Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" In-the-Ear Transistor Hearing Aid These Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" in-the-ear (ITE) transistor hearing aids were manufactured by Magnatone Hearing Aid Corp. of Casselberry, FL in early 1997. (This series was still being made in 1999 and 2003.) These are full-shell in-the-ear aids containing non-removable rechargeable batteries. Each aid weighed 0.1 oz (3 g) each. |  | Click picture for larger view | | |   | | | |
| Close-up view of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid showing the back of the aid for the right ear. At the center is the rotary on-off switch/volume control. Above it is the tone control. It can only be adjusted by a tiny screwdriver. To the left is the round microphone port. At the very top is the vent hole.
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| Close-up view of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid showing the back of the aid for the left ear. At the center is the rotary on-off/volume control. Above it is the tone control. It can only be adjusted by a tiny screwdriver. At the bottom is the round microphone port. Read this short booklet on general information about wearing and caring for Magnatone hearing aids (in pdf).
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| Another view of the back of the left Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid showing the vent hole that was almost invisible in the above picture. The warranty was for 1 year. See "Warranty Information" (in pdf).
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| Close-up view of the front of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid for the right ear showing the make (Magnatone) and below it the serial number (97LB49086). This number is comprised of the year (97 standing for 1997), the model (LB) and serial number (49086).
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Close-up view of the front of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid for the left ear showing the make (Magnatone) and below it the serial number (97LB49087). Note that these two aids are a matched pair—having sequential serial numbers. By default, the right aid has the lower number, and the left aid is one number higher.
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| View of the front of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aids showing the blue (for left ear) and red (for right ear) wax guards to help prevent wax clogging the sound tube. The vent holes are to the left of the blue wax guard and to the right of the red wax guard. Read about the Rid Wax Barrier System by Magnatone (pdf).
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View of the Magnatone recharging case. To recharge the aids, you simply put them in their "beds" and pressed the switch. They were charged wirelessly. This was one of the few aids that used inductive coupling for recharging the batteries.
This flyer tells a bit about the Liberty Rechargeable system (in pdf).
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View of the underside of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid recharger showing the electronic components. Notice the two large induction coils for recharging the hearing aid batteries. Each hearing aid would have a corresponding induction coil (much smaller of course) that was hooked up to the battery.
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| Close-up of the charging light (round black "thing") and part of the left recharging coil of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid recharger. Notice the tiny coil (wrapped in cream-colored tape) tucked on the inside of the large coil. This provided an ingenious way of using inductive coupling to turn on the recharging light whenever the coil was activated.
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| View of the underside of printed circuit board of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid recharger showing the model (DE CHGR) (center) and date of design (6/85) (left). It's interesting that this board was designed back in 1985, but was not used on aids back then. (See Magnatone Model CA hearing aid for the charger design actually used in 1985.)
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| Close-up view of bottom right corner of the underside of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid recharger showing the date it was made/inspected, namely January 15, 1997 (1-15-97).
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| View of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aids in their original recharging case. Turning on the switch was all that was needed to recharge the aids while you slept.
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| Close-up of the bottom of the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aid recharger case showing the manufacturer's label showing the location of Magnatone (Casselberry, FL). This recharger was model CC, and was the 66th one made in 1997 according to the serial number. Below the address it reads, "For service refer to qualified personnel. No user serviceable parts inside. Warranty void if label is removed." To open the recharging compartment, you had to remove the label or at least poke holes in it to access the two screws that hold it together. Thus, if the label was damaged, they knew right away that someone had poked around in the electronics, and thus would not fix it under warranty.
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| Outside top view of the maroon plastic recharging case for the Magnatone Model LB "Liberty" ITE hearing aids. The cord to plug the recharger into the wall is folded up at the back. Just under the name "Magnatone" are the words "Quality Hearing Instruments".
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