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Hearing Aid Pioneer Cy Libby Dies at 98
O B I TUA RY
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
E. ROBERT “CY” LIBBY, a
doctor, inventor and writer
who rose from humble begin-
nings in Strawberry Mansion
to become a world-renowned
figure in the field of hearing aid
technology, died in his sleep on
Feb. 19. He was 98.

Libby was born Esiah
Libschitz to Clara and Alter
Libschitz in 1920. Alter
Libschitz was a socialist book-
binder in Ukraine who fled to
Argentina during the Russian
Revolution and became a
gaucho. After “he got tired of
riding horses,” as Libby told
Philadelphia Inquirer colum-
nist Stu Bykofsky in October,
his father made his way to
Philadelphia. The man who Bykofsky
featured under the headline
“The Jewish Gaucho’s Son
Who Improved the Lives of the
Deaf” was best known for the
invention of his “Libby Horn,”
an early hearing aid that con-
sisted of a small J-shaped
device. But he actually began
his career as an optometrist in
1943. He paid his way through
school working jobs at a cel-
ery factory and the St. Charles
Hotel in Atlantic City, along
with a side gig selling pea-
nuts. Libby himself was hard of
hearing, the result of a surgery
in his youth.

He opened a hearing aid
technology store
called Associated Hearing at 6796
Market St. in Upper Darby,
where he’d remain in busi-
ness for 65 years. For the first
six months, Libby sat around
twiddling his thumbs — no
A lawyer gave him a little bit of advice: American customers weren’t going
to come into a store that said “Esiah Libschitz” on the sign. Find a new
name, the lawyer told him. And so E. Robert Libby was born.

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Cy Libby
one was coming in. A lawyer
gave him a little bit of advice:
American customers weren’t
going to come into a store that
said “Esiah Libschitz” on the
sign. Find a new name, the
lawyer told him.

And so E. Robert Libby was
born. The “E” stood for Esiah,
eventually shortened to the
name he would go by for his
whole life: Cy.

In addition to the Libby
Horn, Libby invented a small
metronome that went behind
the ear that regulated the
speech patterns of stutterers
as well as various methods to
treat tinnitus. His Libby Horn,
patented in 1982, improved
hearing tremendously for
those who wore it. On his blog,
cylibby.com, there is a long
technical explanation for how
Libby was able to do so.

For many years, Libby
worked with his son, Danny
Libby, who became an audiolo-
gist. They ran the store together,
a time that the younger Libby
Photo courtesy of cylibby.com
looks back on fondly. They
sold the store 12 years ago, and
Danny Libby remains in the
hearing aid business, working
for Zounds Hearing.

“He lived an amazing life,”
Danny Libby said. “He touched
many, many lives.”
Libby traveled all over the
world lecturing on his craft,
describing his methods and
ideas to audiologists, otolaryn-
gologists and hearing aid spe-
cialists. He wrote for medical
journals, and edited Hearing
Instruments, a now-defunct
publication. In the ’90s, he
wrote 17 volumes of “Libby’s
Random Pieces” — notes
and musings collected over
the years.

Cy Libby is survived by two
children, Danny and Claire; a
daughter-in-law, Lori; and two
grandchildren, Jacob and Max.

Libby’s wife of 64 years, Mira
Braverman, died in 2011. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM