Calaid Hearing aid, ¬1955

Historical information

Made by Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth Acoustic laboratories) to address the problem of providing hearing aids to ex-service men with impaired hearing due to war related events. They were issued by the then Repatriation Department a cheaper alternative to imported more expensive but lower quality units.
The were also used for the large number of children who had impaired hearing due to the Rubella epidemic in Australia during WWII.
http://www.acoustics.asn.au/journal/2000/2000_28_3_Upfold_Piesse.pdf

Significance

Issued to Henry Claude Roussac a veteran of both WWI and WWII

Physical description

Steel square case with a white plastic thumb wheel with volume marks on the side and two holes for the insertion of the earpiece plug, front contains a small (10mm x 5mm) microphone covered by a wire grill.There is a small retaining clip on each side to clip the unit into a shirt pocket

Inscriptions & markings

C of A CALAID D11849

References

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