"The Confessionaire" Confessional Hearing Aid
"The Confessionaire" confessional hearing aid was an assistive listening device used in the
confessional so hard of hearing people could hear the priest. It was
produced by the Audio Equipment Co. Inc. of Great Neck, New York
probably somewhere around 1955 to 1960.
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
 
|
| |
|
|
View of the back of "The Confessionaire". "The
Confessionaire" had no on-off switch, so it was always on whenever it
was plugged into a standard 117 volt A/C wall socket.
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
The lighted instruction panel of "The Confessionaire".
Hanging up the receiver didn't do anything electronically like hanging
up a phone does. It was just "neater". |
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
View of "The Confessionaire's" handheld receiver. |
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
View of the back of "The Confessionaire's" receiver.
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
Front view of "The Confessionaire's" receiver. The foam ear
pad is missing.
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
The microphone faces to the back of "The Confessionaire" (priest's
view). |
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
"The Confessionaire" with the front panel taken off showing the insides.
The wing nut (top center) holds the heat shield in place that protects
the vacuum tubes. To replace any tubes, you needed to remove the front
cover, then the heat shield. |
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
The electronics of "The Confessionaire". At the top left and right are
small lamp bulbs (No. 34s) to illuminate the instruction screen. Between
them are the three tubes of the amplifier. They are the 12AU6 (left),
35C5 (center) and 35W4 (right). |
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
The service instructions of the "The Confessionaire". The
volume control, adjusted by screwdriver, is at the top center. This was
accessed by pulling out the plug in the case (shown in the center of the
top picture.
Note that there were two sets of screws at the bottom so two
different earphones could be used at the same time.
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
|
Nameplate on the front of "The Confessionaire".
|
 |
Click picture for larger view |
| |
|
(If a larger picture doesn't appear, you may have to
turn your pop-up blocker off)
|
|
|
