Acousticon A-230 Eyeglass Hearing Aid
The Acousticon model A-230 is an early eyeglass
hearing aid. It was manufactured by Dictograph Products, Inc. of New
York around 1955.
This was an unusual hearing aid in that the hearing
aid electronics were enclosed in two sections that plugged onto the ends
of the eyeglass arms. There were 3 conductors in a cable running down
the arms and across the bridge of the glasses to connect the two sides.
You can see the wire going across the bridge in the top picture.
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Side view of the Acousticon Model A-230 eyeglass hearing aid showing the
thin frames and temple-pieces with the large electronics modules at the
tips of the temple-pieces.
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The microphone port was in the middle of the tip on the right temple
piece (left). The end of the volume control lever is visible at the very
bottom below the microphone port.
The tip of the left temple piece shows the white nubbin onto which
the tubing for the ear mold was connected. (bottom right). The round
"button" in the center of the left temple tip is how you push the
battery compartment out on the other side.
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The battery compartment was a slide out drawer on
the end of the left temple piece into which was inserted a 450 size
mercury cell. |
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The components for the hearing aid amplifier are
contained in the unit on the right temple side, some of which are
visible through the clear plastic cover. The microphone opening is on
the other side. The volume control is the sliding lever on the bottom of
this unit.
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The left temple piece contained the receiver unit that used a
link (tube) connected to an ear mold to deliver the sound to the ear. |
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Possibly a unique feature of the Acousticon A-230 was that the hearing
aid tips could be unplugged from the temple pieces and replaced
with dummy tips that came with the eyeglasses. That way the eyeglasses
could be used as regular glasses when the hearing aid wasn't needed. The
dummy tips are shown in the picture at the right. |
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Here you can see the two alternatives —either the dummy tip or the
hearing aid tip (bottom right). The temple piece on the left already has
the dummy tip plugged in. |
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The
Acousticon A-230 in its original case.
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(If a larger picture doesn't appear, you may have to
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