Beltone "Classic" Eyeglass Hearing Aid The Beltone "Classic" eyeglass hearing aid, made by Beltone Electronics Corporation of Chicago, was first produced in 1960. A sub-model of the Classic with HFE (high-frequency emphasis) came out in 1962. The pictures on this page are taken of what we believe to be the HFE sub-model. Each thick temple piece could house a 3-5 transistor hearing aid, receiver and microphone. Thus, these eyeglass hearing aids could be configured for one ear, or configured as a binaural aids to fit both ears. The hearing aid pictured here is housed in the left temple-piece. The thick right temple-piece is a dummy made to look the same as the other side. |  | Click picture for larger view | | |   | | | |
| Each temple piece was about 5¾" long and ½" by ⅜" in width and depth. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| A view of the inside of the temple-piece showing the HFE (high frequency emphasis) switch (left), volume control (center), sound tube, and battery compartment (right). |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| View of the inside of the temple piece showing the battery compartment opened. This hearing aid took a 675 sized battery. Notice the groove with the wire in it connecting the end (left side) housing the battery and the microphone with the rest of the hearing aid (right half of the picture). Also note that the ear mold at the end of the sound tube is missing. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The name plate on the inside of the temple piece showing the name and model "Beltone Classic". The bump on the bottom is where you press to make the battery compartment swing out so you can replace the battery. It also acts as the on/off switch. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The switch on the eyeglass end of the temple piece in the up position. Presumably this is the switch that controls the high frequency emphasis. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The switch on the eyeglass end of the temple piece in the down position. |  | Click picture for larger view | | | |
| The underside of the tip of the temple piece showing the serial number of this Beltone "Classic" hearing aid..
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