A headphone includes a pair of ear cup assemblies attached to a headband. Each ear cup assembly includes a cushion, an earplate, a back plate and an acoustic transducer. These elements snap together and are held together by integral fasteners. Each ear cup assembly is attached to the headband by a ring-shaped yoke which is entrapped between the assembled back plate and ear plate. The result is a durable, lightweight structure which is easy to assemble on a mass production basis.

An ear microphone comprising a pickup piece having a configuration which facilitates insertion thereof into a human external auditory canal, a vibration/electrical signal converter element installed within the pickup piece, a resilient member attached to the pickup piece, and a support body to support the pickup piece by way of the resilient member. The pickup piece and support body are of a rigid material having a large mass whereas the resilient member has a large resiliency. The converter element has a lead wire extending therefrom through the pickup piece, the resilient member, and the support body for signal processing outside the ear microphone.

A bone conduction microphone which fits into the ear of the user and which has means which abuts against the pinna of the ear causing a counteracting force to resiliently push the device against a wall of the ear canal nearest the back of the head, where bone conducted vibrations are detected most efficiently.

An earcup assembly is disclosed for use in a headset. The earcup assembly includes an earseal ring that includes an outer peripheral surface, an inner peripheral surface that provides an opening an annular base surface for securing the earseal to the headset, and an annular exposed surface opposite the base surface. The inner surface includes a first portion adjacent the exposed surface that provides a first peripheral distance around the opening and the inner surface further includes a second portion adjacent the base surface that provides a second peripheral distance around the opening. The second distance is larger than the first distance.

A cushion for a headset earphone comprises a resilient ring having opposite input and output faces, and a through-opening defining an interior surface between the two faces. The input face has structure for acoustically coupling the opening to an output face of an audio speaker, and the output face is resiliently conformable to a lateral face of an external ear of a listener, thereby acoustically coupling the opening, and hence, the speaker, to the listener's ear. The interior surface of the cushion can be configured to effectively match the acoustical impedance at the output face of the speaker to the acoustical impedance at the entrance of the listener's ear. In one possible embodiment, the ring is formed of an elastomer filled with microcapsules containing a material capable of an endothermic phase changes at a constant temperature, such that the cushion more effectively conducts heat away from the ear, thereby providing long term listening comfort. In another embodiment, the through-opening is acoustically coupled to the output of the transducer with an acoustic plug such that the cushion is flexibly articulated about the plug relative to the speaker, thereby enabling the cushion to comply more easily to the listener's ear using lower contact forces between the cushion and the ear.