There once was a day when better hearing was a challenge and difficult to achieve for the hearing impaired. I remember talking with one of my first prospective clients, Ms. Vivian Perrine, in 1983. I was visiting her at her home when she started to tell me about when she wore her first hearing aid back in the late 1930’s. She told me how she was working for the government at the time and her ability to hear was crucial for her to retain her position. She was very motived to hear, so she wore one of the first three part body worn hearing aids. There was a battery pack, an amplifier and the hearing aid or receiver itself. All three pieces were about the size of a metal prince albert tobacco can. She fondly reflected on how she was bow legged and was; therefore, able to fit the battery pack between her legs strapped to her inner thigh. As my eyes widened she went on tell how the device was hard to manage because the hearing aid was so big and cumbersome. She continued expounding on her story and said “the sound quality was not the best, but I made due and was able to hear and continue on to make a career working for the federal government”. As you can tell Ms. Perrine was quite a character and an independent lady, which may be why she never found time or a desire to get married.
In the early 1950’s with the age of the transistor, Ms. Perrine was fit with a hearing aid that was built into the temple piece of her eyeglasses frames. Later on in the late 60’s to the early 70’s the rage was to adapt the hearing aid to fit behind-the-ear. When I met Ms. Perrine in the early 80’s she was wearing the Beltone Sonata behind-the-ear. I was there that day to fit her with a new hearing aid, which was the Beltone Melody. Ms. Perrine had an in-home-test to tell if the new hearing aid was a keeper. One of her life’s passions was playing and teaching other’s to play the piano. Her music was very important to her quality of life. You see back in the eighties, hearing aids were still largely being sold and distributed to the individual at their home, so as soon as I got her fit with her new hearing aid – and before I could ask her what every good hearing aid fitter would ask the patient back then – “how does it sound” – she got up walked over to her piano and played “Jesus Loves Me.” With that, a big smile came over her face and she said, ”that sounds good.” Ms. Perrine is one of the first ladies I ever fit with a hearing aid, and she made a great impression on a young twenty something year old man. I believe that impression played a role in my life’s decision to make a career of helping the hearing impaired.
So, as Ms. Perrine grew up with the evolution of the hearing aids, so I too have grown up with hearing aids. I have been a hearing aid fitting specialist from 1983 to the present.