimed in 1 wherein each tragus deflector pad is mounted to the band end part through a deflector pad stem which is deformable and is an interference fit in an opening in said band end part. 10. Hearing protection means as claimed in any one of the claims 3,4,5 wherein said tragus deflector pads each includes a mounting spindle and the spindles are respectively slidably mounted in slots in the band end parts.

Inventors: MCCAFFERTY PAUL, MCCAFFERTY, PAUL
Applicants: MCCAFFERTY PAUL, MCCAFFERTY, PAUL
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A61F9
IPC codes: A61F9, A61F11