Old Fashioned Hearing Aids

Nancy

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If you lived before 1977, do you remember those old "body worn hearing aids"? Did you wear them? How about those "glasses hearing aids"?

From 1972 to 3rd Grade, I wore the body worn aids (I was from 2 years old to about 7 years old), called "Zenith". It has a gold colored plate on the front, black dials for M, T, and MT....plus a Y cord with buttons. :) I still have this hearing aid in my "storage box"...should've belonged to a museum. Ha From 3rd grade to present, I wear BTEs (1st BTEs were Bosch, 2nd set was Unitron, 3rd BTE was a Starkey, and now I have a Oticon BTE).

I have memories about the body aid, a lot of them are humorous. :) How about you? What did you wear years ago?

Nancy
 
Gawd I remember those body hearing aids!!! Since I was an early bloomer.. they'd just position themselves between the bewbies at the most awkward time of my life and I loathed it!! Whenever I had to strap them on.. it just gave the boys a free peek show to my bewbies! Try running with them!! Mann.. I suh-wear they purposely bitch-slapped me each time I tried running! When I got the hearing aids, I practically jumped with joy only to learn I had to wear it with the FM system. Arrgghh! I had to contend with the FM system for another few years until I lost most of my hearing and then I just got rid of my hearing aids and the FM system.
 
OMG! You had to remind me? Jeez... now I'm really old! I had one of those too. My mom would modify my clothes so that I didn't have to wear those straps, I'd have pockets for my hearing aid. For instance, my overalls... she unstitched one of the back pockets and sewed it on to the front so I had a front pocket. How creative she was! Heh!
 
LOL...I've always worn BTEs but I do vividly remember those horrible giant FM devices, that looked like body aids.(wore an FM device from the time I was in EI preschool which would be about '82 to 4th grade in '89 when I told my parents that I absolutly positively would NOT use it ANYMORE!) I felt like a robot wearing the FM device. OTOH, I sometimes miss wearing the little harness...dunno why...maybe I'm a latent S&M freak or something. I cannot believe how tiny the new ones are! I have one to use for my college classes, but it usually sits in my dorm room collecting dust.
Freaky...I thought you were HOH (mild-moderate loss) growing up? Or did you have one of those profound-severe losses where there's actually a lot of benifit from hearing aids? Or were you severely HOH?
I know in some parts of Europe they still have body aids for little kids. I saw a site that had the body aids in all different colors!
I still have my very first hearing aid from when I was three. I only have a moderate ly severe loss (5 dB away from being "legally" deaf) but my old aid from back then is HUGE...my current one is so tiny and dinky, it's almost as bad as an ITE!!!
 
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OMFG...another 'unwanted' memory...:lol: Well, I do remember wearing those horrid body hearing aid cases! I have one funny story that my mother has..I don't remember as I was only like almost 2 years old...before my sister was born in 1972.
One day, my mum and I had gone for a walk through the local park in Santa Rosa -- Jillard Park...remember that park, Java? Anyway, a bloke came walking on the same path as us and he stopped us asking a question.
Guess what the question was?????????????

'What are the baseball scores? Can she tell us?'

:rofl: That poor guy thought I was listening to a RADIO!!! :roll:
 
YESS!!! I first wore the body hearing aid with Y cord in 1972. The shape was small like umm, cigarette box type, you know. I wore it until I got my first bte in the early 1980s. My two pairs of bte hearing aids did not function well. My 1972 body hearing aid is still working and functioning well!! Amazing!! I perserved my body hearing aid and two pairs of fucking up hearing aids. LOL
 
That poor guy thought I was listening to a RADIO!!!
BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Actually some hearing aids can pick up radio signals via the crystal radio effect. One of my best friends can pick up radio stations with her hearing aids!
 
oh boy!

maybe i'm more older than u thought!...
I was worn a horn.. i have to pick up a horn and put in my ear and listen to what people say..

i believe that's the first "so-called hearing aid"
 
