Philco Mark I "Audipage" Transistor (Body) Hearing Aid
The Philco Mark I "Audipage" was made by Philco of
Philadelphia, PA. The Mark I "Audipage" was first produced in 1955.
This hearing aid was quite small for the time and measured 1¾" x
1⅝" x ½" and weighed 1¼ oz. without
the battery.
It had a chrome case and contained 3 transistors. The t-coil sat
behind the 4 "star bursts" grill (lower left front).
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The Philco Mark I "Audipage" was unique among hearing aids of its time
in that it had no microphone. Instead, it had a t-coil where the
microphone normally would have been. Thus, the "Audipage was used in
rooms that were looped with an magnetic induction loop system. In this
respect, the "Audipage" is really an assistive device rather than a
hearing aid. The picture at the right shows the inside view of the Philco Mark I "Audipage" with the front cover removed.
The t-coil is wrapped in masking tape in the bottom left quadrant. |
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Bottom view of the Philco Mark I "Audipage" showing the t-coil wrapped
in masking tape to insulate it from the metal case. The black rectangle
in the center is the ferrite metal core around which was wrapped the
many coils of wire that make up the t-coil. |
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Top view of the Philco Mark I "Audipage" showing the on-off/1-6 position volume control (left),
the receiver cord jack (center) and the two-position (High-Low) tone
control (right). |
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The Philco Mark I "Audipage" had a somewhat unusual plug for the receiver cord.
Instead of the two pin plug that was common (and used at the receiver
end), it used what looks like a standard audio plug, but it is slightly
bigger—just a bit over ⅛" in diameter. |
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The back of the Philco Mark I "Audipage". The control functions are engraved on the
back of the case behind the controls to which they refer. In the
upper left corner is inscribed "Lo-Hi-Tone" and in the upper right
corner, "Vol-On-Off". Externally,
the "Audipage" was identical to the Philco
Mark I except that it had the word "Audipage" engraved in the center
of the case. |
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The battery door on the Philco Mark I "Audipage" swung up and to the right from the
bottom right corner. This hearing aid used a 625 battery.
The clip across the front of the hearing aid could be used as a tie clip
with the hearing aid itself hidden under the tie.
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