The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-19
H A N ] { TRAINED TO REPLACE EAR AS SOUND DETECTOR
Student Able to Detect Ger tain Sounds by Palm
 Of Hand

CHICAGO. April 1S.-CBy Asso- ciated Press .)-The development Of hand to replace the ear as an or gan for distinguishing sounds. has been carried by Prof Robert H. Gault, ot Northwestern university to the point where university au- t,horitles have announced that he be- heVes he is uncovering new field. which may lead to direct help for the deaf
 Prof. Gault has been able to train John Crane. student. who is not dc3t., to recognize certain spoken words. through the palm of his hand. The vibrations of voice. speaking through long tube. are made to impnge on Mir. Cranes palm. while the sound is shut off from his ears. Professor Gault Is arranging to ex- pertinent with an acousticpn in the hand Of stone deaf person, with the speaker a long distance away. He says of these experiments:
 T have concluded that John Crane. when he correctly interprets words and sentences by means of the i'm pressions received on the palm of his hand through long tube. does not hear these words or sentences In the first place. his ears have been plugged either with cotton or putty or with both. his head tightly bound with thick bandage and {, motor has been operated nearby. In the second place his brother George who has done the speaking, has been distant thirty feet in another room. There are two intervening walls and even if John were not muffled from sound, I doubt his ability to hear anything. None of us who stood at Johns side could catch the words George spoke through the tube.
 My theory therefore is as follows The sound vibrations are conducted by the nerves from the delicate area Tn the hand to the general association areas of the brain and there are directly transmitted to th. mind. John does not hear the words of the phrases in the accepted sense of the term. It is true that when he thinks he hears it when it is re- peated. but when this word inn pression has been indelibly made, John admits that all thoughts of hearing leave him. and as quickly as the vibrations strike his hand he repeats the word automaticaily.'
 Professor Gault is working out q definite process and theory which he hopes to prove of practical use. He thinks it will not be difficult toper feet an instrument that will be easily portable and of use for the deaf.
 Commenting on the experience of Willetta Huggins. deaf girl of Janesville, Wisconsin, who says she hears by means of an acousticon held in her hand, Professor Gault says he is convinced that she does not hear with the ear. but receives the vibrations in the general association areas of the brain. He adds:
 "A tuning fork may be placed upon the. head or the brow of a stone deaf person, and it's vibrations will be clearly detected. A person extremely deaf may go to a tele- phone and hear conversation. These are demonstrated facts. It is remotely possible that the sound ac- tually reaches the auditory nerves in some of these instances that am convinced that John Crane gets no help from his auditory nerves when he pronounces words just spoken by his brother, and that Will letta Huggins does not hear at all but receives the sound impressions by another route"