Everyone has seen an uncle, aunt, or grandparent fiddle with their hearing aids. We all lose a bit of our hearing, as we grow old, it’s just the way life is. What sometimes takes us off guard is seeing a younger person fiddling with their hearing aids. As a culture, we just aren’t accustomed to seeing young people wear something labeled as an old person device. I’ve found from talking to other young adults that are hard of hearing that they try to hide or take attention away from their hearing aids. This was especially true with women who typically wear their hair down to hide their hearing devices. This isn’t true with all young adults who wear hearing aids, some wear them with a sense of pride. I’m guessing this comes from a similar mindset as people who modify their body as a way to stand out from society.
The history of the hearing aid goes back hundreds of years with the use of old horns to direct sound into ones ears. Throughout the ages there has really been only two giant leaps in hearing aid technology. The first pioneered by Alexander Graham Bell and his carbon microphone (telephone) and by Thomas Edison and his carbon transmitter. This marked the first time that sound could actually be recorded, amplified, and played back. As technology advanced so did the quality of hearing aids. The next big leap in hearing aid technology came when Alessandro Volta discovered he hear a sound when he passed an electric current across his cochlear nerve. From this discovery we now have the cochlear and auditory brain implants which electrically stimulate the auditory nerves creating the perception of sound.
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