Abstract:
A construction of a CIC instrument is provided, along with a corresponding method of manufacturing such a CIC instrument, that prevents floating components from contacting with an isolated receiver and, therefore, assures feedback-free operation. This is achieved through the presence of a compartment for the receiver in which the receiver resides, and a cover placed on top of the receiver compartment in a mating recess of the receiver compartment.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present invention is directed to a completely-in-canal (CIC) hearing aid design which has a receiver compartment in which the receiver is placed to keep the receiver isolated from the other components in order to help reduce or eliminate feedback. 
     One of the basic types of hearing aid designs is called the completely-in-canal (CIC) design and is characterized in its small size compared to other designs. A typical construction of a CIC hearing instrument includes components that are not firmly fixed, but rather are attached to fixed components by miniature electrical wires—these are called “floating components”. The use of such floating components provides more flexibility over fixed components during assembly of custom CIC instruments because such components can be positioned to accommodate various shapes of custom CIC instruments. 
     One of the components of the hearing aid is the receiver that converts an electrical signal to sound. The receiver motor produces mechanical vibrations. It is important that a hearing aid receiver be mechanically isolated from other CIC components because of the vibrations it creates during its operation. Without isolation, a vibrating receiver will affect a normal operation of a CIC instrument by causing feedback. 
     One of the possible ways of isolating the receiver vibrations from the rest of the CIC components is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 200510074138, herein incorporated by reference. FIG. 23, e.g., of this reference illustrates an isolating construction with the receiver being attached to the shell by two studs made of a soft rubber-like material. Such a construction provides for a necessary mechanical isolation of the receiver and allows for a feedback-free operation of a hearing aid. 
     It is quite possible that during a CIC assembly, a floating hybrid (or another floating component) will come into a contact with an mechanically-isolated receiver, therefore causing feedback. Furthermore, in a conventional CIC receiver, the electrical terminals are positioned on a back wall, opposite to the receiver tube. 
     SUMMARY 
     An inventive construction of a CIC instrument according to a preferred embodiment includes a receiver compartment built from the same material as the shell, which contains and physically separates the receiver from the floating components. In order to further physically isolate the suspended receiver, a rigid cover is placed into a matching recess of the receiver compartment. 
     Accordingly, a CIC hearing device is provided comprising: a shell comprising a receiver compartment and floating components, all of which are outside of the receiver compartment; a receiver mounted in the receiver compartment; and a rigid cover that covers a top of the receiver compartment, preventing contact between the receiver and the floating components. 
     Additionally, a method for manufacturing a completely-in-ear (CIC) hearing device, is also included comprising: providing a shell comprising a receiver compartment; mounting all floating components, outside of the receiver compartment; mounting a receiver in the receiver compartment; and adding a rigid cover that covers a top of the receiver compartment, thereby preventing contact between the receiver and the floating components. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention is described below with reference to various preferred embodiments, as illustrated in the Figure and described in detail below. 
         FIG. 1  is a pictorial illustration of a receiver mounting according to an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIGS. 2A-C  are pictorial illustrations of the receiver mounting without the cover; and 
         FIGS. 3A-B  are pictorial illustrations of the receiver mounting with the cover. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a preferred embodiment of the inventive CIC hearing aid  10 . A shell  16  and faceplate  12  bound the internal workings of the hearing aid. These include the battery  18  in a battery compartment having a battery door  14  that protrudes slightly from the faceplate  12 . The hearing aid also comprises a microphone  36  and hybrid  20 . 
     The focus of this application is the relationship of the receiver  28  to the hearing aid  10 .  FIG. 1  shows the receiver  28  being attached to a tube  30  that conveys the sound waves from the hearing aid  10 . The tube  30  protrudes through a passage  44  in a tip  42  of the shell  16 . A flange  40  is provided to help provide support within the shell  16 . 
     The receiver comprises a pair of studs  32  (only one visible in  FIG. 1 ) that are used to mount the receiver  28  to the shell body  16 . The receiver  28  is connected to other hearing aid circuitry, such as the hybrid  20 , via wires  22  that are attached to terminals  26  of the receiver  28 . Advantageously, the shell  16  comprises a receiver compartment  34  that is built from the same material as the shell  16 , both of which can be manufactured by the same stereo-lithography process. 
     The receiver compartment  34 , in a preferred embodiment, is designed to tightly surround the receiver  28  without contacting it, outside of the flexible tube  30  and the studs  32 .  FIGS. 2A-C  illustrate various views of this mounting, without the cover  24 . 
     Referring to FIGS.  1  and  3 A-B, in order to further physically isolate the suspended receiver  28 , a rigid cover  24  is placed into a matching recess  35  of the receiver compartment  34 . The top of the rigid cover  24  can be of any workable height provided it protects the receiver from contact with the floating components. The receiver  28  does not touch the cover  24 —again, for the purposes of reducing feedback by having the receiver suspended within the compartment  34 . The cover  24  matingly and securely fits in the cover recess  35 , and it may or may not be affixed (either wholly or partially, permanently or removably) to the shell  16  within the recess  35 . 
     Contrary to the conventional CIC receiver in which the electrical terminals  26  are positioned on a back wall, opposite to the receiver tube, the electrical terminals in this embodiment of the receiver  28  are positioned on a side wall (generally parallel to the receiver diaphragm), which allows reducing the height of the receiver assembly  28 . In such a construction, the overall length of the receiver  28  and the rigid cover  24  does not exceed the length of a receiver with a conventional position of the terminals, so that short CIC instruments can be assembled. 
     For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended by this specific language, and the invention should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art. 
     The present invention may be described in terms of functional block components and various processing steps. Such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware components configured to perform the specified functions. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the invention in any way. For the sake of brevity, conventional electronics and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in the various figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships, physical connections or logical connections may be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. The word mechanism is intended to be used generally and is not limited solely to mechanical embodiments. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
       10  hearing aid     12  face plate     14  battery door     16  shell     18  battery     20  hybrid     22  wires     24  cover     26  terminals     28  receiver     30  tube     32  stud     34  receiver compartment     35  cover recess     36  microphone     40  flange     42  tip     44  passage