1932: Model B10 "Executive"
The "Executive" is a semi-portable, vacuum tube hearing aid. It was much smaller and less expensive than fully grounded systems, but had comparable sound quality.
It weighed ~20 pounds and was small enough to easily be carried from building to building.​
Vacuum Tubes
Vacuum tubes offer higher audio quality when compared to carbon speakers. This audio quality is why static and semi-portable systems remained relevant in the 1930s. Vacuum tubes at this time were large, fragile, and required large amounts of power.
Although fully portable carbon hearing aids, like the Radioear B6, existed, many people with more intense hearing impairments still needed static or semi-portable hearing aids.
As technology improved, vacuum tubes would get smaller and smaller. For a brief period of time, fully portable vacuum tube hearing aids existed. But the invention of the transistor would lead to them being quickly phased out in favor of fully electric hearing aids.
Vacuum Tubes
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CK512AX_subminiature_pentode.jpg. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.Ser Amantio, Nicolao. Pair of Vintage Sparton Type C-401 Triode Globe Vacuum Tubes, Same Tube Also Branded as Cardon, Made in USA, circa 1920s, 14 Aug. 2017.
The Executive, with its lid open, take note of the vacuum tube and large battery compartment
“B-10 – 1150, 1932". Radioear Corporation Records, 1900-1990, AIS.2023.21, Archives of Industrial Society, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System, Box 14, Item 1.
The Executive was advertised to middle-to-upper-class people who worked in an office or similar setting. Users could set it on their desk with the microphone facing the person to whom they were speaking.
Priced at $166.40 in 1935 or $3,780 in 2025, the Executive was less expensive compared to modern prescriptive hearing aids that tend to cost between $2,000-$7,000.
“B-10 – 1150, 1932". Radioear Corporation Records, 1900-1990, AIS.2023.21, Archives of Industrial Society, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System, Box 14, Item 1.
Kaple, Dan. Scanning consultation at Thomas Blvd. 28 November 2025.
Sources
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​Bauman, Neil, and Hugh Hetherington. “Vacuum Tube Hearing Aids—General Information” The Hearing Aid Museum, https://hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/General_Info/GenInfoVacuumTube/info/generalinfo-vacuumtube.htm 2006-2019.
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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/.
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“Radioear Price Lists, Parts and Accessory Catalogs, and Revisions, December 1935 - June 1, 1949.” Radioear Corporation Records, 1900-1990, AIS.2023.21, Archives of Industrial Society, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System, Box 41, Folder 4d.