WO2012113462A1

WO2012113462A1 - Inflatable ear mold connection system

Info

Publication number: WO2012113462A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/057788
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anton Gebert; Marco Lederer
Original assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.
Priority date: 2011-02-23
Filing date: 2011-05-13
Publication date: 2012-08-30

Abstract

An inflatable ear piece (4) is formed for insertion and placement in an external auditory canal (2). The ear piece has an inflatable balloon (7) that may be selectively in- flated and deflated. When the balloon is inflated, it expands and braces against the walls of the auditory canal (2). The ear piece has a receiver module (5) with a sound generator (12) and a connection to an exterior device (e.g., a hearing aid, an MP3 player, a cell phone). The sound waves generated in the receiver module are guided to the ear drum (3) via a carrier (6) which also holds the balloon (7). A pump and valve assembly is integrated in the receiver module, for in- flating, or selectively deflating, the balloon (7). The pump is connected by way of a collection cup (12), which surrounds the forward end of the receiver (5), through the small gaps formed by a snap-on connection between the receiver (5) and the carrier (6), and through one or more inflation openings (9) issuing into the balloon (7). This fluidic connection is sealed relative to the interior of the auditory canal (2) and to the exterior by way of a sealing assembly (16, 17, 20). The receiver module (5) and the balloon module (6, 7) are rotationally symmetrical relative to one another, that is, they may be connected in any rotational orientation, and no rotational alignment of the parts is required for connecting the balloon module (6, 7) with the receiver module (5, 12).

Description

Inflatable ear mold connection system Background of the Invention Field of the Invention:

The invention relates to an ear piece for a hearing device, in particular, an inflatable ear mold or an ear piece with an inflatable balloon. The ear piece is particularly suitable for delivering sound from a hearing aid or an audio player.

Along with the ever-increasing miniaturization of electronic devices and the increasing prevalence of audiological devices that require direct delivery of sound to the human ear, there is a desire to provide ever smaller devices that may be placed in the auditory canal of a user.

For example, hearing aids are wearable hearing apparatuses which are used to supply the hard-of-hearing . A variety of different configurations of hearing devices are known, such as, for example, behind-the-ear hearing devices (BTE) , hearing device with an external receiver (RIC: receiver in the canal) and in-the-ear hearing devices (ITE), e.g. also concha hearing devices or canal hearing devices (ITE - in-the-ear, CIC - completely in the canal) . Similarly, headphones for the personal delivery of auditory materials have recently become more miniaturized and they have progressed to very small ear- buds with in-the-canal speakers.

Primarily important components of a hearing device include an input converter (e.g., a microphone), an amplifier, and an output converter. In the case of a sound player (e.g., an MP3 player) , the signal originating from a memory is amplified and fed to the output converter. Typically, the output con^¬ verter in an electroacoustic converter (e.g., a miniature loudspeaker, bone conduction transducer) which converts the electrical signal into a mechanical vibration. In the case of a loudspeaker, the vibration is converted to longitudinal pressure waves, also referred to as sound waves, which im^¬ pinge on the tympanic membrane of the user. There, the sound waves are converted into neurological signals which are fed to the brain, where they are decoded for content.

United States Patent No. US 7,227,968 B2 describes a two-part hearing aid in which the receiver, which is separate from the remaining components, may be inserted deep into the auditory canal. The receiver houses a speaker, which is driven by way of an electrical connection through the canal. The receiver housing is surrounded by an inflatable soft shell, which, when inflated and thus expanded, fixes the receiver in posi^¬ tion in the auditory canal. Similarly, U.S. Patent No. US 7,425,196 B2 also describes a receiver module for a hearing aid that may be positioned deep in the auditory canal. The receiver housing is surrounded by an expandable material, which may be expanded against the walls of the canal.

It is desirable for the insertion members of the ear piece to be replaced at certain intervals. Typically, only those parts which come into contact with the ear canal are replaced and the electronics (i.e., the receiver or receiver module) are returned into the canal. It is quite difficult and cumbersome to refurbish currently available state of the art devices and it is therefore desirable to render the refurbishment, and even the original assembly, less complicated and more effi^¬ cient .

