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Ear Trumpet
The Ear Trumpet was a device used before the 17th century. It gathered sound and funneled it into the ear. Sometimes, people spoke into the Ear Trumpet in order to make the sound louder for the person with a hearing disability. This was helpful for people with Conductive Deafness (Deafness in the outer or middle ear), but not people with sensorineural deafness because it could not help the inner ear, the neural receptors, or the part of the brain that receives sound information. -
The Audiphone was Created
The Audiphone, also called the Dentiphone was created in the 17th century. It was a fan-like object that was bent towards the sound and held between the teeth. The sound vibrations were then captured by the fan, which brought them to the teeth, jaw bones, skull, and into the inner ear. The Audiphone helped people who did not have eardrums because it delivered sound to the inner ear without the sound having to go through the outer ear. However, it couldn't help those with outer ear problems. -
The Throne of King John VI of Portugal
The throne for deaf King John VI of Portugal had the heads of lions on the arm rests so people who wanted to talk to King John VI had to speak into the lions. Their voices went through tubes that went into to the king's ears. The throne was much like the audiphone because they both captured the sound, but the throne transferred the sound to the outer ear and the audiphone transferred the sound vibrations to the inner ear. The image is of a throne for a later king, but had a similar concept. -
Artificial Ear Drum
In 1852, Joseph Toynbee, an English physician created the first artificial ear drum. It was made using a hardened rubber disk that was attached to a rod. The loss of an eardrum is conductive deafness, which can be cured. The ear drum located in the middle ear and by replacing it, the person would be able to hear again. This technique of replacing the ear drum was a major discovery in the evolution of hearing aids and is still used by scientists in the present day. -
Alexander Gram Bell
During the 1870's, Alexander Gram Bell was interested in creating and expanding a hearing aid. He started to experiment with sound through electrical devise, intending to help the deaf. Instead, he created the telephone which is most famous for. His work bought great publicity for the deaf and hearing-impaired. -
The Telephone-Transmitter
During the times that vacuum tubes existed, Miller Reese Hutchinson created the Telephone-Transmitter. It was the first electrical hearing aid to be created. -
Vactuphone
Earl Charles Hanson made the Vactuphone in 1920. It the first commercially produced hearing aid. It is still used by Scientists to the present day. -
Wearable Hearing Aid
Up until this point, hearing aids were large objects that had to be either carried around with the deaf person, or stationary. The first wearable hearing aid was created by Edwin Steven. It weighed 2.5 lbs (1.1kg). It did not go behind the ear like the hearing aid in the present day, but instead had to be held inside the ear in order for the person to be able to hear. -
Cochlear Implant was Created
Cochlear implants are for people whose hearing cannot be improved by hearing aids. The implants are tiny electrodes that go in the ear and are connected by a wire to a receiver implanted under the skin. Today, cochlear implants are multi channel, multi-microphone and electrical. Multichannel means that softer sounds can be more amplified than louder sounds. Multi-microphone capability means that a microphone can pick up a broad-range of sound and distinguish conversation from background noise. -
Present Day Cochlear Implants
A cochlear implant in the present day "consists of a tiny microphone, sound processor, and transmitter, all outside the ear, and an electrode that is implanted inside the head, connected to the auditory brain stem. When the microphone picks up sound, the unit converts sound energy into electrical signals that are sent directly to the brain where they are interpreted as sound. Although the implant is not enough to restore hearing, it upgrades the level of environmental sound heard by the user." -
Present Day Hearing Aid
In the present day, they make programmable hearing aids that use computer microchips. "A typical hearing aid contains a microphone that converts sounds into electrical signals, an amplifier that increases the strength of the electrical signals, and a speaker that converts the amplified signals back into sound waves that can be heard by the wearer. "
