(For West Country Life Nov 2020)
Some items that you come across are things you know plenty about- so you buy them, sell them and think no more of them. Other items have a way of sending you down an unsuspecting rabbit hole of enjoyable research. It is of course rarely about the financial value as that is something that can be gauged quite quickly, but a curious desire to understand how those items fit into the grand scheme of technological development.
The other week I was visiting a gentleman’s home delving around for new stock as I always do, when I spotted a pair of vintage glasses sitting with their case unloved on a chaotic spare desk. These were not something he used himself but had acquired years back, and I must admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for old-fashioned specs. What piqued my interest however was the uncomfortably thick arms and a small earpiece sticking out on one side.
The glasses I ended up buying date to the mid to late 1950s and were made by a small English firm called Amplixov. Still around today, Amplivox have spent over 80 years specialising in auditory technology for the hearing impaired and back when these glasses were new, they were just one of many companies around the world offering these new hearing aid glasses. More than just a novelty, from a cultural point of view these things were a major game changer for anyone that actually needed them and were a stepping-stone in hands-free aids before in-ear and behind-the-ear versions took over.
Hearing aids of course are nothing new and have been around in one shape and form for a very long time. The history books tell us that the humble ear trumpet was invented back in 1634 and were first being produced commercially (by a certain Frederick Rein of London) in 1800. This must be when the earliest records have been found so far, but I am sure frustrated family members would have been fashioning crude devices for their elderly relatives long before this (and naturally people would have cupped their hands over their own ears from time immemorial).
A hearing device itself is a simple tool that merely amplifies the surrounding sound somehow for the user. It can either send that sound intact but louder into the ear drum or can be attached directly to the person so their own bone does the necessary vibrating. The first electric hearing aid was called the Akulallion and dates to 1898. A tabletop device which incorporated a carbon mic and several pairs of headphones, this was never intended to be portable in any way. By 1912 someone finally (and kindly) realised they should add a volume control to hearing aids and in 1921 the Vactuphone became the first aid to use the new vacuum tubes to more powerfully amplify the incoming sound. This improvement in sound quality and reception would have been considerable, but even by that time hearing aids were still the size of a big box camera and far from discreet.
An Acousticon Carbon hearing Aid by General Acoustic Company c1910
If there is one word which has been the driving force of change for hearing aid development over the years it is discretion. No-one likes to admit they don’t hear as well as the next man and even back in 1819 the same noted F Rein had made an ingenious acoustic throne for King John VI of Portugal. Before electricity discrete hearing devices were sometimes disguised as other items such as carefully shaped fans (and of course chairs), but with the advent of electricity and vacuum tubes, it all came down to size.
A Zenith Advert from the WW2 period
In 1938 Telex created the first small vacuum tube hearing aid. Using technology that would prove useful during the war these tiny vacuum tubes meant a hearing aid could now be little larger than an electric razor with a pair of headphones attached. These were truly portable but of course required you to still carry around the main unit in your pocket or hand. During this period the Raytheon and Zenith Companies would emerge as probably the biggest supplier of hearing aids , but it was the post WW2 years in which several big leaps allowed hearing aids to become truly discreet for the first time. In 1946 the extra small mercury cell was created and found instant applications in many commercial fields including hearing aids and watches. Known today as hearing aid batteries, these were a game changer for many. When at the same time in 1947 the transistor was invented the two innovations together heralded a new era for micro-electronics and for more discreet hearing aids.
It is interesting to note how many inventions are first applied to very laudable causes and the transistor was no different. Due to the value and simplicity of the need, the very first use of transistors was for hearing aids (even before its more famous use in pocket radios). And of course it is with this new and exciting combination of tiny batteries and miniature transistors that the idea of hearing-aid spectacles also first took off. According to others the German company Akumen and a US company Otarion jointly share the accolade for releasing the first hearing aid glasses in 1954, but what is certain is that they caused quite the sensation when they did appear. Lots of other companies such as Amplivox quickly followed suit and for a few years at least anyone with a hearing problem suddenly needed glasses!
The 1950s was of course the era of style conscious consumerism and famous personalities and agony aunts everywhere were happy to promote the virtues of a useful hearing aid with a fashionable pair of glasses. Such was the success of these things that in the US alone hearing aid glasses would make up over 50% of the market by 1959. That wave of success would decline gradually during the 1960s when the first in-ear and behind-the-ear aids began to properly hit the market (behind the ear had been invented back in the mid 1950s also). Of course, audible glasses were also perfect for covert use by spies and the protection services and you can sometimes spot them in period movies from the time, but it was the joy of hands free listening by the hearing impaired which really drove the market.
An early Behind-the-Ear Hearing Aid by Beltone
And so here I now am, with a pair of unusual vintage glasses that don’t fit and are not my prescription. In truth the resale value of these things is little more than I paid for them, but the hours of research to understand these glasses better is certainly profit enough.
Photo attribution: Acousticon device by Joe Haupt; Zenith Advert by Don O’Brian ; Zenith Living Sound Advert by SenseiAlan; Behind the Ear hearing aid by Joe Haupt