Acousticon Super Radion

The Acousticon Super Radion was a radio tuner that was designed to plug into several Acousticon hearing aids including the A-120, A-130 and A-145 (all made in 1948) and the A-160 (1949). This turned these hearing aids into 5 tube personal AM radios, 3 tubes in the hearing aids themselves, and 2 tubes in the Super Radion.

It consisted of a radio tuner with a vacuum tube detector and a vacuum tube pre-amplifier.

The Super Radion succeeded the "Radion" of the previous year (1947) which wasn't quite as good since it was just a simple tuner without tubes.
 

The Super Radion (right) is shown connected to an Acousticon A-120 hearing aid (left). The Super Radion had two pins that plugged into the right side of the hearing aid, and a short connecting cord that plugged into the left side of the hearing aid (black cord and plug on left).

Coming on the market in 1948, the Super Radion could be considered one of the first "Walkman" radios.

Note that some hearing aids had the jacks in the side for connecting to the Super Radion, but the jacks were not always hooked up. Possibly only hearing aids ordered for use with the Super Radion had the necessary internal circuitry. For example, we have two A-120s in the museum—one with the internal connections and one without.

This is the diagram showing how to hook the Super Radion to the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid.

Instructions for using the Super Radion with the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid (page 1 of 2).

Instructions for using the Super Radion with the Acousticon A-120 hearing aid (page 2 of 2).