As we all know, a hearing aid has a part that introduces in sound from the outside, in addition, a microphone sets inside it. Since hearing aids are worn in the ear, contact with mois-ture is inevitable, including sweat. That adversely affects the micro-phone. So, there’s always been a need to protect against the eects of sweat and moisture. The idea in this patent introduced here solves this problem.In the gure on the right, you see a mesh-like component is attached near 2a to prevent dust and other outside matter from entering the microphone. By convention, the method for making this component is to treat the meshed material with a process similar to plating. In con-trast, the method commonly employed by Rion to manufacture the internal parts of the microphone was etching. So, we created a porous member by etching stainless steel and adopted this as both a dust-proof and waterproof component. The component corresponds to the part numbered 10 in the gure on the right. Part number 12 is xed in place with an adhesive to improve sealing performance and to prevent the penetration of dust and moisture as much as possible. It may be an overstatement, but this may be con-sidered an innovative approach to waterproofing hearing aids. More precisely, the waterproofing is achieved by preparing a member with diameter of around 2 mm with numerous pores about 30 µm in diameter and sealing its circumfer-ence with an adhesive.Rion has traditionally empha-sized the waterproof performance of hearing aids. We take pride in advancing waterproof performance, one of our strengths. But I don’t regard this idea, which led to this patent, to be my own. It was an appli-cation of technologies and ideas to waterproong—to use etching and adhesives, both of which had been commonly used at Rion. My boss happened to suggest that I apply for a patent, which I did, and the patent was granted. That was somewhat of a surprise to me. It was an unexpect-ed piece of good luck. But obtaining a patent is a big deal for both the com-pany and the engineers. I feel prod-ucts and companies grow through the accumulation of eorts like this. I would encourage everyone at Rion to actively take on the challenge of applying for patents and design registrations.THE PATENTPatents Obtained by Rion—The Patent Registration NAVI: Part 1Rion has contributed to society by applying for and registered numerous patents.This new feature will introduce these inventions and how they will contribute to society.Part 1 introduces a patent for the waterproof structure within a hearing aid.Inventor:Takashi YamazakiApplication number:Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161820 (P2004-161820)Filing date:May 31, 2004Date of publication of application:December 15, 2005Takashi YamazakiMedical Equipment Manufacturing En-gineering Section, Medical Instrument Division. Joined Rion in 1994. He was involved with the development of mi-crophones for hearing aids in the Re-search and Development Department, work that lead to the acquisition of this patent in 2004. Later, he participated in the development of various other devic-es, including earphones for audiome-ters as well as hearing aids. He has been active since 2018 in the production manage ment of microphones, receiv-ers, and cartilage conduction vibrators.The technologies and ideas for improving hearing aid waterproof performanceJapanese Patent No. 4117269Waterproof structure for microphone12
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