F. C. Rein & Son — London's "Paradise for the Deaf" — manufacturer of the hearing aids (c.1835–1963)

F. C. Rein & Son

F. C. Rein & Son — London's "Paradise for the Deaf" (c.1835–1963)

Among the handful of firms that shaped the history of hearing aids, none had a longer or more distinctive presence than F. C. Rein & Son of London. For over a century, from a shop on the Strand, the company produced some of the finest acoustic instruments available anywhere in the world — ear trumpets, speaking tubes, acoustic chairs, and devices of remarkable ingenuity — and left behind a legacy that reaches into the earliest chapters of audiology as a discipline.

The firm's founder, Frederick Charles Rein, was born in Leipzig, Saxony, around 1812–13, the son of a merchant. At some point around 1834–1835 he moved to England, where he set up as an instrument maker. Thus, Frederick C. Rein established his firm after 1834–1835, not "no later than 1800," as some sources indicate, probably quoting Prof. Kenneth W. Berger [Berger was the director of audiology at Kent State University for 20 years and founded the Hearing Aid Museum, which probably has the world's largest collection of these devices, with over 3,000. In the preface to his classic book, he wrote: "The oldest manufacturing firm whose primary work was with hearing aids was established by Frederick C. Rein." He began making non-electric hearing aids in London no later than 1800" (Kenneth W. Berger, The Hearing Aid: Its Operation and Development, 1970, p. 7)].

The early years of the young Saxon in London remain somewhat obscure, but by 1841 he was established already at 340 Strand, and his 1843 advertisement describes him as “INVENTER [sic] and MAKER of the NEW ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS to H.R.H. the DUKE of SUSSEX, 340, STRAND, (nearly opposite Somerset House)”. The Duke of Sussex was Queen Victoria's uncle — a notable royal endorsement early in the firm's life. By 1851, Rein was both an exhibitor and a medallist at the Great Exhibition. The Crystal Palace prize confirmed his reputation not only as a craftsman but as an innovator, and the business grew steadily through the mid-Victorian decades. By the 1880s, the shop was being described in the press as a "Paradise for the Deaf."

The Hearing Aids

Rein's core product was the ear trumpet — a parabolic acoustic device that concentrates sound and directs it toward the eardrum. As a type of parabolic reflector, the ear trumpet projects sound energy onto a focal point through refraction and reflection, making it an effective hearing aid while remaining relatively compact. Rein produced these in a wide range of forms: large bell-mouthed trumpets for severe hearing loss ('London Dome'), compact collapsible versions that could be slipped into a pocket, and finely engraved presentation instruments in nickel silver, silver plate, and other metals.

Beyond the trumpet, the firm's catalogue was remarkably broad. Rein pioneered Acoustic Headbands — devices artfully concealed within hair or headgear — and his Aurolese Phones were headbands in various shapes incorporating sound collectors near the ear. Hearing aids were also integrated into furniture: they were hidden in couches, clothing, and accessories, a drive toward invisibility that was often more about concealing disability from the public than about helping the individual cope.

Among the firm's most spectacular creations was an acoustic chair — a piece of furniture engineered to gather and transmit sound to a seated listener through hidden tubes built into the armrests. Max Goldstein's 1933 book Problems of the Deaf includes a picture of Rein's acoustic chair, dated to around 1830, likely made as a showpiece. A widespread legend holds that a similar Acoustic Throne was commissioned by King João VI of Portugal, who reportedly suffered from hearing loss — but careful historical research has failed to find any contemporary evidence that the king was deaf, and the claim appears to originate from a single secondary source of uncertain reliability.

Rein's work was recognised by leading otologists of the day. Joseph Toynbee, writing in 'The Diseases of the Ear' (1868), described Rein's small cornets connected by a spring over the head as 'the most useful of this class of instruments,' while William Wilde praised Rein in 1853 as someone who had 'given much attention to the subject, and made many improvements therein.'

Rein also installed acoustic systems in ecclesiastical architecture: part of a Rein pulpit speaking system survives to this day in the Victorian church of St. John the Baptist in Enderby. In 1864, he applied for a patent for an "apparatus for excluding sound from the ear," which was issued in 1865. Also, he reported in The Gazette: "Frederick Charles Rein, of the Strand, in the county of Middlesex, Manufacturer of Acoustic Instruments, for an invention of “improved means of conveying sound from preachers or lecturers to the congregation or audience.” — Dated 22nd January, 1867."

Rein continued his business until his death on 1 March 1896 (by other sources: 6th of March 1896 — Frederick Charles Rein was buried at the Highgate Cemetery West, Square 41, Grave 17102, Memorial ID 285542767), from diabetes, senile decay, and exhaustion, employing over the years a brother-in-law, Michael Payne, and later a nephew, Cornelius Payne. His son, The third Frederick Charles, worked alongside him but had a troubled life. Newspaper records reveal public incidents of drunkenness and worse, and he died on 20 April 1900 in Wendover, of chronic alcoholism complicated by influenza and bronchitis, leaving his wife and daughter in difficult circumstances.

Following Frederick senior's death, his wife likely sold the business to the optician who worked in the adjacent shop, Charles Kahn. Kahn kept the trading name of F. C. Rein and Son, and his son Leslie Victor Kahn eventually adopted the surname Rein himself. Under Leslie Kahn-Rein, the firm adapted to new technology: he wrote to Wireless World in 1932 appealing for what we would now call professional audiologists, stating that he had ten years of experience working with audiometers and had invented two of them. The firm moved with the times, bridging the era of purely acoustic instruments and the age of electronics.

Leslie Kahn-Rein died in 1956; then in 1963, the business was reportedly taken over by Amplivox, according to various publications. Thus, the company 'F. C. Rein and Son' ended its ear trumpet manufacturing activity in 1963, making it both the first and last company of its kind—a span of well over a century in the service of the hard of hearing.