Walking stick hearing aid, by Franck Valery Freres, Paris, 1860-1910
Much like cupping your hand around your ear, an ear trumpet is a type of hearing aid which helps to direct sound to the ear and provides some shelter from background noise. They were most effective when someone spoke directly into them. Ear trumpets could be made in a variety of shapes and sizes and from a range of different materials.
This particular example is both a walking stick and an ear trumpet. When it was used there would have been a small earpiece near the ear trumpet and the walking stick would have been held vertically. This was a discrete option for an ear trumpet, but the design did not work very well due to the small ear trumpet and the placement of the earpiece. Often attempts to camouflage devices like ear trumpets made them less effective as hearing devices.
Details
- Category:
- Audiology
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A602536
- Materials:
- trumpet, silver, collar, metal, stick, bamboo and ferrule, brass
- Measurements:
-
overall: 36 mm x 900 mm x 96 mm, .3 kg
- type:
- hearing aids
- credit:
- Glendining
