Protective Over-Ear Band

This application claims priority under 35 USC § 120 from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/660,286, entitled “PROTECTIVE OVER-EAR BAND,” which was filed on Jun. 14, 2024, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

The present general inventive concept relates generally to an ear band, and particularly, to a protective over-ear band.

Keeping ear-devices such as earbuds, hearing aids, hearing amplifiers, and even earplugs in place while participating in physical activities can be an incredibly tedious and uncomfortable situation for individuals to manage in real-time.

This becomes especially challenging when engaging in water activities or sports where frequent action can cause the aid to fall out, potentially become lost, and/or become damaged or destroyed during wear.

Individuals that use hearing aids or amplifiers are essentially disconnected or potentially unsafely limited from interaction with their surroundings during in-the-water type activities. As such, in many cases, these individuals opt not to participate or have very limited participation due to safety risks.

While water resistant hearing aid devices are available, there is a need for a product that properly and comfortably secures these types of devices within a user's ears.

Water resistant hearing devices such as earbuds also risk being lost, damaged or destroyed when used in participation of in-the-water activities.

Additionally, there is a need to properly secure and protect these types of devices in and around the ear while in the water.

Individuals that have tubes in their ears (i.e., those who are prone to ear infections) that may need to adequately secure ear plugs into the ear or may have other sensitivities that would require the ear to be comfortably covered to significantly minimize or fully prevent water from being exposed to the ear, also have a need for this type of a product/accessory. These individuals also may be limited or prevented from participation in water activities without such protection.

Therefore, there is a need for a device that secures various ear-type devices within a user's ears.

The present general inventive concept provides a protective over-ear band.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a protective over-ear band to be worn on a head of a user, the protective over-ear band including a right ear covering portion to cover a right ear of the user, the right ear covering portion having a convex shape that creates a space between the right ear of the user and at least a portion of the right ear covering portion, a left ear covering portion to cover a left ear of the user, the left ear covering portion having a convex shape that creates a space between the left ear of the user and at least a portion of the left ear covering portion, a head covering portion to cover at least a portion of the head of the user, and a securing unit to secure the protective over-ear band to the head of the user.

The protective over-ear band may be constructed from a waterproof material that prevents water from contacting the user's right ear and left ear.

The securing unit may be adjustable to allow another user having a head size different from the user to wear the protective over-ear band.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a protective over-ear band wearable on a head of a user and having portions to cover a right ear and a left ear of the user, the protective over-ear band including a main body including a waterproof material, the main body including a rear surface to contact the head of the user, and a front surface disposed opposite with respect to the rear surface, a first side ear cover disposed at a first side of the main body, the first side ear cover including a first side ear cover convex portion disposed on the front surface, a first side ear cover concave portion disposed on the rear surface and corresponding to the first side ear cover convex portion to house the right ear of the user therein, and a first side ear cover sealing member disposed around the first side ear cover concave portion and to protrude away from the rear surface of the main body to provide a waterproof seal around the right ear of the user, a second side ear cover disposed at a second side of the main body, the second side ear cover including a second side ear cover convex portion disposed on the front surface, a second side ear cover concave portion disposed on the rear surface and corresponding to the second side ear cover convex portion to house the left ear of the user therein, and a second side ear cover sealing member disposed around the second side ear cover concave portion and to protrude away from the rear surface of the main body to provide a waterproof seal around the left ear of the user, and an internal mesh disposed throughout the main body between the front surface and the rear surface.

Various example embodiments (a.k.a., exemplary embodiments) will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the figures, the thicknesses of lines, layers and/or regions may be exaggerated for clarity.

Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the figures and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. Like numbers refer to like/similar elements throughout the detailed description.

It is understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art. However, should the present disclosure give a specific meaning to a term deviating from a meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill, this meaning is to be taken into account in the specific context this definition is given herein.

illustrates a front view of a protective over-ear bandworn on a headof a user, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

illustrates a side view of the protective over-ear bandworn on the headof the user of, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

illustrates a zoomed-in rear view of a securing unitof the protective over-ear bandworn on the headof the user of, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

Referring to, the protective over-ear bandmay include a main body, a right ear covering portiona left ear covering portiona head covering portion, and a securing unit, but is not limited thereto.

Referring to, the securing unitmay include a first securing memberand a second securing memberbut is not limited thereto.

