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Something worth hearing

The beginning of the hearing aids from Siemens

4min
Ingo Zenger
Published on April 1, 2017
<p><strong>The history of hearing aids at Siemens started in Berlin in the summer of 1911: Carl Kloenne, a director at Deutsche Bank, was hard of hearing. He wanted an electric hearing aid. A friend, Professor August Raps, was the head of the Wernerwerk plant in Berlin’s Siemensstadt district, where telephones were being produced at the time. Raps tasked his assistant, Louis Weber, with producing a device to help with Kloenne’s severe hearing loss. </strong></p>
Siemens-Telefon mit Hufeisenmagnet 1877_16x9

Siemens-Telefon mit Hufeisenmagnet aus dem Jahr 1877
Quelle: Siemens Historical Institute

Louis Weber

Louis Weber, developer of the first Siemens hearing aid 

Phonophor mit doppeltem Schallfänger

Phonophor with double microphone, 1913

<p>The unit was launched on the market in late 1913, in several versions. In one configuration, a special ladies’ version, the microphone and battery were held in a purse. Another version took the form of a folding camera, a popular accessory at the time, complete with a discreet leather carrying strap. Hearing loss sufferers were also able to choose from one, two, or even four microphones right from the start, for a configuration accommodating their individual level of hearing loss.</p>
Phonophor-Modell für Damen ca. 1914
Frau mit haselnussförmigem Hörer für Telefonistinnen, ca. 1920

A woman with a hazelnut-shaped earphone (ca. 1920) 

Ingo Zenger
Ingo Zenger
By Ingo Zenger

Technology journalist and author at the Siemens Healthineers Historical Institute