Brief Summary of the Invention

It is an object of the invention to provide an inflatable ear piece, which overcomes several disadvantages of the hereto^¬ fore-known devices and methods of this general type and which provides for a device that may be inflated for safe placement in the ear canal and that may be deflated and removed from the ear canal with little effort. The ear piece, furthermore, should be simple in its assembly and it should be modular for easy and simple refurbishment.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is pro^¬ vided, in accordance with the invention, an ear piece for a hearing device which comprises:

an inflatable ear mold (IEM) for insertion and placement in an ear canal, the inflatable ear mold (IEM) having a carrier and an inflatable balloon sealingly mounted on the carrier; a receiver module having a mount on a forward end thereof for connecting the receiver module to the carrier and the balloon;

the carrier having an axial bore formed along a central axis thereof, the bore forming a sound channel for conducting sound from the receiver module towards an ear drum inwardly bounding the ear canal;

the carrier having at least one inflation bore formed

therein, the inflation bore fluidically connecting to an interior of the inflatable balloon; and

a fluid pressure source for selectively inflating the bal^¬ loon, wherein a fluid is pumped from an interior of the receiver module to an exterior thereof, along the mount and through the inflation bore formed in the carrier, and a sealing assembly for sealing the sound channel against the fluid pressure source.

The inflatable ear mold (IEM) must be filled with a fluid (air or other gas, liquid) to assure the tight fit in the ear canal. Since the IEM must be replaceable, there is a need for a clever connection between the fluid source (e.g. a pump) and the IEM. Also, the handling and normal operation of such ear molds is a problem, because connecting two parts in a fluid-tight manner normally requires a special alignment of the two parts. This is even more critical at the very small dimensions which are of primary interest here. By way of example, the receiver module of the canal-insertible ear mold has width and height dimensions in the neighborhood of approximately 2 - 3 mm (approx. 0.08 - 0.1 inches)

The instant invention solves these and other problems in an elegant manner by utilizing the members of the combination serving to mechanically connect the elements to provide for the fluid communication for inflating and deflating the balloon and with a simple and efficient placement of the neces^¬ sary fluid seals.

There is no need to rotationally align the snap on part with the receiver.

In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the mount is a snap-on bulb and the carrier is formed with a sub^¬ stantially congruent opening. The carrier may be snapped onto the mount to form a structural connection between the inflat^¬ able ear mold and the receiver module. The sealing assembly includes a plurality of seals disposed to form a fluidically sealed connection between the interior of the balloon and the interior of the receiver module when the two parts are snapped together. Preferably, the tolerances and the dimen^¬ sions are chosen such that the desired sealing function is automatically achieved and safely retained when the carrier is snapped onto the bulb.

In accordance with an additional feature of the invention therefore, the sealing assembly includes a forward seal dis^¬ posed to form a fluid-tight seal between a forward end of the mount and the carrier, and a rearward seal disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between the carrier and the receiver module.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, the re^¬ ceiver module carries a collection cup on a forward end thereof that surrounds the forward end of a housing of the receiver module. The fluid pressure source (e.g., air pump, membrane pump) is configured to pump the fluid from the inte^¬ rior of the receiver module by way of the collection cup and to the inflation bore for inflating the balloon. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the collection cup is disposed to form an antechamber around the forward end of the housing of the receiver module and the sealing assembly in^¬ cludes a plurality of seals disposed to form a fluidically sealed connection between the antechamber and the balloon.

That is, the invention is not only advantageous with regard to the fact that there is no need to rotationally align the snap on part with the receiver. Further, the invention enables retrofit assembly, in that older model and existing ball-spout connectors may be reused. The design is backward compatible and it is not necessary to dispose of the (more expensive) receiver module in order to implement the inven^¬ tion. In a retrofit situation, a collection cup is simply snapped onto, and sealed against, the receiver housing, and the inflatable ear mold (i.e., the carrier with the balloon) is snapped onto the ball spout and a seal is formed between the carrier and the collection cup, as well as between the ball spout and the carrier.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the sealing assembly includes a forward seal disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between a forward end of the mount and the carrier, and a rearward seal disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between the carrier and the collection cup. Furthermore, the sealing assembly may be provided with a seal disposed to seal the collection cup relative to the housing of the re^¬ ceiver module and to externally seal the antechamber.

In accordance with again a preferred feature of the inven^¬ tion, the sealing assembly is disposed to automatically form a fluid-tight connection and seal between the fluid source and an interior of the inflatable balloon when the receiver module is connected to the carrier. As noted, the inflatable ear piece may be combined with any of a plurality of audiological devices, such as a hearing aid, an MP3 player, a cell phone, or any other such elec^¬ tronic device.

