Hearing aids are over 3 centuries old and the technology has been quite incredible over those 300 years, take a look at our information about hearing aid technology from past to present

The Ear Trumpet:
Although the business of selling ear trumpets did not begin until the 19th century they were being used as early as the 1700’s possibly earlier by people who were afflicted with hearing loss.
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Acoustic throne:
Royalty had special thrones and chairs designed to allow courtiers to speak quietly while maintaining a reverent distance from both hearing and deaf royals. Courtiers would kneel before the throne and speak into openings in the arms of the chair. A small tube connected to a resonator in the throne’s arms and wings conveyed the sound to the royal ear.

Lorgnette
This ingenious but somewhat cumbersome French contraption combined spectacles with a light tortoiseshell ear trumpet. The trumpet was usually made of dark material in the hope that it could be disguised against the user’s dark clothing.

London Dome
A bit spiffier than the simple ear trumpet, this device was made of thin metal, and could be acquired in a variety of sizes, depending on hearing loss. The often elaborately decorated dome was also known as an opera dome since it could be used by hearing fans of the opera to improve the sound quality of a performance.

Acoustic Table Urn
Among the strangest attempts to aid hearing is the acoustic table urn. Although not terribly portable, the urn, with its multiple decorated openings, was meant to capture sound from any angle in the room. The interior resonator would then channel sound directly to the user through a long ear tube, which could be disguised as part of a table runner.

Ear Tube
This ear tube allowed the user to get sound straight from the source: the speaker held one end, while the user placed the other over the ear.

Stethoclare
Using the same premise as the acoustic urn, this Stethoclare was much easier to carry, since it measured only 11 cm. in diameter. The user placed the Stethoclare sound-catcher on a table, and ran a tube from it to the ear.

Desktop Hearing Aid
The first electric hearing aids came to market around 1901 and were very large and impractical. This 1930 hearing aid was a bit smaller than earlier models, using carbon-dust microphones. However, the desktop devices all used separate components: a carbon microphone, processing unit, battery box and, headpiece. Batteries often did not last more than a few hours. These early desktop models were also very expensive, costing up to $400 each.

Carbon Microphone Aids
Wearable multi-part hearing aids were developed and used in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Many varied in size according to the needs of the user, since greater amplification required larger microphones. Over the next decade, advances in microphone and battery technology gradually made these styles smaller. Most of the earlier large-size batteries did not last more than a day and had to be carried in special cases. The microphone would be worn around the neck, and was connected to the earpiece by wires.

Vacuum Tube Model
The invention of the vacuum tube shrank processing components slightly, but batteries remained large, making this Oticon model from the 1940’s easier to use, but still far from invisible.

Oticon Pocket Model
Shown next to a pearl necklace to give perspective, this hearing aid allowed the user to improve hearing without standing out in a crowd. The small battery and processing component fit easily into a pocket, or under the user’s clothes.

Beltone’s ‘Slimmette’
As transistors got smaller, so did hearing aids, and concealment became an even more important goal. A far cry from its 19th-century French ancestor, this style concealed the hearing aids in flaps that would hang over the ear from the wearer’s eyeglasses.

Over-the-Ear Hearing Aids
By the late 50s and early 60s, models that were “At-the-Ear” or “Over-the-Ear” combined a microphone with a battery and transistor in one unit. These models were molded to fit the wearer with custom-made ear tubes, and were easy to conceal behind the ear or under the hair.

In-the-Canal Hearing Aids
In the 1970’s, batteries became even smaller, allowing “In-the-Canal,” or ITC, aids to fill the ear canal without anything worn outside the ear.

In-the-Ear-Canal Hearing Aids
By the late 1980’s advanced circuitry and lithium batteries made possible a unit that could be concealed completely in the ear canal. “In-the-Ear-Canal,” or IETC, hearing aids hit the market. These tiny devices can be dropped in the ear and totally hidden from view.

Digital Processing Hearing Aids
While these units might be a bit larger than some analog models, hearing aids with digital processing allow even greater clarity. Users can program their hearing aids to access the most useful range of tonality.

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