Abstract: An apparatus for the transmission of speech, suitable for use in a hearing aid, has an acoustic input transducer followed by a controlled-gain broadband amplifier, which is followed by a parallel circuit of a number of frequency-selecting channels. The frequency-selecting channels divide the broadband output signal of the controlled-gain amplifier into a number of selected frequency channels. A threshold switch is included in each frequency-selecting channel. An acoustic output transducer is supplied with the sum of the output signals of the individual threshold switches.