Any person that suffers from hearing loss and wants to do more to hear better throughout their lives has probably considered being fitted for a hearing aid. These devices are extremely useful in the sense that they can stimulate hearing in many individuals, and even bring some people back from being nearly deaf. Even though they have grown to become incredibly complex, they have not always been so. In fact, many hearing aids were rudimentary and not specific for hearing loss; a concept that we will explore in this brief history of hearing devices.

The Hearing Ear Trumpet

The hearing trumpet was a device that was used for the better part of a thousand years by people all over the world. They were a very simple device that performed a very elegant task. One end of the hearing trumpet would be faced towards the incoming sound, and the other end would point into the ear of the person. With that placed in there, the sound would come through unobstructed and much more specific than listening without one. This hearing device was important for hearing, but also showed the world that technology needed to be used in medicine as well as working environments.

Hearing Aids For Carbon

One of the next stops on the way to the modern hearing aid was the carbon hearing aid. This device could take sound and then run it through a microphone in order to make it much more loud. At this point, the sound waves could push the carbon across a magnetic strip and into a metal sheet that would act as a diaphragm so that the sound could be generated in a louder manner. While this complicated machine did not actually perform the job that was needed too well, it showed the world that people with hearing loss could benefit from more novel uses of technology.

This hearing aid was not very good at creating clear sound, and it was so large that it could never be taken outside of the home. Regardless, it was an important innovation for its time.

Vacuum Tube Hearing Aid

Vacuum Tube hearing aids were one of the most important forms of hearing aids that were developed in the 20th century. They used Bell Labs’ tools in order to turn a vacuum tube and parts from other technological elements like the phone into a hearing aid. The concept behind this one was rather simple as well. Sound enters through the phone receiver and would then be turned into an electric impulse inside the vacuum tube. At this point the amplification occurs before it is sent out of the other end of device. The sound quality was better and it only weight seven pounds, but more importantly it inspired others to continue working on hearing aids.