A Simple History of Hearing Aids

Problems with hearing, especially in the later years of life, are not a new event. Over the centuries, just as people’s eyesight, memory, and taste lose ability to function, so does the hearing in people. Hearing loss affects people from all walks of life, including the rich and poor, black and white, and the healthy and ailing. Hearing loss is not a sign of poor health, but more a sign of aging in most cases. There are people who suffer hearing loss at earlier ages due to disease or nerve damage, but most hearing loss can be attributed to age factors.

The First Attempts at Hearing Aids

The history of hearing aids began a long time ago, when people began searching for a means to improve the hearing process. Some of the results have been quite comical and some were quite inventive. Most people can remember movies showing an old man or woman using a big horn object to hear better. This usually was the brunt of a joke in the movies, making the old person appear rather foolish. While these aids were a joke in Hollywood, many people were subjected to this type of hearing aid as the only assistance available. These hearing horns were made of a variety of materials including wood, precious metals, animal horns or seashells. The history of hearing aids, while vulgar, did incorporate the basic need of a hearing aid. Inventors knew that to have increased hearing the sound needed to be caught somehow, and directed into the ear canal.

Advances are Made

Later in the 1800’s, with royalty in mind, a new step in the history of hearing aids was made with the invention of special hearing aid chairs. These chairs had tubes through which the speaker’s voice was carried up to the vicinity of the royal’s ear. These chairs were actually somewhat effective, and certain royals in the 1800’s were well known for using them. The problem with the chair was that it was not conducive to the everyday person, because it had to be transported everywhere with the individual. One can just imagine the king out hunting in the country and a servant bringing an urgent message. The royal staff had to first get the chair into position, seat the king and then the urgent message could be delivered.

Other attempts in the history of hearing aids included table decorations which were designed to capture sound and transmit it, glasses with hearing tubes attached, or ear tubes used the same principle as the string and paper cup telephones that children create. All of these attempts at producing hearing aids, although made with the best intentions, were pretty much useless. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that the recent history of hearing aids began.

Electricity Impacts the History of Hearing Aids

The invention of electricity allowed a great turn in the history of hearing aids. The new hearing aids used a basic form of microphones to increase the volume of the sound. These inventions were quite costly, and still lacked much benefit to the user. In the 1940’s, the transistor was invented and with the combined use of electricity, a new age in hearing aids began. The history of hearing aids, although not too beneficial for the people at the time, did enable current inventors to have a better understanding of what needed to be incorporated to make a good hearing aid.