Headsets
This invention relates to headsets and in particular, but not exclusively, to headsets for use with voice recogni¬ tion systems. For the purposes of this specification the term headset includes any device which is capable of mounting an ear piece and/or a microphone on a user's head for hands free operation. Thus the term includes the device sold separately from the ear piece and/or microphone. Headsets are used in a great number of industries from T.V. Gladiators to North Sea divers and each use brings its own demands. Thus whilst it is quite acceptable in a system for a telephonist to have a head band which clamps against a wearer's pinna through an ear piece pad, because the accuracy of the location is not important and therefore only limited clamp force is required, such a system is not acceptable in voice recognition usages, because the relative position of the microphone and the wearer's mouth affects the sound of the words spoken. Similarly telephone propo¬ sals for hanging the ear piece and microphone on a loop engaged on the pinna are unacceptable because there is no positive location.
For this reason voice recognition systems tend to use powerful clamping spring head bands with a pair of clamping pads which engage firmly on the skull. These are however, very expensive and have no provision for an ear piece.
The present invention provides a headset comprising a sprung head band for extending around or over the wearer's head and first and second clamp means attached to the band at spaced locations for gripping the wearer'ε head between them, characteriεed in that at least one of the clamp means is constituted by an element which is shaped to sit on the wearer's ear between the pinna and the skull and to grippin- gly engage the skull.
This arrangement has two advantages. First by locating the head piece relative to the wearer'ε ear the microphone can be readily positioned in a repeatable poεition relative to the wearer's mouth. Because the element does not engage on the pinna discomfort from clamping force is reduced, as compared with ear pad arrange¬ ments and further the location on the ear can make a reduction in clamping force as there will be no downward slippage. Secondly the element can provide a mounting for an ear piece and can dictate the location of the ear piece relative to the element and hence the wearer's ear. Thus the element or an extension thereof may be provided with an ear piece mounting and in a particular embodiment the ear piece may be disposed relative to the elem.ent εuch that in uεe the ear pieces audio outlet sits in the concha auriculae of the wearer. In any of the above embodiments the headset may include a boom microphone and the head band may be formed with a non-resilient portion for supporting the element, ear piece and/or microphone.
Conveniently the element may be in the form of a closed loop through which the wearer's pinna may be threaded and thiε is particularly advantageous because it means that the same headset can be worn either on the wearer's right ear or left ear. However, elements in the form of hooks are included within the invention.
Although the invention has been defined above it is to be understood it includes any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.
The invention may be performed in various ways and a specific embodiment will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a front view of a headset according to the invention when worn on a wearer's left ear;
Figure 2 is a view of the ear element of the headset of Figure 1 looking away from the wearer's ear;
Figure 3 is a side view of the element of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a partial vertical cross-section of Figure 3; and
Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the headset mounted on a wearer and including a microphone.
A headset 10 comprises a first head clamp 11, a head band 12, including a resilient spring metal band 13 and a non-resilient elongate body 14, and an element 15 formed to sit on the wearer's ear between their pinna and their skull to clamp against the skull.
The head clamp 11 simply comprises a frusto-conical body 16 into which one end of the spring band 13 can be secured by means of an insert 17. The body 16 has a window
18 through which the spring band 13 passeε and which allows for some pivoting between the spring band 13 and the body 16. The other end 19 of the spring band 13 passes through a portion of the elongate body 14 and is anchored therein at 20.
As can best be seen- in Figures 2 to 4 the element 15 comprises an ear shaped loop 21 and an ear piece housing 22 which is integrally formed with the loop 21 and supported thereon by an arm 23. The ear piece housing 22 has a recess 24 for receiving the ear piece and a passage 25 to allow the electrical wiring for the ear piece to pass into a hollow portion 26 of the body 16 where they can be clipped to the corresponding microphone wires.
The lower end 27 of the body 14 has an arrow head formation either for directly mounting a boom microphone 28 (see Figure 5) or for locating a suitable microphone mounting device.
In use the headset 10 is mounted on the wearer's head as generally indicated in Figure 5 with the head clamp 11 on one side of the wearer's head 29 and with the loop 21 of the element 15 sitting on the wearer's ear 30. The relative location of the loop 21 and the housing 22 can be made such that the ear piece 31 sits in the concha auriculae of the wearer providing very good acoustic transmission into the wearer's ear and hence avoiding the need for over amplifica¬ tion and sound leakage. Another advantage of this construction is that the ear is unoccluded by any ear piece pad or the like, and so would be appropriate for in-vehicle use.