Patent Description:
Current solutions for headphones and hearing protectors are forced to either excel in acoustic insertion loss or have a full set of acoustical speaker tuning parameters.

The outer cup is affecting the passive damping / insertion loss and speaker sound.

The traditional headphone design does not enable passive damping at low frequencies.

The closed design of a hearing protector does not enable a full set of tuning parameters of the speaker sound.

Traditional headphones are built to sound great but lack acoustical insertion loss at low frequencies, due to the openings in the speaker back volume cup and outer cup.

In traditional closed headphone architecture:.

Speaker sound is tuned using the holes in the baffle between speaker front and back volume. In order to improve acoustical insertion loss at low frequencies, the headphone outer cup needs to be completely airtight. This is problematic as the outer cup usually have features (buttons, boom arm etc.) that makes the sealing solutions complex, expensive and hard to produce.

Another issue is that the design of the outer cup is affecting the passive damping / insertion loss and speaker sound, because they are acoustically coupled together.

Traditional hearing protectors have a simple completely closed volume and therefore have acoustical insertion loss at low frequencies. Speaker tuning possibilities are limited by the closed design and the speaker placement.

In traditional completely closed headphone architecture:.

Document <CIT> discloses a headphone. As shown in Fig. <NUM>, this document discloses a left housing <NUM> which accommodates a circuit board <NUM>, a left driver unit <NUM>, magnetic bodies, and a left signal line. The left housing <NUM> includes a baffle plate <NUM>, a left first housing <NUM>, a left second housing <NUM>, a first accommodation part <NUM>, a second accommodation part <NUM>, and two axial holes 11h1 and 11h2.

Document <CIT> discloses an earphone including a housing, a speaker, a plurality of porous materials and a tuning mechanism is provided. The housing has a containing space, a sound-output opening and a plurality of tuning holes, wherein the containing space communicates with outside of the housing through the tuning holes. Areas of the tuning holes are substantially the same. The speaker is disposed at the sound-output opening and located in the containing space. The air permeability of each porous material are different, and the porous materials cover the tuning holes correspondingly. The tuning mechanism is disposed at the housing and shields at least one of the tuning holes selectively.

Document <CIT> discloses a headphone which comprises a housing with an open end and at least one defined dominant acoustic opening, an acoustically sealing earpad arranged at the open end of the housing, and at least one microphone arranged adjacent to common ear or in the vicinity of the dominant acoustical opening for detecting noise, wherein the dominant acoustic opening is arranged within a radius of <NUM> around a midpoint of the at least one microphone. The headphone or earphone also comprises an active noise compensation unit for performing an active noise compensation based on the output of the microphone and for generating a compensation signal. The headphone or earphone also comprises an electro-acoustical transducer inside the housing for reproducing the compensation signal.

<FIG> illustrates a possible layout of an earcup of a general headphone. The headphone comprises at least one earcup <NUM> that may be connected to a headband structure. Through the earcup <NUM>, an acoustic signal, e. music, speech, sound or the like, is delivered to the ears <NUM> of the user.

The headphone furthermore comprises a microphone, however for the scope of the present disclosure it is not necessary for the headphone to feature such microphone.

The headphone comprises an output transducer. The output transducer may be constituted by a receiver (loudspeaker) for providing an acoustic signal to the user.

The headphone may comprise an input unit for providing an electric input signal representing sound. The input unit may comprise an input transducer, e.g. a microphone, for converting an acoustical input sound to an electric input signal. The input unit may comprise a wireless receiver for receiving a wireless signal comprising or representing sound and for providing an electric input signal representing said sound. The wireless receiver may e.g. be configured to receive an electromagnetic signal in the radio frequency range (<NUM> to <NUM>). The wireless receiver may e.g. be configured to receive an electromagnetic signal in a frequency range of light (e.g. infrared light <NUM> to <NUM> THz, or visible light, e.g. <NUM> THz to <NUM> THz).

The headphone may comprise antenna and transceiver circuitry (e.g. a wireless receiver) for wirelessly receiving an electric input signal from another device, e.g. from an entertainment device (e.g. a TV-set), a communication device, a wireless microphone, or another headphone. The electric input signal may represent or comprise an audio signal and/or a control signal and/or an information signal.

