Saskatoon Audiologists Present Hearing Aid History
If you have ever found yourself wondering how people in ages past developed devices to improve their hearing, then you will want to read this article presented by Saskatoon audiologists.
More than just dry facts and figures, the history of hearing aids began with a real desire to help people who were experiencing a problem with encroaching deafness. There were children being born with some degree of deafness; society also began to realize that as humans age, their organs deteriorate. Both of these factors began a quest to provide some relief.
The Early Days
It was nearly two hundred years earlier that the first hearing aids were invented. Back then, they were nothing more than big horns held up to the ear to try and amplify sound. You may have seen an old photo or picture of someone holding up one of these ear trumpets bigger than the person’s head. They were large, ungainly, and proved little more effective than simply cupping a hand to the ear.
Adding Electricity
With the advent of electricity and the telephone, great strides were made in hearing aid technology. Alexander Graham Bell is credited with devising a machine that could amplify sound with the aid of a battery-operated microphone and electronics. In fact the concept of a receiver and speaker, the same as used in a telephone, is still in use to develop today’s hearing aids.
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In the second decade of the new century, hearing aids started utilizing vacuum tubes. These proved to be much more efficient at sound amplification. While the technology was moving forward, hearing aids were still not available in a practical size; some were the size of tabletop radios and required large battery packs to be worn on the body.
Size Improvement
Luckily, in the 1930s, newer technology made it possible to produce a smaller battery that could hold a longer charge. This was a real innovation for assistive listening devices. Finally, a hearing aid that was both easily portable and less cumbersome had been born. In the ensuing decade, these advances sparked the growth of the field of audiology. The first Saskatoon audiologist went into practice mid-century or so.
Transistorized
The 1950s brought along another massive change to hearing aid technology: transistors. You might remember owning a transistor radio back in the day and being amazed at its ability to pick up many stations, yet enjoy a small, portable size. It was developed based on binary code, using a combination of on/off switches and conductivity via a transistor formed from silicon. It was these same silicon transistors used in radios that truly transformed hearing aids. Now they were small enough to fit within the ear canal and could be worn anywhere without having to lug along bulky supplies.
Digitizing the Hearing Aid
The 1990s were the age of digital technology. Using tiny circuit boards, digital devices could easily be programmed to amplify or dampen sound via shaping wavelengths to particular specifications. This was good news for hearing aid wearers, allowing them to adjust the device depending on the frequencies of sound in order to minimize background noise. Loud sounds were no longer distorted via a compression process.
While today’s hearing aids are even more refined, there is further work to be done to make them the ultimate in discreet and effective assistive listening devices.
Your Saskatoon audiologist is well-trained in not only the health aspects of hearing loss, but the continually advancing technology that allows modern hearing aids to best help their clients’ needs.