The times., 1899-04-24
TO MAKE THE DEAF HEAR.
An Ainbnmian's Invention Success
fully Tested on Mutcs

Mobile. Ala. April 20.-The Akouiallion
an instrument by means of which the deaf
are made to hear is the name given to a
recent invention of Reese Hutchison, a
young resident of this city II has been
put to test in public with remarkably sue
cessful results.
The instrument is very simple. and con-
sists of an audiphone and transmitter All
the test they were run by battery of ten
cells. The instruments used al the tie
consisted of two audiphones, bound to-
gether by spring. one fitting over each
ear, on the order OF the appliance used in
telephone exchanges. The transmitter is
something like the transmitter of an ordi-
nary telephone, though not nearly so large
and cumbersome. and shaped some what
! like a small egg cup.
For purposes of instruction in institu-
tions for the deaf and dumb there is q
breast plate, TO which is attached a trans
mitter, SO arranged that ii can be used fol
the mute to speak into. or for him to turn
and catch sounds. In other words, ths
transmitter is connected with the audi
phone. so that the mute can hear his owI
voice, as well as that of his teacher
through the transmtter used by the
teacher. In this breast plate there are
two switches, one of which cuts off each
hi'iNioua pupil iIOlu all OtueT pupils, anu
the other is a controller of the intensity OF
the volume of the wave sounds through
the audiphone, in order to accommodate
the intensity to the different degrees OF
sensitiveness found to exist in the ears OF
different mutes.
BY means of the switch in the breast
plate any number of pupils can be con-
nected together and taught by one teacher
through the one transmitter, or each one
can be cut out and drilled separately.
In the tests two mutes heard the sound
OF the human voice at a distance of sixty
feet and of the piano still further away
They also heard the playing of a graphic
phone, and when one of them was asked
what it was he heard the idea of the ques-
toner being to draw from the mute his
idea of music, the mute replied:
Manhattan Beach March That was
the tune on the cylinder they were listen
ing to. and Mr.. Hutchison explained that
he had been playing number of cylinders
to them, and they knew the namesof each
tune as soon as they heard it.
They heard whisper that was not much
more than audible to those of the audi
ence with good ears, and pronounced the
letters of the alphabet after Mr.. Hutch
ison, one of them repeating his name and
the words bad boy" very distinctly. Mr.
Hutchison says that the effectiveness oi
electrical vibration which seems to reach
the auditory nerves. the nature of which
he cannot explain himself.
The instrument has been thoroughly test.
ed at the Alabama Institution for the Dea
and Dumb at Talladega, and in no in
stance, in tests made on more than hun
dred pupils, there was a single failure Il
make the pupil hear. Mr.. Hutchison say!
he has been flooded with letters asking
n ne N than nj
thetic in the extreme, and that it has beeI
impossible for him to answer all of them
but as soon as the instruments can b.
placed en- the market all of his correspon
dents will be notified.
Mr. Hutchison is possibly the young
est inventor in the United States whose
name has ever been coupled with an in
vention so fraught with benefit to man
| kind. He will be Twenty-Five years o
| age in August, and was born at the sum
mer home of his parents, at Montrose
| Baldwin county, Ala. on the eastern shor'
| of Mobile Bay, and fifteen miles from
| Mobile. He is the only child of Capt
| Peter Hutchison and his wife, who wai
a Miss Magruder. of Tuskegee, Ala, anC
is a cousin of Gen. J. B. Magruder
Young Hutchison early showed an apti.
| tude for electricity and invented severa
minor appliances before he reached hi:
majority. He studied at Marion Institute
in this State, for two years, at Spring Hill
| College one year. and then took a twt
years course in the electrical department
at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute al
Auburn. He also took course studyinl
the human ear under DIR. Rufiin 4
Wright. of Mobile. He is a frail looking
young man but of untiring energy. ant
his friends expect him to become tbs
Edison of the South