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Miracle-Ear

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Miracle-Ear
IndustryHearing aids, Health Care, Retail
Predecessor
  • Dahlberg Electronics
  • Dahlberg, Inc.
Founded1948; 76 years ago (1948)
FounderKenneth Dahlberg
HeadquartersMinneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Number of locations1,500+
Area servedUnited States
Key peopleEmiliano Di Vincenzo, Executive Vice President - Amplifon Americas
OwnerAmplifon S.p.A.
Websitemiracle-ear.com

Miracle-Ear, Inc. is a hearing aid and hearing care company consisting of a network of franchised and corporately owned retail locations. The company is a subsidiary of Amplifon, the worldwide leader in hearing care and hearing aid retail based in Milan, Italy. Miracle-Ear's U.S. headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023 it has more than 1,500 locations in the United States, and it is the best-known hearing aid brand in the U.S.

History

The origin of Miracle-Ear

Miracle-Ear, Inc. began as a hearing aid manufactured by Dahlberg Electronics, an electronics company founded in 1948. Highly decorated WWII veteran, Kenneth Dahlberg started Dahlberg Electronics after he left a position as assistant to the president of Telex Communications, another manufacturer of hearing aids. Prior to manufacturing hearing aids, Dahlberg's company produced pillow radios for hospitals and motels.

In the early 1950s, Dahlberg Electronics began producing hearing aids that utilized the newly invented transistor technology – beginning with "hybrid" hearing aids that used transistors and vacuum tubes, and then releasing an all-transistor model in 1953. In 1955, they introduced the first so-called "in-the-ear" hearing aid, the D-10 Magic Ear – which concealed all electronic components in a shell snapped onto an earmold and weighed 1/2 ounce, including battery, three-transistor amplifier, microphone, and receiver. Other innovations included the D-14 "Solar Ear" eyeglasses hearing aid, which used a solar cell for power.

Further product innovations

In 1962, the Miracle-Ear IV was the first hearing aid that used integrated circuitry, and in 1971, the company introduced the Dahlberg SHARP circuit, an ultra-low power circuit utilizing in-house hybrid production. In 1988, the company debuted the Miracle-Ear Dolphin, the first programmable hearing aid on the market. Following university testing in 1997, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved claims on Miracle-Ear's Sharp Plus circuitry that the Miracle-Ear devices improved hearing in the presence of background noise.

Corporate history

Kenneth Dahlberg briefly sold his company to Motorola in 1959 but bought it back only 5 years later in 1964 when Motorola divested itself of consumer products. Miracle-Ear began franchising in 1984. Dahlberg sold the company to Bausch & Lomb in 1993. In 1999, Amplifon acquired Dahlberg, Inc. from Bausch & Lomb, and that year Dahlberg, Inc. and its subsidiary Miracle-Ear, Inc. merged into Miracle-Ear, Inc.

References

  1. Amplifon – History Amplifon.com.
  2. ^ "Maker of Miracle-Ear brand moving to downtown Minneapolis". Star Tribune. 9 April 2018.
  3. Hamel, Mike. The Entrepreneur's Creed: The Principles & Passions of 20 Successful Entrepreneurs. Armour Publishing, 2001. pp. 192–201.
  4. ^ Staff, Hearing Review (2011-10-06). "Obituary: Kenneth Dahlberg, Founder of Miracle Ear". The Hearing Review. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  5. 49-6 Pillow Speaker. RadioMuseum.org.
  6. Dahlberg D-5 Hearing Aid. HearingAidMuseum.com.
  7. Timeline of Hearing Devices and Early Deaf Education. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.
  8. Concealed Hearing Devices of the 20th Century. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.
  9. Tye-Murray, Nancy. Foundations of Aural Rehabilitation: Children, Adults, and Their Family Members. Cengage Learning, 2008. p. 89.
  10. Roland-Mieszkowski, Marek. "Digital Hearing Aids – the Way of the Future". Proceedings from Acoustic Week in Canada 1991, CAA Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, October 1991.
  11. Chasin, Marshall. "Interview with Bill Cole, Hearing Aid Pioneer". AudiologyOnline.com. June 11, 2007.
  12. Hearing Loss: The Journal of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Volume 17. Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc., 1997. p. 6.
  13. Miracle-Ear Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine. Franchise Research Institute.
  14. "Bausch & Lomb Buys Miracle Ear". The Buffalo News. February 3, 1993.
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