Who Invented The First Hearing Aid

Corporate rate not such a taxing problem for France

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC

ANALYSIS:  Ireland’s defence of its tax rate may play well at home, but it is not arguing the case well with its French partners

AS AN insight into the strange game of diplomatic charades being played out over the fate of Ireland’s corporate tax rate, the signals from Dublin, Paris and Berlin over the past week were worth a close reading.

In the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced that Ireland was now trimming its goal for a reduced interest rate on its bailout loans. Presumably referring to France’s insistence that a lower interest rate be contingent on Ireland raising its corporate tax rate, he lamented that it was “unfair” for some countries to impose their own conditions and that the interest rate cut was being “allowed to drag because of national issues”.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan struck a similar note of pessimism, suggesting “too much is being made of” the reduction anyway.

Considering the Government’s aggressive stance on the rate until then, the defeatism was a striking shift in tone. All the more so since the impression from Paris and Berlin in recent days has been that a deal is still possible.

At the Élysée Palace, government spokesman François Baroin said that while France “eventually” wanted to see harmonisation of taxes in the EU, it was willing to take into account the “singular situation” of countries such as Ireland. In Berlin, a government spokesman said of the noises from Ireland: “People are barking at something that isn’t there.”

That the protagonists in the interest rate debate still appear to be speaking at cross purposes is a measure of the impasse.

Since the Government took office in March, serious efforts have been made to press the Irish case on corporate tax. Background lobbying has taken place, influential French journalists have been briefed and recent ministerial visits to Paris have been used to make Ireland’s case to senior French ministers known to have President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ear.

But neither Paris nor Dublin have played a flawless strategic game. While adopting an aggressive posture against Sarkozy’s supposed belligerence – exemplified by Dublin’s enthusiastic briefing about the row between Kenny and Sarkozy in Brussels in March – plays well to a domestic audience, it’s quite a risky strategy for a small, weak country to adopt against one of the most powerful men in Europe.

An Audiological thought...: Who invented the hearing aid?

The first hearing aids were in the form of hand-held horns and trumpets designed to direct sound into the ear. These were most commonly made of wood or metal. Some people theorize that primitive ear trumpets made from hollowed out horns of animals were used even in prehistoric times. Hand-held horns only amplified sound about fifteen decibels, but this was helpful for mild hearing loss, especially hearing loss associated with aging. In 1836, Alphonsus William Webster was given the first British hearing aid patent was for a curved earpiece worn on the ear. In 1880, R. G. Rhodes patented a hearing device that consisted of a piece of cardboard or thin, hard rubber that is placed against the teeth to assist in the conduction of sound to the auditory nerve. The device resembled a fan with cords for the user to control speed which affected the sound. But, most considerations for inventor of the hearing aid do not count non-electric hearing devices. According to US patents, Francis D. Clarke and M. G. Foster were the first to get a patent for an electric hearing aid. Their invention was patented in 1880 and was called a Device for Aiding the Deaf to Hear. This electric hearing aid amplified sound against the skull to transfer the vibrations to the inner ear.

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