With the above and other objects in view, there is also pro^¬ vided, in accordance with the invention, a hearing aid or other hearing device. The assembly thus comprises an ear piece as described above and an external unit for transmit^¬ ting to the ear piece sound signals or signals for generating sound waves to be perceived by the tympanic membrane.

In the case of a hearing aid implementation of the invention, the microphone, the amplifier, the control unit, and the power supply is disposed in an external unit, such as a BTE (behind-the-ear) unit or an ITE (in-the-ear) unit, or in a CIC or concha device. The inflation pump may be disposed in/on the ear piece itself or in the external or partly in^¬ serted unit. The inflatable (deep-insertion) ear piece is electrically connected to the other unit by way of an elec^¬ trical control cable and, in one case, also through a pneu^¬ matic hose.

The placement and fixation of the respective devices by way of otoplastic materials need not be described in further de^¬ tail. Those of skill in the art of hearing devices are quite familiar with the pertinent technology and are able to con^¬ figure the respective system according to the specific re^¬ quirements .

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an inflatable ear piece to be inserted into an auditory canal, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and struc^¬ tural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best under^¬ stood from the following description of the specific embodi^¬ ment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the several views of the Drawing

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an outer ear with an auditory canal leading to an ear drum and an inflatable ear mold in^¬ serted into the canal;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through an ear piece according to the invention, formed of a receiver module and an inflatable balloon module;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the receiver module with the snap-on dome for connecting the balloon module;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 2, illustrating the connection between the receiver module and the balloon module

Fig. 5 is a similar view of an alternative embodiment of the seal assembly between the receiver module and the balloon module; and

Fig. 6 is a similar view of a further alternative embodiment of the seal assembly between the receiver module and the bal^¬ loon module.

Detailed description of the invention Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to Fig. 1 thereof, there is seen a human ear 1 and an external auditory canal 2. The auditory canal is inwardly bounded by a tympanic membrane 3, also referred to as the eardrum. In unassisted hearing, pressure waves (sound waves are longitudinal waves with changes in pressure) are funneled at the concha la of the ear 1, they travel through the external auditory canal 2, also referred to as the ear canal or, simply canal, before they impinge on the tympanic membrane 3.

In assisted hearing, such as with hearing aids, the propaga^¬ tion of the sound waves through the auditory canal 2 is in^¬ terrupted. The sound waves are instead picked up by a micro^¬ phone or the like, the resulting signal is processed, typi^¬ cally by way of digital signal processing, and the processed signal is utilized to excite a loudspeaker, typically in the vicinity of or at the tympanic membrane 3. In the case of ear buds for music or telephony, the sound waves are directly in^¬ jected at the concha la for delivery through the auditory canal 2. The novel ear piece 4 may include a sound generator (i.e., a speaker, oscillator) or it may be configured for simple conduction of sound waves to the membrane 3.

For proper reference, a receiver module 5 has a height of ap^¬ proximately 2 mm and a width of approximately 2.7 mm. The acoustic sound channel has an equivalent area of a circular cross-section of 1.2 mm and an air inflation channel has an equivalent circular cross-section of approximately 0.6 mm. In order to prevent unwanted deflation, a static airtight seal of the inflated balloon should last for a minimum of 16 hours, which corresponds to a single-day use. The connection to the sound channel does not require a completely airtight seal, but a certain amount of seal should be provided so as to prevent acoustic feedback. Referring now to Fig. 2, there is seen an ear piece 4 according to the invention with the receiver module 5, a carrier 6, and an inflatable member 7. The carrier 6 and the inflatable member 7 together form an inflatable ear mold (IEM), or a balloon module. The carrier 6 is formed of a relatively hard material and the inflatable member 7 is joined and fluid- tightly sealed to the carrier 6. The latter is formed with a bulb opening which is congruent with a mount in the form of a snap-on dome 8 or a bulb 8 formed on the forward end of the receiver module 5. The inflatable member 7 may be in the form of a balloon or a bag or an accordion-type bellows, and may be simply referred to herein as a balloon 7. The term "balloon, " however, should be understood in its broadest sense as an inflatable member. It may be in the form of a balloon with resiliently stretchable material, or a bag, or an accordion- type bellows with folded/crimped balloon shapes. Further the material is chosen such that it provides a pleasant haptic feel as it is pressed against the wall of the ear canal 2 and, once inflated, does not shift relative to the canal 2. The balloon 7 is formed of a flexible material which is im^¬ permeable to cerumen, or earwax, and also to water. The bal^¬ loon 7 is preferably formed of silicone or latex, or any of the known flexible materials that are used for otoplasties and other cavity-insertible products known, especially, in the hearing aid arts. It may further be covered on the later^¬ ally outside walls, i.e., the walls that are braced into con^¬ tact with the walls of the ear canal 2, with a soft silicone or rubber material layer.

