Headset noise reducing

Abstract

A headset has an earcup with front opening adjacent to an annular cushion formed with a plurality of openings facing the inside of the earcup that acoustically couples the earcup volume to the cushion volume. A driver is seated inside the earcup with a microphone adjacent to the driver. Active noise reducing circuitry intercouples the driver and microphone. An acoustic load that may comprise a wire mesh resistive cover and/or air mass adjacent the microphone is constructed and arranged to reduce the effect of resonances in the earcup volume.A headset has an earcup with front opening adjacent to an annular cushion. A driver is seated inside the earcup with a microphone adjacent to the driver. Active noise reducing circuitry intercouples the driver and microphone. An acoustic load is constructed and arranged to reduce the effect of resonances in the earcup volume.

1. A headset comprising,
 an earcup having a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user,   a driver inside said earcup,   a cushion around the periphery of said front opening formed with an ear opening constructed and arranged to accommodate the ear of a user and formed with a plurality of openings around said opening constructed and arranged to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said earcup and enhance passive attenuation.   
     
     
       2. A headset in accordance with  claim 1  and further comprising,
 an earcup having a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user, a driver inside said earcup, a cushion around the periphery of said front opening formed with an ear opening constructed and arranged to accommodate the ear of a user and formed with a plurality of openings around said opening constructed and arranged to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said ear cup and enhance passive attenuation,  
 a microphone inside said earcup adjacent to said driver, and 
 active noise reducing circuitry intercoupling said microphone and said driver constructed and arranged to provide active noise reduction,
 whereby said cushion with said plurality of openings is further constructed and arranged to furnish additional damping to help smooth the audio response at the ear of a user and control stability with the headset off the head. 
 
 
     
     
       3. A headset in accordance with  claim 2  and further comprising,
 an acoustic load in close proximity to said microphone constructed and arranged to reduce the effects of resonances in said earcup. 
 
     
     
       4. A headset in accordance with  claim 3  wherein said acoustic load comprises a wire mesh resistive cover. 
     
     
       5. A headset in accordance with  claim 4  wherein said wire mesh resistive cover is formed with an opening near said microphone. 
     
     
       6. A headset in accordance with  claim 4  wherein said wire mesh resistive cover coacts with said driver to substantially enclose said microphone. 
     
     
       7. The headset in accordance with claim 2, wherein said cushion comprises foam. 
     
     
       8. The headset in accordance with claim 7, wherein said foam is visible through the plurality of openings. 
     
     
       9. The headset in accordance with claim 2, wherein said cushion is formed with a plurality of discrete openings having substantially the same area. 
     
     
       10. The headset in accordance with claim 2, wherein said cushion comprises an annular ridge surrounding said ear opening. 
     
     
       11. The headset in accordance with claim 10 wherein said plurality of openings are formed along the circumferential length of said annular ridge. 
     
     
       12. The headset in accordance with claim 11 wherein said plurality of openings are equidistantly spaced along the circumferential length of the annular ridge. 
     
     
       13. The headset in accordance with claim 2 further comprising a mass port extending through a closed end of said earcup. 
     
     
       14. The headset in accordance with claim 13 further comprising a resistive port extending through said closed end of said earcup. 
     
     
       15. The headset in accordance with claim 2 further comprising a resistive port extending through a closed end of the earcup. 
     
     
       16. The headset in accordance with claim 14 wherein said resistive port is covered by a wire mesh. 
     
     
       17. The headset in accordance with claim 2 further comprising a driver plate to support said driver. 
     
     
       18. The headset in accordance with claim 17 wherein said driver plate is positioned and arranged to substantially divide said earcup into a front volume adjacent said front opening and a rear volume enclosed by a closed end of the earcup. 
     
     
       19. The headset in accordance with claim 18 wherein said front volume is substantially larger than said rear volume. 
     
     
       20. A headset comprising,
 an earcup having a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user, a driver inside said earcup, a cushion around the periphery of said front opening formed with an ear opening constructed and arranged to accommodate the ear of a user and formed with a plurality of openings around said opening constructed and arranged to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said ear cup and enhance passive attenuation, a microphone inside said earcup adjacent to said driver, and active noise reducing circuitry intercoupling said microphone and said driver constructed and arranged to provide active noise reduction, whereby said cushion with said plurality of openings is further constructed and arranged to furnish additional damping to help smooth the audio response at the ear of a user and control stability with the headset off the head,   a driver plate to support said driver,   wherein said driver plate is positioned and arranged to substantially divide said earcup into a front volume adjacent said front opening and a rear volume enclosed by a closed end of the earcup,   wherein said front volume is substantially larger than said rear volume, wherein said front volume is about 50 cubic centimeters.   
     
     
       21. A headset comprising,
 an earcup having a front opening adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user, a driver inside said earcup, a cushion around the periphery of said front opening formed with an ear opening constructed and arranged to accommodate the ear of a user and formed with a plurality of openings around said opening constructed and arranged to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said ear cup and enhance passive attenuation, a microphone inside said earcup adjacent to said driver, and active noise reducing circuitry intercoupling said microphone and said driver constructed and arranged to provide active noise reduction, whereby said cushion with said plurality of openings is further constructed and arranged to furnish additional damping to help smooth the audio response at the ear of a user and control stability with the headset off the head,   a driver plate to support said driver,   wherein said driver plate is positioned and arranged to substantially divide said earcup into a front volume adjacent said front opening and a rear volume enclosed by a closed end of the earcup,   wherein said front volume is substantially larger than said rear volume,   wherein said rear volume is about 15 cubic centimeters.   
     
     
       22. A headset comprising,
 an earcup,   a driver inside said earcup,   a microphone disposed between said driver and ear of the user,   feedback active noise reducing circuitry intercoupling said microphone and said driver constructed and arranged to provide active noise reduction,   a wire mesh screen disposed between the ear of a user and said microphone to load at least one of said microphone and said driver and thereby improve stability of the headset as compared to an otherwise identical headset without such wire mesh screen, and   a cushion extending around the periphery of said open end of earcup formed with openings through the cushion along an annular ring to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said earcup and thereby improve the stability of said feedback active noise reducing circuitry when the headset is off of the head of the user, as compared to an otherwise identical headset without such cushion.   
     
     
       23. A headset comprising,
 an earcup having open end adapted to be adjacent to the ear of the user,   a driver inside said earcup,   a microphone inside said earcup adjacent to said driver,   feedback active noise reducing circuitry intercoupling said microphone and said driver constructed and arranged to provide active noise reduction, and   a cushion extending around the periphery of said open end of earcup formed with openings along an annular ring to acoustically add the volume of said cushion to the volume of said earcup and thereby improve the stability of said feedback active noise reducing circuitry when the headset is off of the head of the user, as compared to an otherwise identical headset without such cushion.   
     
     
       24. The headset in accordance with claim 23 wherein said cushion comprises foam. 
     
     
       25. The headset in accordance with claim 24 wherein said foam is substantially visible through said openings along said annular ring. 
     
     
       26. The headset in accordance with claim 25 wherein said openings area plurality of discrete openings each having substantially the same area. 
     
     
       27. The headset in accordance with claim 23 wherein said plurality of openings are equidistantly spaced along the circumferential length of said annular ring. 
     
     
       28. The headset in accordance with claim 23 further comprising a mass port extending through a closed end of said earcup. 
     
     
       29. The headset in accordance with claim 23 further comprising a resistive port extending through a closed end of said earcup.