Miracle-Ear
{{Infobox company
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| logo = File:Miracle-Ear_UploadUploadtext-en-nonfree-logo.jpg
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| industry = Hearing aids, Health Care, Retail
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| predecessor = {{ubl|Dahlberg Electronics|Dahlberg, Inc.}}
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| 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
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| owner = Amplifon S.p.A.
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| homepage = {{URL|Miracle-Ear.com}}
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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, the worldwide leader in hearing care and hearing aid retail based in Milan, Italy.[https://corporate.amplifon.com/en/our-identity/our-history Amplifon – History] Amplifon.com. Miracle-Ear's U.S. headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.{{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 }} As of 2023 it has more than 1,500 locations in the United States, and it is the best-known hearing aid brand in the U.S.
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.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.{{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}} Prior to manufacturing hearing aids, Dahlberg's company produced pillow radios for hospitals and motels.[http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/dahlberg_49_6_pillow_speaker.html 49-6 Pillow Speaker]. RadioMuseum.org.
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.[http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Transistor%20(Body)/Dahlberg/info/dahlbergd5.htm Dahlberg D-5 Hearing Aid]. HearingAidMuseum.com. 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.[http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/did/timeline/ Timeline of Hearing Devices and Early Deaf Education]. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.[http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/did/20thcent/part6.htm Concealed Hearing Devices of the 20th Century]. Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine. 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,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. 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.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.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. 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.[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.
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. Miracle-Ear began franchising in 1984.[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. Dahlberg sold the company to Bausch & Lomb in 1993.[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. 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.