{{Short description|Hearing aid and hearing care company}} {{Infobox company | name = | logo = File:Miracle-Ear_UploadUploadtext-en-nonfree-logo.jpg | logo_caption = | image = | image_caption = | trading_name = <!-- d/b/a/, doing business as - if different from legal name above --> | native_name = <!-- Company's name in home country language --> | native_name_lang = <!-- Use ISO 639-2 code, e.g. "fr" for French. If there is more than one native name, in different languages, enter those names using {{tl|lang}}, instead. --> | romanized = | former type = | type = | traded_as = | industry = Hearing aids, Health Care, Retail | fate = | predecessor = {{ubl|Dahlberg Electronics|Dahlberg, Inc.}} | successor = | foundation = {{start date and age|1948}} | founder = Kenneth Dahlberg | location_city = Minneapolis, Minnesota | location_country = U.S. | locations = 1,500+ | area_served = United States | key_people = Emiliano Di Vincenzo, Executive Vice President - Amplifon Americas | products = | production = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = <!-- Only used with financial services companies --> | assets = | equity = | owner = Amplifon S.p.A. | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = {{URL|Miracle-Ear.com}} | footnotes = | intl = | bodystyle = }} '''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, retailer in hearing care and hearing aids based in Milan, Italy.<ref>[https://corporate.amplifon.com/en/our-identity/our-history Amplifon – History] ''Amplifon.com''.</ref> Miracle-Ear's U.S. headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<ref name="entrepreneur">{{cite web | url=https://www.startribune.com/maker-of-miracle-ear-brand-moving-to-downtown-minneapolis/479197143/ | title=Maker of Miracle-Ear brand moving to downtown Minneapolis | website=Star Tribune | date=9 April 2018 }}</ref> As of 2023 it has more than 1,500 locations in the United States,<ref name=entrepreneur />.
==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.<ref>Hamel, Mike. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nRpfNE8iIxEC&pg=PA192 ''The Entrepreneur's Creed: The Principles & Passions of 20 Successful Entrepreneurs'']. Armour Publishing, 2001. pp. 192–201.</ref><ref name="stavig">{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Hearing Review |date=2011-10-06 |title=Obituary: Kenneth Dahlberg, Founder of Miracle Ear |url=https://hearingreview.com/practice-building/office-services/dispensing-networks/obituary-kenneth-dahlberg-founder-of-miracle-ear |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=The Hearing Review |language=en-US}}</ref> Prior to manufacturing hearing aids, Dahlberg's company produced pillow radios for hospitals and motels.<ref>[http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/dahlberg_49_6_pillow_speaker.html 49-6 Pillow Speaker]. ''RadioMuseum.org''.</ref>
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.<ref>[http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Transistor%20(Body)/Dahlberg/info/dahlbergd5.htm Dahlberg D-5 Hearing Aid]. ''HearingAidMuseum.com''.</ref> 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.<ref>[http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/did/timeline/ Timeline of Hearing Devices and Early Deaf Education]. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.</ref><ref>[http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/did/20thcent/part6.htm Concealed Hearing Devices of the 20th Century]. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.</ref> 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,<ref>Tye-Murray, Nancy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MYQRISRFI0IC&pg=PA89 ''Foundations of Aural Rehabilitation: Children, Adults, and Their Family Members'']. Cengage Learning, 2008. p. 89.</ref> 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.<ref>Roland-Mieszkowski, Marek. [http://www.digital-recordings.com/publ/pubaids.html "Digital Hearing Aids – the Way of the Future"]. Proceedings from Acoustic Week in Canada 1991, CAA Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, October 1991.</ref><ref>Chasin, Marshall. [http://www.audiologyonline.com/interviews/interview-with-bill-cole-hearing-1493 "Interview with Bill Cole, Hearing Aid Pioneer"]. ''AudiologyOnline.com''. June 11, 2007.</ref> 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1PoiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Sharp+Plus%22+fda ''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.</ref>
== 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.<ref name=stavig /> Miracle-Ear began franchising in 1984.<ref>[http://franchiseresearchinstitute.com/company/miracle-ear/ Miracle-Ear] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221050406/http://franchiseresearchinstitute.com/company/miracle-ear/ |date=2014-02-21 }}. Franchise Research Institute.</ref> Dahlberg sold the company to Bausch & Lomb in 1993.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140611051231/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22491253.html "Bausch & Lomb Buys Miracle Ear"]. ''The Buffalo News''. February 3, 1993.</ref> 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== {{reflist|2}}
Category:Hearing aid manufacturers Category:American companies established in 1948 Category:Health care companies established in 1948 Category:Retail companies established in 1948 Category:Health care companies based in Minnesota Category:Medical technology companies of the United States