The history of hearing aids

Hearing loss has been around since human beings first appeared, and it’s understandable that these early folks would’ve tried different means of combating the condition. However, with so much ancient culture lost to us, such seminal methods are almost completely unknown.

The earliest records of hearing aid usage we have date back to the 13th century. Medieval people fashioned primitive hearing devices from animal horn, research suggests. Cows and rams kept as livestock were the most likely source of this raw material.

Invented in 1634, the ear trumpet was the first real step towards developing hearing aid technology. Still, its usage didn’t become widespread until over a century and a half later!

Distinctively funnel-shaped in design, the ear trumpet wasn’t actually able to amplify sound; instead, it worked by collecting natural background noises and “funnelling” them through a narrow tube directly into the ear, thereby creating a rudimentary hearing solution.

Cumbersome and somewhat cartoonish, ear trumpets – along with their successor, the speaking tube – weren’t really successful in managing hearing loss problems among the masses. Only in the 19th century with a move to electronics did better options start presenting themselves.

A turning point in the history of hearing aids was the invention of the telephone in 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Now, people could hear each other via a receiver without being physically present – sometimes better than they did through face-to-face conversations.

This advancement prompted Thomas Edison, who experienced hearing loss himself, to improve upon Bell’s original creation and produce a carbon transmitter that not only boosted electrical signal, but also increased the number of decibels.

Edison’s carbon technology swiftly went on to be a key player in hearing aid development. And while limited frequency range and issues with scratchy sound were irritating, carbon hearing aids kept being everyone’s number one choice until the 20th century was well underway.

Commercially manufactured hearing aids first came to market somewhere around 1913, and throughout the entire 20th century, more and more device innovations ensued, meaning that by the new millennium, almost everyone was able to get the hearing help they needed.
Some major breakthroughs in hearing aid history that occurred during this time include:

• Vacuum tubes (1921-52) – which controlled electricity flow better than carbon
• Transistor technology (1950ish) – enabling hearing aids to be made as lighter, more compact equipment that could finally be worn discreetly, to a certain degree; either wholly inside or behind the ear
• The shift from analogue to digital devices (beginning in the early 1980s)

Today, hearing loss sufferers don’t have to endure any indignity or discomfort as a result of their condition, not when there are so many choices available. Fine-tuned and customised to an individual’s specific hearing requirements, it’s also not unusual for 21st century hearing aids to accommodate different listening conditions and boast compatibility with other household devices.