Acousticon A-150 (International) Vacuum Tube Hearing Aid The Acousticon A-150 (International) hearing aid was produced by Dictograph Products, Inc. of New York in 1949. It featured a case of gold anodized aluminum. The hearing aid measured 3⅛” by 2⅜” by 13/16” and weighed 5¼ oz. with the batteries installed. |  | Click picture for larger view | | |   | | | |
| The Acousticon A-150 showing the volume control/on-off switch (top left corner), the receiver cord plug (center) and the tone control (top right).
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| Rear view of the Acousticon A-150. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| This Acousticon A-150 came with a bone conduction transducer, rather than an air conduction receiver. A head band (not shown) held the transducer tight to the bone behind the ear which allowed the wearer to hear via bone conduction. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The Acousticon A-150 was powered by a 1½ volt 1015E "A" cell (same size as modern AA batteries) and a 15 volt No. 411E "B" battery). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Right side view of the Acousticon A-150 showing the plugs (red dots) that cover the holes where you could plug in either a "Radion" radio receiver (see below) or an external microphone (see bottom 2 pictures). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The Acousticon A-150 with the Radion attached to the right side of the hearing aid. Click here for more information on the Acousticon Radion. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Another most interesting feature of the Acousticon A-150 (and also the A-90, A-100, A-152) was that instead of plugging in the Radio, you could also plug in an external microphone that looked just like a wrist watch. This allowed you to keep the body aid hidden--because the sound would then be picked up by the microphone hidden in the watch-like casing. A cord ran up the sleeve to the hearing aid in an inside pocket. Here is an ad (bottom left corner) for this "Wrist-Ear" external microphone published in the Sunday Morning edition of The Democrat and Leader newspaper of Davenport, Iowa on July 17, 1949. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| Here is a close-up of this ad so you can read it easier. Here is a link to a photo of the actual "Wrist Ear" in the Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum.
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