As illustrated here, the balloon 7 resembles a tubeless tire, that is, it is sealed against the rim of the carrier 6 and, upon inflation, it forms a doughnut shaped thoroid fluid space. The fluid space, which is typically inflated with air, opens into a bore opening 9 formed in the carrier 6. The bore opening 9 may be present in the form of several such bores strategically distributed about the circumference and in the periphery of the bulb 8. The axial bore or opening 10 in the snap-on bulb 8 is continued in an axial bore or opening 11 in the carrier 6. The bores 10 and 11 together form a sound channel that carries sound waves from the receiver 5 to the ear drum 3.

As can be seen, the entire assembly is rotationally symmetri^¬ cal -- with the exception, of course, of the injection opening (s) 9 -- so that the balloon module 6, 7 may be aligned in any rotational orientation relative to the receiver module 5. The angular placement and orientation of the bore 9 has no impact on the alignment, because its antechamber formed around the bulb 8 is entirely spherical as it surrounds the bulb 8. This is highly advantageous when the two modules are connected to one another, be it in the original manufacture or when the balloon module is replaced by the audiologist or even be the user for refurbishment or retrofit. No rotational alignment of the parts is required. The bore 9 will always be connected into its antechamber for inflating the balloon by pressurizing the inflation space inside the balloon 7 and for deflating the same, if so desired.

In order to assure a proper seal within the pneumatic system and to assure that the static pressure is retained inside the balloon for the required length of time (e.g., 16 hours for single-day use) , there may is provided a special seal between the bulb 8 and the carrier 6, on the one hand, and between the carrier 6 and the receiver module 5, on the other hand.

Here, the receiver module 5 carries a so-called collection cup 12. A membrane pump 13 pumps air from a collection space inside the receiver 5 towards the outside, where an antecham^¬ ber is pressurized. The antechamber communicates fluidically with the bore 9 and thus with the interior inflation space of the balloon 7. Here, therefore, use is made of the relatively loose and non-sealing fit between the snap-on dome or bulb 8 and the complementary opening in the carrier 6. If need be, the bulb 8 and/or the receiving opening in the carrier 6 may also be formed with light structuring (e.g., grooves along a rifling line, or longitudinally projecting grooves) which does not impair the hold and attachment between the carrier 6 and the receiver module 5 to any appreciable degree, yet en^¬ sures the required fluidic (e.g., pneumatic) communication between the air pump 13 and the inflation space in the balloon 7.

Exemplary structuring in the form of rifling grooves 14 on the peripheral surface of the bulb 8 is illustrated in Fig. 3. The air from the collection cup 12 travels through an annular space 15 formed between the forward housing wall of the collection cup 12 and the inner stem of the bulb 8.

A seal in the form of an O-ring 16 is located between the carrier 6 and the collection cup 12. The O-ring 16 surrounds the annular space 15. A further seal in the form of a rubber sleeve 17 is located at the forward end of the complementary opening in the carrier 6. When the carrier 6 is snapped onto the bulb 8, the forward end of the bulb 8 presses into the sleeve 17 and thereby forms a fluid-tight seal between the sound channel 10, 11 and the air space surrounding the bulb 8 and the bore 9. Additional details concerning the pneumatic seal will become clear from the detailed description of Figs. 4 - 6.

Meanwhile, to complete the functional description of the in^¬ vention, it will be understood that the receiver module 5 contains the necessary electronics for generating a speaker signal for conversion to sound waves S at the forward end of the inflatable ear mold and for delivery to the tympanic mem^¬ brane 3. It is thereby possible for the speaker to be pro^¬ vided inside the receiver, or to be located externally of the receiver 5. In one case, the receiver module 5 receives its information signal from an external assembly through a signal line 18, which may also double as a pull-out tether for the IEM. The external assembly may be a behind-the-ear (BTE) unit, a concha unit, an in-the-ear (ITE) unit, or even a com- pletely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing unit. In that case, the ear piece 4 as described herein may be integrally formed to^¬ gether with a CIC unit. If the sound transducer is provided in an external unit, such as a BTE unit, the signal travels from there to the receiver in the form of a sound tube. That is, the diagrammatic illustration of the signal line 18 may also be understood as a sound tube.

