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Meta="title=The Next Sound You Hear*sub_title=*keywords=*department=*date=August 2006*issue_date=08/01/2006*description=Jerry Ruzicka and Starkey Laboratories are betting on technology that could make its hearing aids nearly obsolete. What's next? A billion-dollar opportunity to bring the world advanced hearing through wireless gadgets.*meta=*type=slideshow*retire_date=*"
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Resembling a cross between old-school transistor radios (complete with earpiece) and postwar cigarette cases, these hearing aids from the 1950s had a certain charm—and they were certainly more effective than ear trumpets. But they were hardly convenient, and they didn’t work particularly well.
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