Acousticon A-120 (Constellation) Vacuum Tube Hearing Aid The Acousticon A-120 (Constellation) hearing aid was produced by Dictograph Products, Inc. of New York in 1948. It featured a case of gold anodized aluminum with light brown enamel on the front. The hearing aid measured 4⅛” by 2⅜” by ⅞”. It weighed 7.7 oz. with the batteries, and 5.3 oz. without the batteries. On Nov. 9, 1948 one dealer sold this hearing aid for $199.50. |  | Click picture for larger view | | |   | | | |
| Rear view of the Acousticon A-120 showing the make and model (left) and swing out battery door (right).
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| Close up rear view of the Acousticon A-120 showing the make (Acousticon) and model (A-120) and and the Acousticon logo above it.
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| Front view of the Acousticon A-120 with the pocket clip on the back where you can't see it. The large square microphone grill took up the upper half of the front (right).
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| Top front view of the Acousticon A-120 with the pocket clip in it's usual position covering part of the microphone grill.
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| Top view of the Acousticon A-120 showing the top of the clip. The two screws allow you to have the clip over the microphone (as in the above picture) or on the back. The volume control/on-off switch is on the right.
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| The receiver cord unplugged. The jack is the two holes in the middle of the top of the Acousticon A-120.
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| Top view of the Acousticon A-120 showing the receiver cord plugged into the jack. This aid had a relatively large plug.
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| This Acousticon A-120 had an external tie clip microphone hard wired to it. The idea was that you could keep the hearing aid hidden and no one would notice that the tie clip was really a microphone.
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| Rear view of the tie clip microphone.
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| Left side view of the Acousticon A-120 showing the 4 position tone control. The serial number (GA776) is to the right of the tone control. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The battery compartment of the Acousticon A-120.
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| The Acousticon A-120 was powered by a 1.4 volt Mallory RM-4 mercury "A" battery (left) and a 15 volt "B" battery (Olin No. 0914 as shown (right), or the equivalent Eveready 411E battery. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Inside view of the top front of the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid showing the circuitry and how the external microphone cord connects. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Inside view of the top back of the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid showing the circuitry and 2 of the 3 vacuum tubes. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Inside view of the back of the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid showing the circuitry and the battery compartment (bottom half). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Another feature of the A-120 was the capability to attach the Acousticon Radion radio tuner to the right side of the hearing aid, thus turning the hearing aid into a personal AM radio for the user. Note the two holes on the right side for the pins of the Radion to attach/connect to. However, since this particular unit has an external microphone cord hardwired through one of the holes, you couldn't use the Radion with it. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The ear mold (left) snaps onto the receiver (right). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| View of the back of the receiver. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The receiver cord and jack on the receiver. Notice the flat prongs on the plug. This was distinctive with Acousticon products of this vintage. (Other manufacturers used round prongs.)
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