Arthur Edwin Stevens

(Arthur) Edwin Stevens CBE (17 October 1905 – 29 January 1995) was a Welsh inventor who designed the world's first wearable electronic hearing aid. He was also a philanthropist, becoming a major benefactor to the Royal Society of Medicine, and to Jesus College, Oxford, at which he had studied between 1927 and 1929.

Life Stevens was born at Panteg, Monmouthshire. He was educated at West Monmouth School, University College, Cardiff (obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1927) and Jesus College, Oxford (obtaining a further bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences in 1929). He started working for the Radio Corporation of America and then as a salesman for a manufacturer of electrical hearing aids. As he considered that the products he was selling were inadequate, he set up his company (Amplivox) to make better hearing aids. He designed the world's first wearable electronic hearing aid: the microphone went on the lapel, the amplifier went in the jacket pocket and the earphone was small enough not to need a headband. He also had a comprehensive collection of aids to hearing, spanning 400 years. Stevens died on 29 January 1995.

Charitable works He stepped down as chairman of Amplivox in 1975 and thereafter devoted himself to philanthropy. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society in 1981. He inaugurated the Princess Alice Hospice in Esher, Surrey (where he lived for many years). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Wales in 1984.