who invented hearing aid ?

Answer 1

Hey Vikramdar,

Here is a paragraph that answers your question, which can be found at the website referenced.

No one person invented the hearing aid. Hearing aids fashioned from horns, sea shells, or other natural material probably existed long before the ear trumpet was first manufactured. Giovanni Battista Porta was most likely the first to actually describe one of these early hearing aids. Porta wrote a book entitled Natural Magick, published in 1588, in which he describes wooden aids shaped like animal ears. How widespread these homemade aids were is difficult to say. In 1627 Francis Bacon wrote about the value of ear trumpets to the deaf as well as the use of speaking tubes. These hearing devices were probably not manufactured in the way we know it today. Most were created for specific users and reflected their tastes and needs.

Answer 2

Who Invented The Hearing Aid

Answer 3

It is uncertain who invented the first electric hearing aid, it may have been the Akoulathon, invented in 1898 by Miller Reese Hutchinson and made and sold (1901) by the Akouphone Company of Alabama for $400.
A device called the carbon transmitter was needed in both the early telephone and the early electric hearing aid. This transmitter was first commercially available in 1898 and was used to electrically amplify sound. In the 1920's, the carbon transmitter was replaced by the vacuum tube, and later by a transistor. Transistors allowed electric hearing aids to become small and efficient.

Devices to aid hearing have a long history. The idea of bone conduction was known in the early seventeenth century, and the ear trumpet was used even before that time. The ear trumpet was shaped to gather sound and funnel it into the ear. In seventeenth-century Germany, Marcus Banzer used a piece of swine bladder connected to a tube made of elk hoof to make an artificial ear drum.

At the time of its release in 1987, a hearing aid developed by Bristol-Meyers was considered revolutionary due to a unique design. dentiphone, was invented. Made of a flexible material such as cardboard, the device was shaped like a fan and held at its end between the teeth as the fan was bent toward the sound. The sound vibrations captured by the fan were carried to the teeth, the bones of the jaw and skull, and finally to the auditory nerve, where sound could be heard.

Perhaps the largest hearing aid ever made was an imposing throne built for King John VI of Portugal in 1819. The hollow carved arms of the chair terminated with the wooden mouths of lions through which people would speak and have their voices carried by tubes to the king's ear.

Yet another artificial ear drum was devised in 1852 when the English physician Joseph Toynbee used a disk of vulcanized rubber attached to a rod. The Victorian era was known for some of its more elaborately concealed hearing devices, hidden in urns, top hats, even tiaras.

In the 1870s, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) began experimenting with the conduction of sound through electrical devices, originally intending to help deaf children hear. His experiments led to the invention of the telephone instead, but his work did bring public awareness to the needs of the hearing impaired. Miller Reese Hutchinson invented the first electrical hearing aid in 1901, and he called it the Telephone-Transmitter.

The era of vacuum tubes like those used in early radio saw the inroduction of new types of hearing aids, starting in 1920 with Earl Charles Hanson's Vactuphone. A 1923 model produced by the Marconi Company was the Otophone, consisting of an amplifier placed in a large case weighing 16 pounds (7 kg), making it rather bulky to use. A. Edwin Steven invented the first "wearable" hearing aid, weighing 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg), in 1935. During the 1950s, transistors revolutionized electronics, and Microtone introduced its compact and powerful transistor hearing aid in 1953.

Answer 4

No one person invented the hearing aid. Hearing aids fashioned from horns, sea shells, or other natural material probably existed long before the ear trumpet was first manufactured. Giovanni Battista Porta was most likely the first to actually describe one of these early hearing aids. Porta wrote a book entitled Natural Magick, published in 1588, in which he describes wooden aids shaped like animal ears. How widespread these homemade aids were is difficult to say. In 1627 Francis Bacon wrote about the value of ear trumpets to the deaf as well as the use of speaking tubes. These hearing devices were probably not manufactured in the way we know it today. Most were created for specific users and reflected their tastes and needs.

Who was the first to manufacture non-electric hearing aids?

In the 1800s Frederick C. Rein of London, George P. Pilling and Sons of Philadelphia, Franck-Valery Freres of Paris, E. B. Meyrowitz of New York, and Kirchner and Wilhelm of Stuttgart were just a few of the many companies established as hearing aid manufacturers. Why did so many companies begin manufacture at this time? The answer is that technology drove the evolution of the hearing aid. The Industrial Revolution, first in Europe and later in America, created a surge in manufacturing of numerous products. Economics was also a factor; the new middle class had disposable income for products such as hearing aids, which created demand for them.

Did Thomas Edison play a role in the invention of the electric hearing aid?

Over his lifetime, Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) invented the phonograph, incandescent light bulbs, kinetoscopes (early movie cameras and projectors), and even stock tickers. In 1886, Edison applied for a patent on his carbon transmitter, which translates sound into electrical signals, allowing it to travel through wires and then be translated back into sound. The first electric hearing aids employed carbon transmitter technology. Although this was a great advance, Edison did not attempt to invent hearing aids themselves. Edison was also not the only inventor of the carbon transmitter. Francis Blake, Jr., of Weston, MA, gained three patents in 1881 for his carbon transmitter.

Did Alexander Graham Bell play a role in the invention of the electric hearing aid?

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was much concerned about deafness through most of his career. In 1872, Bell opened a school for teachers of the deaf in Boston and later founded the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. Historians have noted that Bell attempted to invent an electrical hearing aid. They speculate that his wife, Mabel Hubbard, who was deaf since the age of four, was his inspiration. Although Bell's experiments did not produce the first electric hearing aid, they did lead him to his invention of the telephone. Unlike electric hearing aids, early telephones worked on magnetic principles and did not use a carbon transmitter.

Who was the first to manufacture electric hearing aids in America?

In 1899 Miller Reese Hutchison and J. Wilson established the Akouphone Company in Alabama. Miller Reese Hutchison held the patent for the first practical electric hearing aid which employed a carbon microphone or transmitter and a battery. The company manufactured the Akoulallion which sat on a table with three pairs of earphones attached. It retailed for $400. A smaller version with portable battery was sold in 1900 for $60.

Where can I find a collectable hearing aid?

The Adams Center does not maintain relationships with antique dealers who specialize in hearing aids. If you are interested in finding antiques in your area it is suggested that you contact the American Society of Appraisers. The experts who are members of this organization are qualified to give appraisals and often they sell antiques. The Society would be happy to mail you a list of appraisers in your area and one might know where to find collectible hearing aids.:-)

Answer 5

This led to his 1878 invention of the carbon transmitter for the phone, which—unlike Bell's device—amplified the electrical signal.

Answer 6

I couldn't hear you, what did you say?