Prehistory to 1800s: Ear trumpets, conversation tubes, & auricles

The recorded history of hearing loss goes back centuries, and attempts to correct hearing loss have been in existence since the first person to experience hearing loss. Rudimentary attempts to help one hear include cupping one's hand behind their ear– cupping your hand behind your ear can give you a 12 dB boost in volume. The earliest hearing aids aimed to capture more sound and to provide some directionality towards desired sounds.

Ear Trumpets

The earliest hearing aids were acoustic and shaped like a tapered tube. These instruments collected and funneled sound into the ear canal, serving as a basic amplification device. The earliest ear trumpets were made from natural materials such as hollowed out cow and rams horns. Eventually, they were made from materials like metal and brass.

Ear trumpets were most effective when used close up with the person speaking directly into the opening. They could also be used to listen to sounds from a distance, such as a lecture or concert, but would pick up more background and environmental sounds.

The size ranged from 15 to 26 inches long. They had openings of 5 to 7 inches in diameter.

A picture of an ear trumpet. It is a black and brown tube S-shaped that starts thin and expands down its length.

The first ear trumpets were fairly large devices.

A black and white picture of 2 women smiling while talking, one of them is holdig a ear trumpet up to her ear.

Ethel Anderson listens to a friend using her silver, moonstone-encrusted ear trumpet. (NSW State Library)

Compact Ear Trumpets

Since long ear trumpets were impractical and hard to carry for everyday use due to their large size, inventors shortened them to increase their portability.

Around 1850, inventor Jean Bonnafont folded the tube of the trumpet into four right angles to make a compact ear trumpet. Although this made the trumpet easier to carry, the folds decreased the amplification these ear trumpets produced as compared to straight tube ear trumpets.

A picture of a black ear trumpet on a blue background. This ear trumpet bends in on itself with sharp 90 degee turns to reduce space.

Bonnafont's folded ear trumpet

Concealed Ear Trumpets

Besides miniaturizing ear trumpets, other concealment methods involved hiding larger ear trumpets in other assistive devices, like walking sticks.

Walking Stick Ear Trumpet

The walking stick ear trumpet hid the large earpiece on the top of the walking stick. The user could use it to hear someone by raising the top of the stick (the earpiece) up and positioning the ear tube to the ear they wanted to hear with. When finished talking, they could lower the stick and continue to use it as a walking stick.

This particular hearing aid was made of brass and painted black. It stood 37 inches tall and weighed only 13 oz. The bell was about 2 inches in diameter.

A picture of a ear trumpet that has been built into a cane. Just above where the hand would hold there is the bell and earpiece of a hearing trumpet bult into the cane.

The walking stick ear trumpet

While it was concealed nicely, this device didn't work well due to the poor positioning of the ear tube– it faced the bottom of the ear trumpet. The size of the trumpet was small, so it had almost no amplification power.

A closeup picture of the top of the cane.. an intricate wave pattern is wrought infront of the bell, the earpiece branches out at 90 degree angle left of the bell.

The Ear Tube facing left

Conversation Tubes

Conversation tubes were designed to pick up sounds directly from the speaker’s mouth. The speaker had to put their lips right up to to the bell end of the conversation tube and come close to the person they were speaking with, with the other end of the tube right up against the listener’s ear.

A typical conversation tube was around 42 inches although they ranged in length.

These devices were made in many sizes to accommodate different listening situations. The endpieces were made from materials such as, wood, hard rubber, celluloid, and ivory. The tubes were made of a metal spiral covered with material such as cotton or silk.

A conversation tube

Auricles

Auricles were a special kind of ear trumpet. They were the first hands-free hearing aids, and could be held to one’s head with a headband or a wire ear-hook.

Auricles could be worn on one or both ears. Another advantage was that they could emphasize sounds from the front.

Auricles produced about the same degree of amplification as holding cupped hands behind your ears. Depending on the length and diameter of the tubes, they could give improved responses and amplification levels.

Auricles attached to a headband

Bauman, Neil. “The Hearing Aids of Yesteryear.” Canadian Audiologist, Canadian Audiologist | The Official Publication of the Canadian Academy of Audiology, 22 Aug. 2020, canadianaudiologist.ca/the-hearing-aids-of-yesteryear/.
Pulse, Ieee. “Hearing Aid History: From Ear Trumpets to Digital Technology - IEEE Pulse.” IEEE Pulse, 4 Mar. 2022, www.embs.org/pulse/articles/hearing-aid-history-from-ear-trumpets-to-digital-technology
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. The Hearing Aid Museum, hearingaidmuseum.com/index.htm. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “Ear Trumpets (Ear Horns)—General Information.” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/General_Info/GenInfoNonElect/info/generalinfo-eartrumpets.htm . 2006-2019.
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “"Bugle" or "Bonnafont" Ear Trumpet (Ear Horn)” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Non-Electric/EarTrumpets/Long%20Trumpets/info/bugle.htm. 2006-2019.
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “Walking Stick Ear Trumpet (Ear Horn)” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Non-Electric/EarTrumpets/Long%20Trumpets/info/walkingstick.htm. 2006-2019.
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “Conversation Tubes—General Information” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/General_Info/GenInfoNonElect/info/generalinfo-conversationtubes.htm. 2006-2019.
Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “Auricles—General Information” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/General_Info/GenInfoNonElect/info/generalinfo-auricles.htm. 2006-2019.