Advanced Hearing Center Publishes a Short History of Hearing Aids
Salt Lake City, Utah (PRWEB) February 08, 2016 -- With dynamic sound processing and wireless functionality, modern hearing aids are clearly marvels of modern technology. What is less obvious, however, is that modern hearing aids are the products of more than 400 years of experiment, design, and improvement.
For most of human history, if someone suffered from hearing loss, their options were severely limited. So while it’s easy to take for granted, 2016 is an age where most cases of hearing loss can be effectively treated. To put this in historical perspective, Advanced Hearing Center has recently published an article titled A Short History of Hearing Aids.
The article takes the reader through 400 years of history by examining hearing aids and hearing loss treatment at four specific dates: 2016, 1985, 1940, and 1650. The reader is shown what their options would be for each year, and how technology has improved exponentially over time—even within the last five to ten years.
The first hearing instruments, referred to as ear trumpets, were developed in the 1600s. These devices relied on simple mechanical amplification and couldn’t help with moderate to severe hearing loss. It wouldn’t be until the 1940s that the first hearing aid based on electrical amplification would be developed. These hearing aids used vacuum tubes, were big and bulky, required large batteries, and amplified all sound instead of specific sound.
In 1985, hearing aids were built with transistors, but the devices were still cumbersome, expensive, and couldn’t amplify specific sounds. It wouldn’t be until 1995 that the first digital hearing aid was developed. From then on, hearing aids have become progressively smaller, more affordable, and better able to distinguish between beneficial sounds (like speech) and background sounds, which can now be suppressed.
About Advanced Hearing Center
Advanced Hearing Center is a full-service audiology practice located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The practice offers comprehensive hearing care services to help members of the local community hear better, live better, and reconnect with loved ones.
Contact:
Dr. Enoch Cox
Advanced Hearing Center
http://www.advancedhearing.org
(801) 386-8552
Dr. Enoch Cox, Advanced Hearing Center, http://www.advancedhearing.org, +1 (888) 727-7605, [email protected]
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