- 1972: The first integrated
circuit made for hearing instruments with compression is developed.
A prototype hearing aid which incorporates special circuitry
"to remove environmental noises from speech" is designed.
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- 1972: Micro Hearing Aid Established.
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- 1980: Integrated circuit technology
is being further developed. Many new circuits which utilize analogue
sound processing are marketed at this time.
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- 1983: Reports are made on
a potentially wearable digital hearing instrument which has been
developed. In the digital hearing aid, the instrument itself
contains digital circuits similar to those in a computer, for
processing sound.
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- 1984: A project between a
university and a hearing aid company results in the first truly
digital body-worn hearing aid.
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- 1987: The digital body-worn
hearing instrument is introduced; however, only three prototypes
are made of this product.
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- 1988: Reports are made on
a completely-in-the-canal instrument.
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- 1988: Many programmable hearing
aids are introduced. Using conventional analogue circuitry, they
can be programmed electronically from a specially designed computer
and software or a user-operated remote control which also can
be used to program the instrument.
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- 1989: Hearing aids are developed
which are especially developed for people who suffer from noise-induced
hearing losses.
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