The signal line 18 may be joined by a pneumatic pressure line for inflating and deflating the balloon 7. Here, we illustrate the system with a membrane pump 13, which would render an external pneumatic line unnecessary. However, it will be understood that the balloon may also be inflated from outside the ear, or from a pump that is located in a concha unit, for example. In one embodiment, an inflation pump and a valve may be provided in an external unit and the inflation bore 8 is pneumatically connected with the pump/valve assembly through a pneumatic line. In another embodiment, as illustrated, the pump/valve assembly -- here in the form of the membrane pump 13 -- is disposed inside the receiver module 5. The pump may be an electrical pump or it may even be a manual pump. The user is enabled to inflate the IEM by suitable operation of a controller. Further, the user is also enabled to deflate the IEM so that the unit may be easily pulled from the auditory canal 2.

Fig. 4 is a further enlarged view of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, illustrating a variant of the pneumatic seal between the elements. Here, the forward end of the snap- on bulb 8 is provided with a tapering "tip" 19 when, when the elements 5 and 6 are connected, dives into a seal 17. Here, the seal is formed as a plug 17a. The tip 19 and a central opening of the plug 17a are formed so that, upon insertion, the two form a satisfactory seal. That is, the opening is formed so that, when the tip 19 is inserted, it depresses and compresses the material of the plug 17a against the housing wall inside the carrier 6. At the same time, the diameter of the central opening is formed large enough to assure that the tip 19 is safely inserted. In a preferred embodiment, the central opening of the plug 17a may also be tapered. A flat washer seal 16 provides the necessary pneumatic seal between the collection cup 12 and the carrier 6. Finally, an O-ring seal 20 is provided between the collection cup 12 and the housing of the receiver 5. It is, of course, also possible for the collection cup 12 to be formed integrally with the housing of the receiver 5 and thus render the seal 20 unnec^¬ essary and superfluous.

The balloon 7 is inflated by way of the pump 13 which may be a membrane pump driven by low-frequency oscillation. Here, the air intake from the receiver 5, and also the deflation of the balloon 7, is schematically indicated by two double ar^¬ rows. From the membrane pump 13, inflation air travels from the collection cup 12 along the outer walls of the receiver 5 and outside of the snap-on bulb 8 to and into the inflation bore(s) 9. It will be understood that the gap between the snap-on dome 8 and the complementary opening of the carrier 6 is illustrated with considerable exaggeration. In fact, the two elements will typically be in contact. Normal production tolerances will provide for a snug fit which is still suffi^¬ cient for the necessary air flow. A typical gap size would have a width dimension of approximately 0.02 mm. Due to the pneumatic seals 17, 16, and 20, the air will travel along the intended route for the purpose of inflating and/or deflating the balloon 7. Each of the seals may be formed of any suit^¬ able material, such as elastomers, silicone, rubber, etc. that fulfill the required sealing characteristics mentioned above .

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, with a variation of the seals 16 and 17. Here, the seal 17, in the form of an O-ring seal 17b, is disposed in a circumferential groove 21 inside the carrier 6. Further, it is placed so as to form a proper seal with the tip 19 when the carrier 6 is snapped onto the bulb 8. Similarly, the seal 16 is formed as an O-ring seal which is sunk into a circumferential groove 22 in the rear^¬ ward wall of the carrier 6.

Referring now to Fig. 6, there is shown a further variation of the seals and the relative structure of the carrier 6 and the receiver 5. Here, the same seal 17b as in Fig. 5 is shown. Again, the O-ring is slightly sunk in the circumferential groove 21. The seal 16, again and O-ring, seals the car^¬ rier 6 relative to the housing of the receiver 5 in a radial direction. That is, both the carrier 6 and the receiver 5 are provided with a lateral neck extension and the O-ring seal 16 is squeezed in between the extensions. Furthermore, the col^¬ lection cup 12 is formed integrally with the housing of the carrier 5, thus rendering the seal 20 superfluous.