LOL Freakychicky! Yeah I certainly remember those types of hearing aids - ICK! Though never owned one, but I've seen some on my friends who actually wore them and they look pathetic with white straps trapping over their chest. It's like wearing a bra to hold da third bewby! The ones with jeans strappers looked even better than the white one because it's less noticable LOL

When I was at the school for the deaf everyone including myself had to remove our BTE hearing aids and wear a large phonic box (got a name??) in front of our chest with a "Y" cord going up to our ears with those hard n' nasty hear molds... Ohh headache!!! Had to turn it down very low because the teacher was screaming at the mike "TESTING! ONE! TWO! THREE! BA BA BA! ONE! TWO! THREE! BA! BA! BA!" Sheeshus crikey shut that pharkin' thing off!!! As you can tell this isn't a fond memory of mine. :mrgreen:
 
Oh my God ! What is the fuck to bring me memory about my damn old hearing aid...

I wore 1960's really big metal, weigh about 20 lbs. Strab around my shoulder and back. I was extremely not comfortable to listen to old lady bitch teacher. She always yelled at me because I spoke like a monkey. She cough and slit at my face because I do not speak that well.

It hurt my ear drum. I had to turn my hearing aid off every after lunch. I do not want to hear her gross cough. She smoked two package of cigerettes. One day, I can't speak Plege to the Flag. She slapped my face and pulled my hair. Put me in the corner for one hour. I was crying. I came home and told my mother about that teacher abusive me.

She reported to the State of Rhode Island Board of Education. They can't fire that teacher because that school was considering oral establisment. The State of R.I. impressed how much we spoke excellent. That is really bull shit!

Nowdays, those deaf people from my classmate, they can't speak that well. The job described said, hiring the teacher who consider to familiar with training speech therpist instead of use sign language in 1960's.

We just found out very old job describe at the State. Rhode Island Association for the Deaf boycot against the State. Now, they hire more Deaf teachers to emphasize ASL to the Deaf children.

I amazed how brilliant those Deaf children nowadays at age 4 !! Not like my time in 1960's to 1970's.

I remember, put my hearing aid (what call??) big metal box in my bra. I feel that I had three boobs. Jeeze !
 
wear a large phonic box (got a name??) in front of our chest with a "Y" cord going up to our ears with those hard n' nasty hear molds.
Katzie, I think those were Phonic-Ears...I remember one of my old elementary school teachers used to do the "Testing, testing..one two three" thing with me when I used my FM device/auditory trainer. I don't remember the FM device having hard earmolds...but I do remember they had earmolds of their own...now they hook right on to the hearing aid itself!
I remember my auditory trainer had these nylon straps...gave up wearing it before I bloomed thank gawd!
 
@___@;;; Uh, I might be thinking of the same thing you were describing, .... this little brown (brown is the only color I have seen in my lifetime, so i never heard anything of a GOLD box) electronic box with y-shaped cords goes to my ear...plugs-thingy with straps (like a sports bra, really...) that goes around my shoulders and back... then... yes I did use it but i am not old like many of you... (sorry guys!)... i used this in the late 80's and early 90's in my public elementary.

Annoying little things... painful when I would sign with my classmates and my hands would accidently pull off the cords and plugs out of my ears (OUCHIE!) >___< finally the teacher let us to choose to NOT wear the .. box-thing in 4th grade. Before that, they forced us to wear it when we were very young but as we got older, they weaned off and only required us to wear it whenever we visited our speech therapy teacher.

But it did help us connecting with all other deaf kids by learning kindness- we all always helped eachother putting on because the box was in the front and our little puny arms couldn't reach to our back to hook in the straps. ;-) ;-)
 
deafdyke said:
Freaky...I thought you were HOH (mild-moderate loss) growing up? Or did you have one of those profound-severe losses where there's actually a lot of benifit from hearing aids? Or were you severely HOH?

deafdyke, I was born HoH (mild-moderate loss) and didn't really need my hearing aids only for the phone. I started losing a lot of my hearing when I was 16 years old and it became severe-profound. I still benefit from my hearing aid a lot as I can hear with it.
 
