Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-03-25
INTERESTING TALK
BY DR.. HILL BEFORE
J. kIWANlS CLUB

DR.. F. T. Hill delivered an address
before the members of the Water
Vile Kiwanis Club last evening on
the Conservation OF Hearing. DIR.
Hills address was one OF great in
terest to his hearers as he filled 1t
with illustrations and ideas that are
OF great benent 20 the average lay
man. He spoke In part as fol-
lows:
"Man becomes a part OF the econ
omic world, cog in the wheel OF
progress, by means of contacts with
his fellows. These contacts are in
vented In the so-called special
sense, which enables him to perform
his part of life's struggles, to work
and accomplish things, and to as
sociate socially with his neighbor.
The sense of hearing enables us to
hear sounds and interpret them. This
function is most highly specialized
and very easily impaired SO that the
contact by means of hearing is quite
often accomplished with difficulty
and lack of success. While it is a
most serious defect and one only
with difficulty helped, it Is SO COM
monplace that it is given little SER
ious consideration until it is actually
brought home to ones self.
Deafness means a loss of contact
with society. This means an econ
omic loss. 1t means impairment of
human assets. often of earning pow
er. Each deaf or even deafened per-
son means a distinct loss to the
economic wealth of the community
a social liability. And the sad part
of this situation is that most deaf
ness, probably more than 30 per cent
is preventable; not durable, but pre-
ventable. And yet the average per-
son calmly accepts gradually ap-
preaching deafness as one of the
necessary penalties of having lived.
We hear the older people say that
of hearing, that it's because they are
growing old. That is not SO. They
may be growing hard of hearing but
that is not the reason. There is al
ways a definite cause for the deaf
ness and it is not found in senility.
I don't mean to say that these cases
can be cured now, but that it might
have been possible to have prevented
this occurring by remedying some
thing years ago. This problem must
be attacked in childhood or at least
young adult life.
Let me roughly and briefly en-
deavor to show you something about
! how. we hear: l shall endeavor to
make this Understandable for a lay
| audience and to sacrifice anatomical
| accuracy for simplicity. Sound waves
| are carried into the canal of the cal
| to the drum which is a membrane
which vibrates equally well for al
| tones and may be 1ikened to the dia-
! phram of a telephone. The pima OF
| outer part of the ear serves to collect
| these sound waves and direct then
! into the canal. From the drum the
| impulse or sound wave Is now car.
| ried through what we call the middle
ear to the nerve organ in the inter.
/ nal ear. This is a change from the
molecular energy of the ,ound wave
I. to direct mass energy. In the middle
| ear which is an irregular boxlikt
chamber in the temporal bone, We
| have the drum to the outside and the
| labyrinth or internal ear, containing
, the nerve organs, to che inside. Con
Getting these there is little chain OF
bones or ossicles, known as the ma.
leus or hammer, the :ncus or anvil
| the stapes or stirrup bone. The f1rs'
| Is connected to the drum, the lone
| handle of the hammer being attached
| to it so that when it is driven inwards
| by the sound wave the hammer IL
: likewise forced inwards. Above the
hammer is attached to the next bone
| or anvil, so that the impulse is trans
mitted. in turn to this bone. This