The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1896-07-03
Ghelrmurraf-S Star
HEARING WITH EYES.
A NOVEL SYSTEM INVENTED BY A
CLEVER WOMAN.

A NOVEL SYSTEM INVENTED BY !
CLEVER WOMAN.
Philadelphia Inquirer.
There is a woman in New York cit!
who has invented a system by which
any person of common intelligence,
who suffers from deafness can hcal
the slightest whisper. The afflicted
one can, in fact, hear words formed
on the lips without any emission d
sound whatever, and understand
clearly what is said when an individ'
ual OF acute hearing would be unable
to comprehend a word. All this done
without a trumpets or any grima'
cling or ge~sticulating on the part OF
the person who speaks, and in some 80
or 40 lessons any one, having a mind
to, can master the system sufficiently
to put it into practical use.
Miss Warren's plan is based on care
full watching Of the speakers lips. 1t
has been found that the 40 odd sounds
made by the voice In speaking English
are revealed in Just l6 facial move
ments or expressions. The deaf per-
o is taught to put aside all depend
ence on sound and read the lips with
their eyes. The movements Of the
mouth, aided by the expression Of the
eyes, the rising and falling Of the
chin and contraction and expansion
OF muscles about the nose and lips
tell the whole story to eyes trained In
observation.
when a pupil comes to me for in
structiOn," said Miss Warren, Il first
give her a series of 20 lessons, explain
ing the whole method, then l put her
intoa class and expect that in 10 or 20
lessons more she will know enough to
comprehend any simple sentence and
to easily grasp at Others. In the class
l read aloud from the Bible chiefly
and then from the daily papers. In
reading there is no emission of sound
whatever, only the rapid natural
movement of the lips, and yet the
pupils hear, for the strange phase of
%lip.reading is that the dcafest person
seems to get the sense through that
naturnl channel, the car. At home
my scholars practice their lessons by
repeating sentences before a mirror,
and 1t IS not undressing to find that
women are vastly quicker at master
ing ~lip-reading than men. Their ma
tive curiosity to know all that is said.
their rapid powers of intuition and
talent for detail helps them in learn.
Ing, while it is also easier to read the
lip movements Of a woman's face.
Feminine features are more sensl-
tive and active than those of men,
their lips are flexible, AMI women,
moreover, allow their emotions to
come to the surface, expressing vol.
umes in the life Of the eyebrows, a
quick frown or tilt Of the nose.
"These characteristics bring num-
berS OF women into my classes, where
they rapily catch on as one might
say, and from class work my pupils
are advised to haunt the theatres,
listen to sermons, watch others in
the street cars and take part in fami.
ly conversations. In six months, by
enthusiastic study, any ordinarily
bright girl can put herself back into
almost uninterrupted communication
with the talkative world, and the
more she employs her new sense OF
sight the more acute will bc her feel.
ing that she hears.
$50 strong is this believe sometimes
that a deaf person, once addressed,
only by a movement of the lips and
not even a whisper of sound, begged
me not to speak so loud, and another
bright young pupil contemptuously
criticised a woman opposite her in the
street Car for shouting out her private
affairs, when the wOman's voice was
really only audible to her companion.
1t seemed, however, a painful revela-
tiOn OF domestic matters to the young
girl who read the entire conversation
from the lips alone"