Airline earphone structure

Claim 1

An improved earphone including a pair of adjacent resilient tubes separated near the head of the user, a pair of acoustic transducers for connecting the adjacent ends of said tubes to a source of acoustic energy, a pair of ear couplers for coupling each separated end of each said tube to an ear canal of the user, the improvement comprising: a resilient stiffening wire being U-shaped, an opening defined by the wall of each said tube, said tubes having an inner diameter substantially greater than the outer diameter of said wire, each leg being inserted into a tube through one of said openings at points near the beginning of the separation of the tubes, each leg of said wire running the substantial length of the separated tube portion with the end of each leg of said wire terminating at respective points located short of said separated ends and before reaching the ear couplers thereby allowing the tube ends and associated ear couplers to flex, whereby the stiffening wire provides the separated portions of the tubes with a U-shape having adjustable tension and whereby said flex permits the user to comfortably seat the ear coupler in the ear canal by flexing the coupler to a comfortable position, and wherein the U-shaped stiffening wire braces the beginning of separation of the pair of tubes to inhibit further separation of said tubes.