Electromagnetically protected hearing aids

Abstract

A Behind The Ear, In The Ear, All in The Ear, In The Canal, or Completely In The Canal hearing aid which is made resistant to electromagnetic interference produced by cellular telephones in the 800 MHz to 100 GHz frequency range. The resultant hearing aid will allow hearing impaired people to take advantage of cellular telephones and other recently-developed personal communication devices while also using their hearing aids.

What is claimed is 
     
       1. An In The Ear, All in The Ear, In The Canal or Completely In The Canal A hearing aid comprising: a case, internal components, a battery door, a battery, a microphone, a speaker a volume control, a telephone coil activation switch, a telephone coil, and internal wires; and electrical connections between the internal components, the hearing aid including:
 means for making at least one of the internal wires are made electrical connections and the internal components resistant to electromagnetic interference produced by cellular telephones in the 800 MHz to 100 GHz frequency range by lining the case with an electrically conductive material; 
 one or more inductors or ferrite devices are put in series with some at least one of the internal wires electrical connections or at least one of the internal components; 
 one or more capacitors are put in parallel with some at least one of the internal wires electrical connections or at least one of the internal components; 
 electrically conductive means for shielding at least one of the internal components arc shieldedor the electrical connections from electromagnetic interference with electrically conductive foil, and conductive gaskets;produced by cellular telephones; 
 the case of the hearing aid further comprising a face plate and a shell, said the face plate and shell being made of or covered by an electrically conductive material, 
 saidthe face plate and shell being bonded together both electrically and mechanically in such a way that none of the conductive material comes in contact with the ear when the hearing aid is worn, and 
 saidthe face plate having saida battery door made entirely or partially of conductive material, and 
 saidthe battery door being covered by a disposable strip of conductive tape, and 
 saidthe conductive tape having a conductive adhesive. 
 
     
     
       2. A hearing aid comprising:
 a microphone adapted to convert a first acoustical sound into an electrical signal;   a circuit adapted to amplify the electrical signal into an amplified electrical signal;   a speaker adapted to convert the amplified electrical signal into a second acoustical sound;   a low-pass electrical filter adapted to limit interference from interference signals from a personal communication device with at least one of the electrical signal and the amplified electrical signal so that the second acoustical sound corresponds to the first acoustical sound, said low-pass electrical filter comprising a capacitive component electrically coupled from between said microphone and said speaker to a ground and an inductive component electrically coupled between said microphone and said speaker;   a case made at least in part of an electrically conductive material, said case adapted to hold and protect internal components of the hearing aid, said internal components including said microphone, said circuit adapted to amplify, and said speaker; and   at least one electrically conductive shield shielding at least one of said internal components from interference signals from the personal communication device, said at least one electrically conductive shield being at least one of an electrically conductive coating of said case and an electrically conductive material lining said case.    
     
     
       3. The hearing aid of claim 2, wherein the electrical filter limits interference from the interference signals having a frequency of at least 800 MHz.  
     
     
       4. The hearing aid of claim 2, wherein said capacitive component of said low-pass electrical filter is adapted to bypass interference signals from the personal communication device to the ground and said inductive component of said low-pass electrical filter is adapted to inhibit interference signals from the personal communication device from passing between said microphone and said speaker.  
     
     
       5. The hearing aid of claim 2, wherein said case is one of configured to be positioned behind an ear, in the ear, completely in the ear, in an ear canal, and completely in the ear canal.  
     
     
       6. The hearing aid of claim 2, wherein said at least one electrically conductive shield comprises an electrically conductive foil.  
     
     
       7. A hearing aid comprising:
 a microphone adapted to input a first acoustical sound;   a circuit adapted to amplify;   a speaker adapted to output a second acoustical sound;   a first electrical connection for transferring electrical signals from said microphone to said circuit adapted to amplify;   a second electrical connection for transferring electrical signals from said circuit adapted to amplify to said speaker;   a low-pass electrical filter electrically coupled to one of said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection, said electrical filter adapted to attenuate interference signals from a personal communication device from propagating in one of said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection so that the second acoustical sound corresponds to the first acoustical sound, said low-pass electrical filter comprising at least one capacitive component electrically coupled to a ground and one of said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection, and at least one inductive component electrically coupled to the other of said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection between said microphone and said speaker;   a case made at least in part of an electrically conductive material to limit propagation of interference signals from the personal communication device in at least said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection, said case being adapted to hold internal components of the hearing aid; and   at least one electrically conductive shield shielding at least one internal component of the hearing aid, said at least one internal component including one of said microphone, said circuit adapted to amplify, and said speaker, said at least one electrically conductive shield being at least one of an electrically conductive coating of said case and an electrically conductive material lining said case.    
     
     
       8. The hearing aid of claim 7, wherein said case is one of configured to be positioned behind an ear, in the ear, completely in the ear, in an ear canal, and completely in the ear canal.  
     
     
       9. The hearing aid of claim 7, wherein said at least one electrically conductive shield comprises an electrically conductive foil.  
     
     
       10. A hearing aid comprising:
 a microphone adapted to convert a first acoustical sound into an electrical signal;   a circuit adapted to amplify the electrical signal into an amplified electrical signal;   a speaker adapted to convert the amplified electrical signal into a second acoustical sound;   a first electrical connection between said microphone and said circuit adapted to amplify;   a second electrical connection between said circuit adapted to amplify and said speaker;   a low-pass electrical filter electrically coupled to one of said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection, said electrical filter including a capacitive component and an inductive component to limit interference from interference signals from a personal communication device with one of the electrical signal and the amplified electrical signal so that the second acoustical sound is an audible reproduction of the first acoustical sound, said inductive component being electrically coupled in series with at least one of said microphone and said speaker, and said capacitive component being electrically coupled in parallel with at least one of said microphone and said speaker;   a case made at least in part of an electrically conductive material to limit propagation of interference signals from the personal communication device in at least said first electrical connection and said second electrical connection, said case being adapted to hold internal components of the hearing aid; and   at least one electrically conductive shield shielding at least one internal component of the hearing aid, said at least one internal component including one of said microphone, said circuit adapted to amplify, and said speaker, said at least one electrically conductive shield being at least one of an electrically conductive coating of said case and an electrically conductive material lining said case.    
     
     
       11. The hearing aid of claim 10, wherein said case is one of configured to be positioned behind an ear, in the ear, completely in the ear, in an ear canal, and completely in the ear canal.  
     
     
       12. The hearing aid of claim 10, wherein said at least one electrically conductive shield comprises an electrically conductive foil.