An early hearing aid device invented in the late 1800s that consisted of a small bone vibrator that transmitted sound vibrations directly to the skull, allowing some deaf or hard-of-hearing people to perceive sound.
From audio (hear) + -phone (sound, from Greek 'phonos'). The audiphone represented one of the first practical hearing aid devices developed for deaf individuals.
The audiphone, invented in 1881, was a genuine breakthrough—it showed that deaf people could sometimes perceive sound through bone conduction rather than the ear canal, a discovery that led to modern bone conduction hearing aids used today by military personnel and deaf athletes.
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