The protective over-ear bandand all components therein may be constructed from an elastic material, a waterproof material, plastic, cloth, silk, fibers, plant material, silicone, wool, or any other material known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

When the user wears the protective over-ear bandon the user's head, the right ear covering portionmay cover a right earof the user, while the left ear covering portionmay cover a left earof the user.

The main bodymay include a front portion (i.e., closest to the user's forehead), which tapers slightly toward the face in order to significantly minimize or even prevent water from accessing the ears of the user, essentially sealing the ears from the water while the user participates in water-type activities.

The tapering at the front of the main bodyalso tapers closely to the level of the user's face to enable the user the ability to utilize goggles, snorkel masks, swim masks, etc., if desired. In other words, the front tapering allows these devices to properly seal against the face and the headband/water band to prevent leaking and/or filling with water.

The right ear covering portionand the left ear covering portionmay each have a convex shape (i.e., a shape where the right ear covering portionand the left ear covering portionbulge outwards from the user's head) in order to create “pockets” over the right earand the left earof the user, respectively.

These “pockets” are designed with additional space over the right earand the left earof the user, as well as over the canals of the right earand the left earof the user, to allow ears to be free of pressure that can cause pain, discomfort for users.

Also, these “pockets” allow a user to wear hearing aids while also wearing the protective over-ear band, because the convex shape of the right ear covering portionand the left ear covering portioncreate space between the user's ears and the right ear covering portionand the left ear covering portion(i.e., thereby allowing the user to wear a hearing aid, BLUETOOTH earbuds, etc.).

The right ear covering portionand the left ear covering portionmay be deformable to mold to the user's right and left ears, respectively, and/or to mold to a shape of a device (e.g., earbuds, hearing aid) that is worn in the user's right and left ears.

Also, when the user wears the protective over-ear bandon the user's head, the head covering portionmay cover a top portion of the user's head.

The protective over-ear bandmay be secured to the user's headby utilizing the securing unit, specifically, by connecting the first securing memberto the second securing membersuch that the securing unit is secured at a back base portion of the headof the user.

The first securing memberand the second securing membermay include hook-and-loop fasteners, buttons, spans, or any other type of securing members known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The first securing memberand the second securing memberallow the securing unitto be adjustable, so that the protective over-ear bandmay fit heads of various sizes.

Thus, if the user wears ear-type devices in the user's right earand the user's left earsuch as earbuds, hearing aids, hearing amplifiers, and/or earplugs, the protective over-ear bandmay be placed and secured on the user's headsuch that the right ear covering portioncovers the right earof the user and the left ear covering portioncovers the left earof the user, and also covers and secures the ear-type devices disposed within the user's right earand the user's left ear, thereby securing and protecting the ear-type devices.

The present general inventive concept may include a protective over-ear bandto be worn on a headof a user, the protective over-ear bandincluding a right ear covering portionto cover a right earof the user, the right ear covering portionhaving a convex shape that creates a space between the right earof the user and at least a portion of the right ear covering portiona left ear covering portionto cover a left earof the user, the left ear covering portionhaving a convex shape that creates a space between the left earof the user and at least a portion of the left ear covering portiona head covering portionto cover at least a portion of the headof the user, and a securing unitto secure the protective over-ear bandto the headof the user.

The protective over-ear bandmay be constructed from a waterproof material that prevents water from contacting the user's right earand left ear

The securing unitmay be adjustable to allow another user having a head size different from the user to wear the protective over-ear band.

illustrates a front perspective view of a protective over-ear band, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

illustrates a rear perspective view of the protective over-ear band of, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

illustrates a bottom perspective view of the protective over-ear band of, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

The protective over-ear bandand all components therein may be constructed from an elastic material, a waterproof material, plastic, cloth, silk, polymer, fibers, plant material, silicone, wool, metal, hook and loop fasteners, or any other material known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The protective over-ear bandmay include a main body, a first side hook and loop portion, a second side hook and loop portion, a first side ear cover, a second side ear cover, and an internal mesh, but is not limited thereto.

The main bodymay be constructed from rubber, silicone, or any other type of waterproof material known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The main bodymay include a first side portiona second side portiona middle portiona front surface, a rear surface, a first side portion upper sealing member, a second side portion upper sealing member, a first side portion lower sealing member, a second side portion lower sealing member, a middle portion upper sealing member, and a middle portion lower sealing member, but is not limited thereto.