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Hearing Aid Technology Has Come a Long Way

Posted by Hartland Hearing Care Centers on April 20, 2012

As today’s hearing aid sizes get smaller and the technology gets more powerful, it is amazing to consider how much hearing aids have progressed over the past decades. A fun website to visit to see these technology advances is www.hearingaidmuseum.com. This site is filled with information and pictures of old hearing device relics that provided the best assistance for the hard of hearing for their time. We can be fortunate that today we have many easy-to-use and reliable options available. Below are a few favorite old hearing aids which illustrate the early origins of hearing aids.

The ear trumpet was about as basic as it gets. Designed with an appearance like a trumpet, the user would simply put the small end of the apparatus into their ear and aim the horn at the targeted sound. It is no wonder having a hearing aid used to be an embarrassing experience.

Another favorite was the hearing aid walking stick which essentially was a walking cane with a small ear horn at the top handle. It did disguise the hearing aid portion well until the user would hold the cane to the side of his head to help hear. This seemingly would pose a danger to anyone passing by the user.

In the middle of the century hearing aids began to incorporate electricity to boost amplification with carbon and vacuum tube hearing aids. These hearing aids were usually carried by the user or worn on the body. The Radovox vacuum tube hearing aid displays the size of many of these early electric hearing aids that users would carry with them as a hearing aids.

Hearing technology then progressed to much smaller sizes for body-worn hearing aids. One popular style in the late 1950’s was the eyeglass hearing aids which attempted to hide the hearing aid in the eyeglass. This was an early style of ear level transistor hearing aids.

The biggest advancement came at the end of the century as hearing aids switched from analog to digital technology, enhancing the programming and power capabilities to meet individual preferences. These digital hearing aids also took significant leaps into bettering the technology for custom fitting and behind-the-ear hearing aid styles and have set the stage for the rapid advancements we have seen in hearing aids over the last several years.

Today’s hearing aids provide those in need of hearing assistance with a cosmetically appealing device that is easy to use and has highly innovative technology to provide better hearing experience. We are lucky to be the benefactors of these advancements from those early hearing aids. If you are interested to learn more about today’s best hearing aid options for yourself or a loved one, don’t hesitate to simply visit the Contact Us page of our website to request more information and we will be in touch to answer all of your questions or schedule a free appointment.