With the advent of more robust audio electronic systems, advancements of electronic devices are becoming more prevalent. Electronic devices can provide a variety of functions including, for example, telephonic, audio/video, and gaming functions. Handheld electronic devices can include mobile stations such as cellular telephones, smart telephones, portable gaming systems, audio headphones, wireless headsets for cellular phones, handheld video players, handheld audio players, audio headphones, and portable MP3 players.
Some electronic devices can include a speaker portion having an audio port that provides sound to a user of the device. For example, the device may have an audio port on a substantially flat surface of the device. The substantially flat surface of the device is then held against the user's head to align the audio port with the user's ear. However, because the user's ear is not flat in shape, gaps form between the surface of the device and the user's ear. As a result, some of the sound delivered by the audio port dissipates through the gaps, thereby reducing sound quality.
In other electronic devices, the speaker portion having an audio port can be made of a deformable material, such as a foam, an elastomeric, a soft rubber material, or a gel. When an object contacts and exerts pressure on the speaker portion, the speaker portion deforms to cushion the object and to equalize pressure between the speaker portion and the object. With such devices, the speaker portion might not deform enough to create a sufficient audio coupling, thereby resulting in gaps between the object and the deformable material. Again, such gaps can reduce sound quality. Contrastingly, some devices have deformable surfaces that are so deformable that the deformable material makes a complete seal with the ear such that no gaps exist between the user's ear and the surface of the device. For example, such a situation can occur if the device is misaligned with the ear. If the seal is so complete, sound cannot travel well from the audio port of the device to the user's ear because the lack of any gaps blocks or muffles the sound.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds