40 Examples Of Technology And Innovation Applied To The Ones Who Really Need It

One of the most iconic accessibility inventions is the Braille Alphabet. However, few know that it wasn't Louis Braille who actually came up with it. Rather, it was a French soldier who tasked with inventing a secret code for Napoleon, Charles Barbier, who created the raised and coded alphabet. In 1821, Barbier went to the school for blind children attended by Braille and brought his twelve-dot code with him. It was too difficult for soldiers in Napoleon’s army to use, but young Braille realized that it might work for blind children. He simplified Barbier’s code, reducing it to six dots, and invented one of the most popular reading systems we have today. 

Hearing devices, however, are a lot older. The first ones were created in the 1500s. They were made of wood and shaped like the human ear, facilitating simple amplification. The first official patent for a hearing aid invention was issued in Britain in 1836 to Alphonsus William Webster for a curved earpiece worn on the ear.

The first U.S. patent for an electric hearing aid belongs to Francis D. Clarke and M. G. Foster. In 1880, they created a device that amplified sound against the skull to transfer the vibrations to the inner ear.

Meanwhile, hoping to help deaf children hear, Alexander Graham Bell was experimenting with conducting sound through electrical devices and ultimately invented the telephone. This paved the way for others. In 1898, for example, the Dictagraph company developed a hearing aid based on telephone design using a microphone to capture sound. Miller Reese Hutchinson, who was associated with Edison laboratories, is credited with inventing the first electrified hearing aid in 1901.