Who invented hearing aids?
From Hearing aid history: Ear trumpets to digital technology
It is claimed that point marches on and one thing is certain: hearing loss marches all along with it. The recorded history of deafness goes back many years, and attempts to correct deafness are alive since the very person to cup their hand behind their ear.
The good news is hearing aids and other assistive listening devices have come an extended way since the primary rudimentary attempts at improving hearing. Yes, hearing aid technology remains evolving and is way from perfect, but looking back through the years of technological advances certainly allows us to place any complaints about modern hearing aid technology in clear perspective.
- From 13th century to 19th century: Animal horns to ear trumpets
- ear trumpet
- Ear trumpets were invented within the 18th century.
As early because the 13th century, those with hearing loss were using hollowed out horns of animals like cows and rams as primitive hearing devices. It wasn’t until the 18th century that the more “modern” hearing aid was invented. Funnel-shaped in design, ear trumpets were man's first attempt at inventing a tool for treating deafness. They didn’t sound music, however, but worked by collecting sound and “funneling” it through a narrow tube into the ears.
Cartoon-like and hulkling, these ear trumpets and therefore the subsequent speaking tubes didn’t work all that well. But it didn’t prevent them from remaining the sole option until electricity and therefore the telephone were invented within the 19th century.
19th century to 20th century: the primary electronic hearing aids
The invention of the phonephone combined with the sensible application of electricity within the 19th century had an incredible impact on the event of hearing aids and other assistive hearing devices. People with deafness quickly realized they might hear a conversation better through the phonephone receiver delayed to their ear than they might face to face.
However, Edison, who experienced hearing loss firsthand, saw room for improvement. In 1870 he invented a carbon transmitter for the phonephone which amplified the electrical signal and increased the decibel level by about 15 decibels (dB). Although an amplification of about 30 dB is typically necessary to permit those with deafness to listen to better, the invention of the carbon transmitter for the phonephone paved the way for the technology that might eventually be used for nano hearing aids. Although not ideal thanks to their limited frequency range and tendency to supply scratchy sound, carbon hearing aids were in use from 1902 until the arrival of subsequent wave of technology: tube hearing aids.
1921-1952: tube technology
Beginning within the 1920s, hearing aids using vacuum tubes were ready to increase the sound level by the maximum amount as 70 dB. These sound levels were achieved because vacuum tubes controlled the flow of electricity cause electricity is better than carbon. The matter was the dimensions. within the beginning the devices were very large, about the dimensions of a file, in order that they weren't portable.
By 1924 the dimensions of tube hearing aids had been reduced so all of the components could slot in a little wooden box, with a receiver that the user delayed to the ear. Despite the development they were still heavy, bulky and conspicuous, and amplified all sound, not just the sounds the user wanted to listen to.
Improvements in technology continued in 1938 when Aurex introduced the primary truly wearable hearing aids, which consisted of an earpiece, wire and receiver that would be clipped to the user’s clothing. Unfortunately, this model also required the utilization of A battery pack that was strapped to the user’s leg.
Thanks to technology developed during world war II, the late 1940s finally saw the assembly of hearing aids with circuit boards and button-sized batteries, allowing the hearing aid batteries, amplifier and microphone to be combined into one portable, pocket-sized unit. albeit they were marketed as discreet, the pocket unit connected to individual earpieces with wires that made them not up to appealing from a cosmetic standpoint.
Despite the advances in technology, the planet still waited for little, one-piece hearing aids that would fit entirely within the ear and truly be worn discreetly. Fortunately, they didn’t need to wait long.
Mid-20th century: Transistor technology
The move to smaller, and more discreet hearing aids finally got underway in 1948, when Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the transistors. A transistor may be a switch that controls the movement of electrons and thus electricity. Transistors can start and stop the flow of a current and also control the quantity of a current, making it possible to possess multiple settings in one device.The Norman Krim, an engineer at Raytheon, the inventor of the previous subminiature tube technology, and saw the potential application for transistors in hearing aids. By 1952, Krim was ready to create junction transistors for hearing aid companies.
The transistor technology not only enabled hearing aids to be made smaller, they might finally be worn either completely inside or behind the ear. The new hearing aids were so popular and successful that over 200,000 transistor hearing aids were sold in 1953 alone, eclipsing the sale of tube hearing aids.
Capitalizing on the new technology, one among the best hearing aids to be worn almost entirely within the ear was invented within the late 1950s by Otarion Electronics. Called the Otarion Listener, the electronics were embedded within the temple pieces of eyeglasses. These “hearing glasses” caught on and versions of the technology were soon introduced by other companies like Beltone and Sonotone.
- Late 20th century: Analog to digital
- digital hearing aids in carrying case
- By 2005, digital hearing aids
- represented 80% of the market.
Eventually, hearing aid manufacturers developed the power to form the transistors out of silicon, enabling hearing aids to shrink even further. Hearing aid technology closer thereto which we all know today was introduced by Zenith Radio within the 1960s; in these versions, the microphone went within the ear and was connected by a little wire to an amplifier and battery unit that was clipped to the ear.
This technology stayed largely an equivalent until the 1980s, upon the introduction of digital signal processing chips to hearing aids. the primary to use the technology created hybrid digital-analog models (digital circuits controlling an analog compression amplifier) until 1996, when the primary fully digital hearing aid model was introduced.
21st century: High tech and new horizons
By the year 2000, hearing aids had the power to be programmed, allowing user customization, flexibility and fine tuning, and by 2005 digital hearing aids represented about 80 percent of the hearing aid market.
Digital technology is the same circuitry that's utilized in cell phones and computers. Today’s hearing aids are often fine-tuned by a hearing care professional and customised to an individual’s hearing needs. They will adapt to different listening environments and be connected to other high-tech devices like computers, televisions and telephones. Features like telecoils, Bluetooth and FM connectivity allow compatibility with other electronic devices and accessibility publicly spaces.
