Evolution of Hearing Aids

Over the centuries, many creative devices were designed to help people hear better. Here is a look at how hearing aids have evolved.

Late 1700s-1800s

Conversation tubes: The narrow end was placed in a person’s ear canal, and people spoke into the wide end, achieving modest amplification.

1800s

Beginning in the early 17th century, people placed rams’ horns to their ears to amplify sounds. In later centuries, people used many types of ear trumpets, like this one from the 1800s.

1870s

The Audiphone was used by people whose ear bones could no longer conduct sound. When the wearer bit the tip, sound vibrations were sensed by the jaw.

Early 1900s

Electrical hearing aids were initially large and cumbersome, like this shoe-box-size model from the 1920s and ‘30s.

1940s

Hearing aids could be made smaller as technology became more sophisticated. The electronics for this device (about the size of a cigarette box) could be hooked to a belt buckle.

1950s to present

Eyeglasses that doubled as hearing aids were worn by Eleanor Roosevelt, among others. Some people still wear such devices today.

1950s to present

Hearing aids placed behind the ear were developed. Smaller in size today, they are still popular.

1960s to present

Cochlear and brain stem implants are surgically installed devices that produce sound signals for profoundly deaf people.

Source: “Historic Devices for Hearing” (Central Institute for the Deaf, 1984).