Although hearing aids of one description or another have probably been around for hundreds of years, it is perhaps only in the last century that they have made great advances is in both their effectiveness and their appearance. According to his book “Natural Magick” written around 1588, author Giovanni Battista Porta claims that hearing aids had long been in existence at that early time and describes them as being pieces of wood, carved into the shape of the ears of some of the better hearing animals.
As to how effective these wooden ears may have been is not known but they perhaps prompted the making of trumpets as aids to hearing. Originally these trumpets, which are shaped a little like trumpets and hence their name, were made of horn or shell as they were already a suitable shape but with bronze and copper becoming popular in the 16oos, were then made from one of those. With few modifications these trumpets remained as hearing aids well into the 20th century with only fan shaped devices placed behind the ears as any alternative.
It was only in the late 19th and 20th centuries that real advances in hearing aids were made and these were due to the introduction of electricity and the telephone. It was the telephone’s receiver and speaker that proved most useful to hearing aid producers but with electricity came first the battery and then the miniaturized battery and those too assisted the producers of hearing aids to continuously develop better and smaller types.
Today there are many different types of hearing aids available and they can now even be found online at sites like https://www.audika.dk/ where you may be offered a free trial period in order to experience how one or other of the different types feel, see how much they are noticed by others and of course to see how effective they are. These free trials have many who suffer from hearing loss, to choose the hearing aid which is most beneficial for their particular needs; sparing them from first buying one and then another till they find which one is right for them.
Today there are unfortunately many people that suffer from loss of hearing to different degrees and although some may be due to hereditary issues and some may have become due to violent or very loud noises being experienced, most of the people that suffer hearing loss are well on in years as a decrease in hearing is just one of the unfortunate attributes that come with aging.
If the hearing loss is due to genetics, it could occur from a young age and if it is due to a violent noise, it can occur from whenever the noise was heard. Although with these two types of hearing loss, the loss may quickly be noticed, the loss through aging, as it happens over time, is not so easily perceived and so often it is a friend or relative that notices that the loss has become serious enough to have to buy a hearing aid of one type or another.
