Hugh Hetherington Hearing Aid Museum
Hugh Hetherington Hearing Aid Museum

The Hearing Aid Museum

Hearing Aids of all types—Ear Trumpets, Carbon Hearing Aids, Vacuum Tube Hearing Aids, Transistor Hearing Aids, Body Hearing Aids, Eyeglass Hearing Aids and much more!

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Click on the "General Information" button (top button above) for an overview and general information on this category of hearing aid.

 

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs)

"The Confessionaire" Confessional Hearing Aid

"The Confessionaire" confessional hearing aid was an assistive listening device used in the confessional so hard of hearing people could hear the priest. It was produced by the Audio Equipment Co. Inc. of Great Neck, New York probably somewhere around 1955 to 1960.

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View of the back of "The Confessionaire".

"The Confessionaire" had no on-off switch, so it was always on whenever it was plugged into a standard 117 volt A/C wall socket.


 

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The lighted instruction panel of "The Confessionaire".

Hanging up the receiver didn't do anything electronically like hanging up a phone does. It was just "neater".

 

 

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View of "The Confessionaire's" handheld receiver.

 

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View of the back of "The Confessionaire's" receiver.

 

 

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Front view of "The Confessionaire's" receiver. The foam ear pad is missing.

 

 

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The microphone faces to the back of "The Confessionaire" (priest's view).

 

 

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"The Confessionaire" with the front panel taken off showing the insides.

The wing nut (top center) holds the heat shield in place that protects the vacuum tubes. To replace any tubes, you needed to remove the front cover, then the heat shield.

 

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The electronics of "The Confessionaire". At the top left and right are small lamp bulbs (No. 34s) to illuminate the instruction screen. Between them are the three tubes of the amplifier. They are the 12AU6 (left), 35C5 (center) and 35W4 (right).

 

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The service instructions of the "The Confessionaire".

The volume control, adjusted by screwdriver, is at the top center. This was accessed by pulling out the plug in the case (shown in the center of the top picture.

Note that there were two sets of screws at the bottom so two different earphones could be used at the same time.

 

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Nameplate on the front of "The Confessionaire".


 


 

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