Medresco Portable Hearing Aid

Medresco portable hearing aid, National Health Service (NHS issue), with batteries and leather carrying case and marked Cat. No OL35/ET/53 on microphone case, manufactured by Remploy Ltd, England, 1953

Commissioned by The Ministry of Health, the development of this post-war portable hearing aid was funded through The Medical Research Council, who also inspired its name - Medresco. With the launch of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, the government needed an economical hearing aid that could be issued free of charge to the large numbers of the population now be entitled to them. The Medresco was the result. While private manufacturers could produce smaller, more discrete models the Medresco proved popular amongst the thousands of people who were issued them in the early years of the NHS. It too was subject to improvements and by the time this example was produced in 1953, over 300,000 devices had already been issued.

In time, its bulkiness and dated appearance was felt by some to add to the perceived stigma of hearing loss and by the early 1980s, NHS users were being issued with smaller, commercially made hearing aids. This example was manufactured by Remploy Ltd, who had been established by the British Government in 1945 to provide employment for disabled workers.