Nu-Ear ITE Hearing Aids

The Nu-Ear rechargeable ITE hearing aids were manufactured by Nu-Ear Electronics during the 1980s.

The pictures show two Nu-Ear hearing aids—the outside view (left) and inner view (right).

On the left aid, the microphone port is the small circle in the top left. The big circle in the middle holds the battery while the volume control is the small circle at the bottom. Note: this volume control can only be adjusted with a small screwdriver. Essentially, the volume was preset to the person's comfort level and left there.

The switch at the bottom left in the above picture is the on-off switch (shown in off position). The little circle above it is a red LED that lights up when the battery is charging.

The vent is the hole on the white part directly below the switch.

The Nu-Ear took a Varta type 30 nickel cadmium battery.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the right hearing aid (which is the one worn in the right ear) has two switches, whereas the left one only has one. We suspect that the second switch may have been for a t-coil for the right ear.

Rechargeable hearing aids were not common. The Nu-Ear aids were unique in that you didn't have to take the batteries out of the hearing aids to charge them, or plug anything into the hearing aids. They came with a wooden charging case and used electromagnetic induction to charge the cells.

View of the top of the original wooden case for the Nu-Ear aids.