The present invention is directed to an earcup for a headphone as defined in claim <NUM>. Further aspects of the invention are defined by the dependent claims.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides an earcup for a headphone, wherein the earcup is configured to be mounted around the ear of a user/wearer. The earcup comprises a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user of the headphone. The earcup comprises a baffle disposed within the earcup to define front and rear cavities. The earcup comprises an outer cup arranged to accommodate the rear cavity. The rear cavity is defined in a space between the baffle and the outer cup. The earcup comprises a first inner cup arranged within the rear cavity. Such a first inner cup is configured to surround the front opening. The earcup comprises a transducer, in particular an acoustic output transducer configured to provide an acoustical signal to the ear of the user. The earcup comprises an earpad extending around the periphery of the front opening of the earcup arranged to accommodate the front cavity and the ear of the user. Such an earpad may be configured to provide a comfortable interface to the skin of the user, and/or to provide a dampening of external, ambient, sounds to the user. The earcup comprises a second inner cup arranged between the outer cup and the first inner cup for providing an acoustic barrier between outside noise and the ear of the user. Such a second inner cup provides an improved dampening of acoustical sound from the environment, i.e. ambient sounds, so that the user is not bothered by these sounds while listening to e.g. sound from an output transducer in the earcup.

The earcup comprises that the second inner cup is adapted to acoustically sealing off outside noise and to increase the transmission loss of the earcup. This means that the second inner cup will help isolate/prevent external sounds reaching the ear of the user.

The earcup is configured so that the second inner cup is adapted to increase the.

transmission loss of the earcup. The second inner cup provides a greater damping of external sounds.

The earcup may be configured so that the transducer is fixated to the baffle. The transducer may be directly or indirectly, via other components, attached or fixated to the baffle.

The earcup may be configured so that the earpad is fixated to the baffle. This could allow the earpad to position the baffle and/or the transducer in an optimal position relative to the ear of the user.

The earcup may be configured so that the second inner cup is provided with at least one opening for tuning the sound. The size and/or position and/or number of openings may determine which kind of effect the tuning have on sound produced by the transducer. For instance, the earcup may configured so that the opening of the second inner cup is shaped as a hole or a tube.

The earcup may be configured so that the at least one opening of the second inner cup is covered by a damping material. Further, the earcup may configured so that the first inner cup is provided with at least one opening for tuning the sound. Still further, the earcup may configured so that the opening of the first inner cup is shaped as a hole or a tube. Even still further, the earcup may be configured so that the at least one opening of the first inner cup is covered by a damping material. These components may help achieve the desired tuning of the sound provided to the user.

The earcup may be configured so that the baffle is provided with at least one opening for tuning the sound. Further, the earcup may be configured so that the opening of the baffle is shaped as a hole or a tube. Still further, the earcup may be configured so that the at least one opening of the baffle is covered by a damping material. These features may help achieve the desired tuning of the sound provided to the user.

A further aspect of the present disclosure relates to a headset comprising a first earcup and an optional second earcup, wherein a headband mechanically is configured to couple the first and the optional second earcup and being configured so that the headset may be arranged/worn on a user's head.

At least one of the first and second earcups may be provided with an input transducer configured to pick up sounds from the user's mouth, i.e., a speech pick-up input transducer. The input transducer may comprise a microphone array of at least two microphones. Further, the headset may comprise a boom arm configured to carry the input transducer, where the boom arm may be articulated so as to be operated between two positions where one position places the input transducer near the user's mouth so as to efficiently pick up voice from the user. Other features may be included in the headset, such as active noise cancellation, wireless communication, such as Bluetooth communication, etc..

The electronic hardware may include micro-electronic-mechanical systems (MEMS), integrated circuits (e.g. application specific), microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, printed circuit boards (PCB) (e.g. flexible PCBs), and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure, e.g. sensors, e.g. for sensing and/or registering physical properties of the environment, the device, the user, etc. Computer program shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

<FIG> shows a traditional closed headphone architecture where the speaker <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>. In some cases, the speaker can be fixated to other parts. The earpads <NUM> are fixated to the baffle <NUM>. The volume in front of the speaker <NUM> is coupled to the user's ear <NUM>. The front volume <NUM> is defined by baffle <NUM>, earpad <NUM> and the user's anatomy <NUM>. Holes <NUM> in the baffle <NUM>, provided between speaker front <NUM> and rear volume <NUM> are used to tune the speaker sound. The holes <NUM> can be covered by a dampening material. The holes <NUM> in the speaker rear volume cup <NUM> are used to tune the speaker sound. In some cases, the holes are tubes. In some cases, the holes are covered by a dampening material. The size, spacing, distribution of the holes can be used to tune the resonance of the transducer.

<FIG> shows a traditional completely closed hearing protector architecture, where the speaker <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>. In some case the speaker <NUM> can be fixated to other parts. The earpad <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>. The volume in front of the speaker <NUM> is coupled to the user's ear <NUM>. The front volume <NUM> is defined by baffle <NUM>, earpad <NUM> and the user's anatomy <NUM>. Holes <NUM> in the baffle, provided between speaker front <NUM> and rear volume <NUM> are used to tune the speaker sound. The holes <NUM> can be covered by a dampening material.

