Hearing Aids Down Through the Years

The New Hugh Hetherington On-line Hearing Aid Museum

By Neil Bauman

Editor: An online hearing aid museum, you say? That sounds VERY interesting! Here's Neil Bauman, the museum "curator" with more information.

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Are you intrigued by old hearing aids and hearing devices? Have you ever seen a "pen" hearing aid that you carried in your shirt pocket? Or a barrette hearing aid you wore in your hair? Aren't you glad you don't have to lug around a heavy table top hearing aid that took so much power it had to be plugged into a wall receptacle?

Would you be embarrassed to use an ear trumpet over two feet long? Or would you insist, like many people today, that you wanted a much smaller and more invisible "hearing aid" like the tiny ear horns and auricles only a "minuscule" 3" long.

These are just a few of the many interesting and different hearing aids to be found in the Hugh Hetherington On-line Hearing Aid Museum (http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com), now the largest on-line hearing aid museum in the world.

This museum is owned by Neil Bauman, the director of the Center for Hearing Loss Help (http://www.hearinglosshelp.com) and his friend Hugh Hetherington, probably the foremost authority on old hearing aids alive today.

Although it currently contains well over 200 hearing devices, the on-line museum is far from complete. At present, only about 30% of the hearing devices in Hugh's physical collection are actually illustrated on-line. However, more are being added every week so it is a fun place to come back to from time to time.