OMFG!!! i REMMY those body aids -- gosh i HATED them!!!!!!

dang Nancy *kicking her ass* u had to REMIND us qq hahahah :slap: hahah

*feeling VERY old*
 
So if you only had a mild-moderate loss growing up, then how come you wore a body aid? Was the national health system really THAT out of date, that they had body aids for hoh kids?
gnarlydorkette...I think you may have had a FM device like me. Although actually, I've heard that they still have body aids for kids...I was looking in a catalog and they had body aids. (this was an American catalog)
 
Actually, when I was in elementary school and this was in the year of the 80's, those body aids and the mirocphone were still in use. Those were kind of cool becasue my friends and I were pretending those were mike and go around the school interviewing people.
 
WaterRats13 said:
OMFG...another 'unwanted' memory...:lol: Well, I do remember wearing those horrid body hearing aid cases! I have one funny story that my mother has..I don't remember as I was only like almost 2 years old...before my sister was born in 1972.
One day, my mum and I had gone for a walk through the local park in Santa Rosa -- Jillard Park...remember that park, Java? Anyway, a bloke came walking on the same path as us and he stopped us asking a question.
Guess what the question was?????????????

'What are the baseball scores? Can she tell us?'

:rofl: That poor guy thought I was listening to a RADIO!!! :roll:


OMG...LoL...You got me laughing so hard!!! :rofl:

Anyways I remember the body aid that I had to wear in school.. I didnt like it and it wasn't very comfortable. I was so happy when I don't have to require wearing them anymore. I was so thrilled that I would get to wear the BTE hearing aid and I still wear one today! :)
 
Ha Ha.. That excellent memories about this... "Old Fashioned hearing aid".

I used to be turned it off the volume on hearing aid "just front of my chest" Somehow Teacher tries call me several times.. somehow Teacher toward me and asked "Can you hear me"?? I *nodded* yes.. Why? Teacher said.. Nice try, you didn't turn hearing aid on. I looked down my hearing aid.. I turned into RED FACE. Ha Ha...
Teacher decide took my hearing aid off and put it back. Where I cannot reach volume turn off.. I'm STUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.. (groan).. Hate listing Teacher's voice.. really ugly sounds..

Pretty funny ones ever I had great memories.. LOL
 
Katzie said:
LOL Freakychicky! Yeah I certainly remember those types of hearing aids - ICK! Though never owned one, but I've seen some on my friends who actually wore them and they look pathetic with white straps trapping over their chest. It's like wearing a bra to hold da third bewby! The ones with jeans strappers looked even better than the white one because it's less noticable LOL

When I was at the school for the deaf everyone including myself had to remove our BTE hearing aids and wear a large phonic box (got a name??) in front of our chest with a "Y" cord going up to our ears with those hard n' nasty hear molds... Ohh headache!!! Had to turn it down very low because the teacher was screaming at the mike "TESTING! ONE! TWO! THREE! BA BA BA! ONE! TWO! THREE! BA! BA! BA!" Sheeshus crikey shut that pharkin' thing off!!! As you can tell this isn't a fond memory of mine. :mrgreen:
Oh ha ha.. simlair like this.. extactly same thing my old teacher (Oral School) not allowed sign langagues..
When I was in oral school from 1973 til 1979.. Moved to Junior High school from 1979 to 1986 which it's ASL School perfect for me communcation better than oral school (groan)..
 
I used to wear FM system with a cream box with y cords to attach with earmolds, when I was young. but then when I was in Grade 6,7,8 I had to wear brown box with different cord that attaches to my hearing aid. It wasnt too comfortable at all. I was forced to wear those even in the gym to play with the other classmates.. My deaf class teacher which was hearing .. she believed that I would hear lots of things if I wear those at all times. (UGH!) I came back to that school a while ago with my lifetime friend who is also deaf, we came to that school and was shocked to see the very same teacher treating the other kids like we were treated and even worse, that teacher convienced all parents to put the children in Cochler Implants. So, I still have those old fashioned hearing aid FM systems and still didnt know what to do about those stuff.
 
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