THROAT MICROPHONE ASSEMBLY AND COMMUNICATIONS ASSEMBLY

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to throat microphone assemblies and communications assemblies of the types commonly used by civilian and military tactical response teams and by persons wearing face masks and/or protective clothing for use in hazardous environments.

Communications systems have been developed for persons in covert or tactical response situations or for persons wearing protective clothing. Such persons typically wear protective face masks which inhibit normal speech communication. One approach has been to provide persons wearing such clothing with throat microphones connected to audio equipment such as two-way radios.

In the past however it has been awkward to actuate the switches to activate the two-way radios. Also it may be difficult to locate the switches under difficult conditions. Accordingly, there is a need for improved equipment to activate two-way radios and other such communications equipment under difficult conditions such as when a person is wearing respiratory protection equipment, for example a gas mask, which may restrict voice communications. Other potential applications for such equipment would be tactical operations and police or military operations, high noise environments and industrial usages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a throat microphone assembly which includes a throat microphone housing having a front and a back. A throat microphone switch is within the housing. The switch has a switch actuator adjacent to the front of the housing. There is a throat microphone transducer within the housing, the transducer having a portion adjacent to the back of the housing for contacting the neck of the person wearing

the assembly. The transducer is operatively connected with the switch, whereby actuation of the switch activates the transducer to receive audio signals from the person.

In one example the assembly includes a throat microphone neck strap. The housing is received by the neck strap. When the neck strap extends about the neck of the person, the back of the housing contacts the neck of the person and the switch actuator faces outwardly. Preferably the throat microphone switch is a momentary tactile switch having a front. The switch actuator is a button on the front of the switch. The switch is actuated when the button is pressed.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a communications assembly. The communications assembly includes a two-way radio and a throat microphone assembly. The throat microphone assembly includes a throat microphone housing having a front and a back. A throat microphone switch is within the housing. The switch has a switch actuator adjacent to the front of the housing. There is a throat microphone transducer within the housing, the transducer having a portion adjacent to the back of the housing for contacting the neck of the person wearing the assembly. The transducer is operatively connected with the switch, whereby actuation of the switch activates the transducer to receive audio signals from the person.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of communicating using a throat microphone assembly. The assembly includes a housing with a first side and a second side, a microphone transducer being within the housing and having a portion adjacent the first side thereof. A switch is located in the housing and has a switch actuator adjacent to the second side of the housing. The switch is operatively connected to the transducer. The method includes mounting the microphone assembly on a person so that the second side of the assembly is against the person's neck and pressing the switch actuator to close the switch and activate the microphone transducer, while simultaneously pressing the transducer against the neck, thereby improving voice transmissions to the transducer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view showing the upper portion of a person wearing a communications assembly according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the throat microphone assembly for the communications assembly shown in Figure 1, one of the connection cables being partly broken away;

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the throat microphone assembly shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the throat microphone assembly of Figures 2 and 3 with an optional cable for connection to a remote PTT switch; and

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram similar to Figure 4 of an embodiment without the cable for connection to a remote PTT switch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring first to Figure 1 , this illustrates a person 10 fitted with a communications assembly 20 according to an embodiment of the invention. The assembly 20 includes a two-way radio 24, a throat microphone assembly 26 and an optional ear speaker 31.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the throat microphone assembly 26 includes a throat microphone housing 28 which is of silicone in this embodiment. As may be seen best in Figure 3, the housing 28 has an elongated, thin flange portion 30 which is generally rectangular in this embodiment and has rounded ends 32 and 34. The housing has a front 33

and a back 35. The housing also has a pair of slots 36 and 37. Neck strap 38, described in more detail below, extends through the slots.

The housing 28 has a hollow, cylindrical portion 40 with a central cavity 42 within the cylindrical portion. A throat microphone switch 50, PC board assembly 52, spacing ring 54 and a throat microphone transducer 58 are stacked within the cavity. In this example, the board assembly 52 and the microphone transducer 58 are encapsulated in black epoxy together with all of the wiring for the board assembly, transducer and ear speaker. The encapsulation is represented schematically at 81 in Figures 4 and 5. The throat microphone switch 50 is a so-called push to talk (PTT) momentary tactile switch. The switch 50 has a front 60 and a back 62. There is a switch actuator in the form of a button 64 adjacent to front

33 of the housing.

The transducer 58 is a known type such used in earlier throat mics available at www.con- space.com. Accordingly it is not described in greater detail herein. As may be appreciated best in Figure 3, the transducer faces outwardly adjacent to back 35 of the housing when the transducer is received in the cavity 42. The back of the housing contacts the neck of person when used as shown in Figure 1. In this way the transducer makes contacts the neck of the person wearing the assembly 20.

The strap 38 this embodiment is of woven nylon fabric, although it could be of other materials. A hook and loop fastener 74 is used to secure the strap about the neck of the person as shown in Figure 1. The strap 38 extends through the slots 36 and 37 and over the button 64 in this embodiment is shown in Figure 2.

The board assembly 52 includes a signal conditioning circuit 80 as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The signal conditioning circuit is conventional and is similar to the signal conditioning circuits used in earlier throat microphones of the type described above. Accordingly it is not described herein in more detail.

As seen in the Figures 4 and 5, the switch 50 is connected with the transducer 58, whereby actuation of the switch activates the transducer to receive audio signals from the person and transmit signals to the two-way radio 24 via cable or conductor 75.

The throat microphone assembly is connected to the two-way radio 24 via the cable or conductor 75 which connects to the accessory connector 92 of the two-way radio. Another cable 76 extends from the throat microphone to the optional ear speaker 30.

When the person 10 wishes to communicate via the radio 24, he or she presses on the button 64 which in this embodiment is under the strap 38 although this is not essential. This act simultaneously activates the transducer 58 and presses the transducer against the throat of the person which improves the audio quality of the transmission.

The invention offers significant advantages through the use of an integrated throat mounted push to talk switch. The equipment is significantly easier to use than earlier available equipment. The user always knows where the switch is located and does not have to hunt for the switch. This makes essential communications in hazardous environments more accessible and safer for the user.

Additionally, the unit is compact in size and permits the use of the sealed housing which is water and dust proof. It also removes the necessity for bulky communication accessories. The pressure required to activate the button 64 has the added advantage of significantly improving the clarity of voice transmissions in both low and high noise environments by pressing the throat microphone transducer against the neck of the user. It also allows the electronics and sealed push to talk switch to be encapsulated and accordingly protected from water, dirt, hazardous chemicals and other adverse environmental factors.

There are several manufacturers of two-way portable radios and the push to talk (PTT) function is typically handled by one of two methods. The radio may be provided with a

separate PTT line that needs to be grounded to key the radio or, with other radios, one of the microphone lines needs to be grounded to key the radio. When manufacturing radio accessories it is desirable that the accessories have the capability to use either method to maximize its market potential. The present invention may be used with either method as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

It will be understood by someone skilled in the art that many of the details provided above are by way of example only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is to be determined with reference to the following claims.