-
Hearing Aids and the History of Electronics Miniaturization
- IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
- IEEE Computer Society
- Volume 33, Number 2, April-June 2011
- pp. 24-44
- Article
- Additional Information
Electrical hearing aids were the principal site for component miniaturization and compact assembly before World War II. After the war, hearing aid users became the first consumer market for printed circuits, transistors, and integrated circuits. Due to the stigmatization of hearing loss, users generally demanded small or invisible devices. In addition to being early adopters, deaf and hard of hearing people were often the inventors, retailers, and manufacturers of miniaturized electronics.