It will be understood that the various sealing structures be^¬ tween the receiver 5 and the carrier 6 described herein with reference to Figs. 4 to 6 may be interchanged and mixed as desired .

Claims

1. An ear piece for a hearing device, the ear piece compris^¬ ing :

an inflatable ear mold (IEM) for insertion and placement in an ear canal, said inflatable ear mold (IEM) having a carrier (6) and an inflatable balloon (7) sealingly mounted on said carrier ( 6) ;

a receiver module (5) having a mount (8) on a forward end thereof for connecting said receiver module (5) to said car^¬ rier (6) and said balloon (7);

said carrier (6) having an axial bore (11) formed along a central axis thereof, said axial bore (11) forming a sound channel for conducting sound from said receiver module (5) towards an ear drum inwardly bounding the ear canal;

said carrier (6) having at least one inflation bore (9) formed therein, said inflation bore (9) fluidically connect^¬ ing to an interior of said inflatable balloon (7);

a fluid pressure source (13) for selectively inflating said balloon (7), wherein a fluid is pumped from an interior of said receiver module (5) to an exterior thereof, along said mount (8) and through said inflation bore (9) formed in said carrier (6), and a sealing assembly (16, 17, 20) for sealing the sound channel (10, 11) against said fluid pressure source (13) .

2. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said mount (8) is a snap-on bulb and said carrier (6) is formed with a substantially congruent opening, wherein said carrier (6) may be snapped onto said mount (8) to form a structural connec^¬ tion between said inflatable ear mold (IEM) and said receiver module (5) .

3. The ear piece according to claim 2, wherein said sealing assembly includes a plurality of seals (16, 17, 20) disposed to form a fluidically sealed connection between said interior of said balloon (7) and said interior of said receiver module (5) .

4. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said sealing assembly includes a forward seal (17; 17a, 17b) disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between a forward end of said mount (8) and said carrier (6), and a rearward seal (16) disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between said carrier (6) and said receiver module (5) .

5. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said receiver module (5) includes a collection cup (12) mounted to a for^¬ ward end thereof and surrounding a forward end of a housing of the receiver module (5) , and wherein said fluid pressure source (13) is configured to pump the fluid from said inte^¬ rior of said receiver module (5) by way of said collection cup (12) and to said inflation bore (9) for inflating said balloon ( 7 ) .

6. The ear piece according to claim 5, wherein said collec^¬ tion cup (12) is disposed to form an antechamber around a forward end of the housing of said receiver module (5) , said sealing assembly includes a plurality of seals (16, 17, 20) disposed to form a fluidically sealed connection between said antechamber and said balloon (7) .

7. The ear piece according to claim 6, wherein said sealing assembly includes a forward seal (17; 17a, 17b) disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between a forward end of said mount (8) and said carrier (6), and a rearward seal (16) disposed to form a fluid-tight seal between said carrier (6) and said collection cup (12).

8. The ear piece according to claim 7, wherein said sealing assembly further includes a seal (20) disposed to seal said collection cup (12) relative to the housing of said receiver module (5) and to externally seal said antechamber.

9. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said sealing assembly (16, 17) is disposed to automatically form a fluid- tight connection and seal between said fluid source and an interior of said inflatable balloon (7) when said receiver module (5) is connected to said carrier (6) .

10. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said receiver module (5) contains a sound source and wherein sound generated thereby is conducted through a forward wall of said receiver module (5), through said mount (8) on said forward end thereof, and through said axial bore (11) formed in said carrier ( 6) .

11. The ear piece according to claim 1, wherein said fluid source is a pump assembly comprising an air pump for inflating said balloon and a deflation valve for deflating said balloon .

12. The ear piece according to any of the claims 1 to 10 for use in combination with a hearing aid.

13. A hearing device, comprising:

an ear piece according to any of claims 1 to 11; and

an external unit for transmitting to said ear piece sound signals or signals for generating sound waves to be perceived by the tympanic membrane.

14. The hearing device according to claim 13 formed as a hearing aid, wherein the external unit is a hearing unit se^¬ lected from the group consisting of behind-the-ear (BTE) , in- the-ear (ITE), concha, in-the-canal (ITC), and completely-in- the-canal (CIC) hearing unit.

15. The hearing device according to claim 13 formed as a CIC hearing aid having said external unit and said ear piece in^¬ tegrally connected to one another.

16. The hearing device according to claim 13, wherein the external unit is a sound player or a telephone.