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The first firm to begin commercial production of the ear trumpet was established by Frederick C. Rein in London in 1800. -
The first electronic hearing aids were constructed after the invention of the telephone and microphone in the 1870s and 1880s. The technology within the telephone increased how acoustic signal could be altered. Telephones were able to control the loudness, frequency, and distortion of sounds. These abilities were used in the creation of the hearing aid. -
In 1947, Romero developed the first captioning for a movie, slicing film strips and inserting images with captions between picture frames. The effect was similar to the title cards of silent movies, interspersing action scenes with images of text. He rented the films to deaf schools and clubs. -
As television developed in the 1950s and 1960s the deaf were virtually left out. As the head of DCMP (the Described and Captioned Media Program), Norwood became a leading advocate for the development of closed captioning on television and was singularly responsible for popularizing the captioning technique now used in television. First with special caption decoders, and later integrated into the television circuitry. -
Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf scientist, developed the teletypewriter (TTY) in the 1960s. With the invention of the acoustic coupler (which holds the telephone handset receiver) and the distribution of recycled teletype machines, deaf and hard of hearing people were able to call each other directly using these devices. -
Cochlear implants started being used to help with severe to profound hearing loss -
Light systems inform Deaf people about sounds in their environment. -
In the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s, much smaller and compact versions of the TTY were manufactured, marketed, and made available through state TTY equipment distribution programs. -
Video compression capability allowed Deaf to sign their conversations for the first tie -
Wifi and Cell phone quality leads to ability to have video calls over cell phones and more -
Live Transcribe
Bluetooth link to hearing aids
Video calls
Text, email,
Ring doorbell, other signalers