“Thrice Precious Tube!”1: Negotiating the Visibility and Efficiency of Early Hearing Aids

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, acoustic hearing aids (such as ear trumpets or conversation tubes) became ubiquitous attributes of deaf people from polite society. These prostheses were a visible sign of otherwise invisible deafness. Although some deaf people used hearing aids openly and proudly, and constantly attempted to convince others that using them was nothing to be ashamed of, others wanted to hide these stigmatizing devices. Therefore, they were equally (or even more) concerned with their visibility than with their performance when buying these devices. For this reason, manufacturers tried to design instruments to meet the needs of their customers. This article investigates two design strategies that were used by ear trumpet producers to maneuver between the troubling visibility of these instruments and their performance: the first is hypervisibility—designing hearing aids as luxurious objects of conspicuous consumption; the second is invisibility, which was achieved with miniaturization and camouflage. Both these aesthetic strategies are considered in the context of Victorian technophilia and regimes of the body. As hearing aids became more accessible to the middle class, design patterns spread beyond elite consumption.