Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-15
THOSE WHO LIVE IN
SILENCE
Bv Frederic J. Haskin

show the prevalence of deafness, not
generally recognized, and also the
need for greater attention to its pre-
Vention and cure.
1t is. safe to say that the great
majority of people who have imper-
feet hearing are not aware of it. The
demands on the ear in modern times
are not so great as when our ances-
tors had to guard against wild beasts
and stealthy attacks by enemies. To-
day, If an auto horn makes US jump
and the bell on the street car is aud
ible enough to get on our nerves, our
hearing is considered adequate for
safety, and if we have to ask a
friend to repeat a question the SLOW
emily speech of the friend is undoubt-
ly at fault.
People who are only slightly hard
of hearing often go through life With
out ever realizing any defect. Then,
again, deafness increases by disease
Or bad treatment, such as putting
pins into the ear to clean it or
wearing an injurious hearing device.
There are about $4,000 people in the
One-third of these were born deaf,
and nearly two-thirds lost their hear
ing through disease, in many cases
through careless medical attention.
Because the ear is one of the most
mysterious and inaccessible parts of
the anatomy, treatment is difficult.
The inner ear is boxed up in bone,
even x-rays, so that the saying that
to study the ear of a patient you
must wait until he is dead, still holds
good to considerable degree.
+ Another difficulty in diagnosing ear
troubles is the variety of causes.
catarrh, brain fever, are few of
the diseases apt to be followed by
deafness. Falls and shocks less often
injure the hearing organs. And be-
sides these there are cases in which
specialists and surgeons fail to dis
cover the origin of the defect.
A Strange Case
Such a case was that of one of
the princes of Spain, recently cured
in a spectacular manner. The young
prince had been examined by numef-
Gus court and foreign doctors and all
had agreed on two things-the boy
was stone deaf and nothing could be
done. But a spinal authority happen
ed along and thought he could cure
the prince He paid no particular at
tention to the boys ears but concen>
trated on his spine. He said that the
spine was slightly curved to one side.
This is not an unusual defect; in
fact, most peoples spinal columns in
cline to one side or the other. But
the specialist claimed that this was
what affected the hearing of the
prince, and he explained to the royal
family in convincing and technical
language just how the glands and
canals were Influenced. He was al
lowed to manipulate the royal spinal
column and did, indeed, straighten it.
Shortly after the child startled his
family by initiating the sounds made
by some ducks and by showing in
other ways that he could hear.
Another recent method of treating
certain kinds of deafness is to apply
air pressure to the ear cavities by a
kind Of pump. Many cases of deaf
tiny bones of the middle ear do not
respond to vibrations. The air pres
sure treatment, it is said, strength
ems the weak muscles, and helps re-
store the efficiency Of these bones.
One frs shd b born this completely Ssr d ss
was three years old. with the re-
This may seem TO small degree of
success, but to the deaf, any i'm
tremendous consequence. To be able
to hear a shout OR a peal of thun-
der shows the deaf person what
sound is, and helps him in modulat-
ing his voice in speaking.
Lip Reading
In these days nearly all deaf peo-
pie learn to. speak by studying the
and initiating them. Deaf children
start language lessons at kinder
garten age, and learn to produce cor
rectly words which they never hear.
Because they do not hear their own
cultural, stilted manner, this man
nerism being less noticeable when
even very little hearing is develop
ed. Some authorities on speech
placing too much emphasis on use
of the larynx in speech. and that the
deaf can be taught to speak as ma
turally as normal hearing persons.
Speech-reading is said to be sim
liar to learning any foreign language.
Diagrams aad mirrors are used. A
few words and syllables are studied
at a time. The student watches
himself or his teacher say over and
eyer n4H may they nay t they gee
dif fGi + to ID disttinguish because ali
three are made by closing. the lips, B
is really made in the throat, but
of the throat is scarcely noticeable.
Whether the person talking says
may, bay, or pay, therefore, must be
decided by the speeeh-reader largely
by the context. Let On Inc WAo4es
speech-reading is considered no more
difficult to master than a foreign
tongue-not so difficult as Chinese,
perhaps, though harder than Spanish
or French.
Education of the deaf has been
Systematically promoted only In the
past century. Before that they were
with idiots as incapable Of learning
to read or write. Now there are
boarding schools and day schools for
deaf children, and a few night
hearing since, childhood. or who
tend a special school.
There is a national college for the
deaf at Washington, where both the
sign language and lip-readlng are
used. Many deaf people. however
try and by sitting near enough to
the professors they manage to read
the lips. Shut off from the distrac..
tions of sound, they are capable Of
in spite of their handicap. often
are graduated with honors.
Besides the system OF. schools To-;
the deaf, there are, institutions and
associations for the purpose OF
helping them in various ways The
post famous Of these h is the the. Volta idt
ander Graham Bell invented the
telephone, the French government
gave him the Volta electrical prize
Of $4,000. Bell, who had been a
teacher Of the deaf, wrote at. once to
his mother telling her of his prize;
He concluded And now We shall
have money enough to teach speech
to little deaf children"
DR.. Bells Bureau
DR.. Bell founded the Volta Blu
reau to study the problems of the
deaf, and to furnish informat ton ON
matters relating to deafness; Since
giving his prize money to start the
bureau, DR.. Bell has contributed
million dollars toward its upkeep.
The last census showed that per-
sons totally deaf now enter almost
every occupation. Farming, and
trades attract most of them, though
many enter professions and a few