The outer cup <NUM> of a traditional closed and completely closed headphone structure, as shown in <FIG> and <FIG> is affecting the passive damping/ insertion loss and speaker sound. Further, the traditional open design does not enable passive damping at low frequencies and the closed design does not enable a full set of tuning parameters of the speaker.

The problems with known headphone structures, as shown in <FIG> and <FIG> is solved by adding an additional cup <NUM>, a sealing cup, between outer cup <NUM> and speaker cup <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>. The sealing cup <NUM> forms a barrier between outside noise and the ear.

The sealing cup <NUM> is stripped of features with makes the sealing easy. Only electrical wires will need to go through the sealing cup barrier. Speaker <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>. In some case the speaker <NUM> can be fixated to other parts. The earpad <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>. The volume in front of the speaker <NUM> is coupled to the user's ear <NUM>. The front volume <NUM> is defined by baffle <NUM>, earpad <NUM> and the user's anatomy <NUM>. Holes <NUM> in the baffle, provided between speaker front <NUM> and rear volume <NUM> are used to tune the speaker sound. The holes <NUM> can be covered by a dampening material.

The holes <NUM> in the speaker rear volume cup <NUM> are used to tune the speaker sound. In some cases, the holes are tubes. In some cases, the holes are covered by a dampening material.

The sealing cup <NUM> seals off the speaker acoustics, i.e. the speaker back volume cup <NUM>, speaker <NUM>, baffle <NUM>, baffle holes <NUM> and damping material, front volume <NUM> and earpad <NUM>, from outside noise.

The outside cup <NUM> will not affect passive damping / insertion loss or speaker sound. A full setup of speaker tuning parameters is available. The closed design enables passive damping / insertion loss.

A headphone is provided, comprising at least one earcup <NUM> comprising a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear <NUM> of a user of the headphone, a baffle <NUM> disposed within the earcup to define front and rear cavities <NUM>, an outer cup <NUM> arranged to accommodate the rear cavities, a first inner cup or a back-volume cup <NUM> arranged within the rear cavity surrounding the front opening, a transducer, e.g. a speaker, and an acoustically sealing earpad <NUM> extending around the periphery of the front opening of the earcup <NUM> arranged to accommodate the front cavity and the ear <NUM> of the user. The headphone comprises a second inner cup <NUM> arranged between the outer cup <NUM> and the back-volume cup <NUM> for providing an acoustic barrier between outside noise and the ear <NUM> of the user.

The second inner cup <NUM> is adapted to acoustically sealing off outside noise and to increase the transmission loss of the earcup. The second inner cup <NUM> is adapted to increase the transmission loss of the earcup <NUM>. In one example, the second inner cup <NUM> is provided with at least one opening <NUM> for tuning the sound. The opening <NUM> of the second inner cup <NUM> may be shaped as a hole or a tube. In one example, the at least one opening <NUM> of the second inner cup is covered by a damping material.

In one example, the first inner cup or back-volume cup <NUM> is provided with at least one opening <NUM> for tuning the sound. The opening <NUM> of the first inner cup is shaped as a hole or a tube. In one example, the at least one opening <NUM> of the first inner cup <NUM> is covered by a damping material.

In one example, the baffle <NUM> is provided with at least one opening <NUM> for tuning the sound. The opening <NUM> of the baffle is shaped as a hole or a tube. In one example the at least one opening <NUM> of the baffle <NUM> is covered by a damping material.

The front cavity is defined by the baffle <NUM>, earpad <NUM> and the anatomy of the ear <NUM> of the user.

The transducer or speaker <NUM> may be fixated to the baffle <NUM>.

The earpad <NUM> is fixated to the baffle <NUM>.

Claim 1:
An earcup (<NUM>) for a headphone, comprising:
- a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of a user of the headphone,
- a baffle (<NUM>) disposed within the earcup (<NUM>) to define a front cavity and a rear cavity (<NUM>);
- an outer cup (<NUM>) arranged to accommodate the rear cavity (<NUM>),
- a first inner cup (<NUM>) arranged within the rear cavity (<NUM>) surrounding the front opening,
- a transducer (<NUM>); and
- an earpad (<NUM>) extending around the periphery of the front opening of the earcup (<NUM>) arranged to accommodate the front cavity and the ear of the user, and
wherein the earcup (<NUM>) comprises a second inner cup (<NUM>) arranged between the outer cup (<NUM>) and the first inner cup (<NUM>) for providing an acoustic barrier between outside noise and the ear of the user.