Evening star., 1925-03-31

fed the sensation also is amplified
This is the principle of DR.. Gault's
| device. Star reporter sat in with
a class of deaf muteS, a receiver in
he palm of his hand. The class
didn't do very well on that particular
test. With ill-concealed glee they
We're waiting TO see the newcomer
jump with surprise at feeling a hu-
man voice hit the skin of his hand
with very appreciable force. He
did.
1t is one thing to feel the voice,
travelling toward the skin at the rate
OF l,loO feet second. The second
step, differentiation OF sounds, comes
only after long practice. But when
they are once learned, Prof Gault
says. they are unmistakable a feels
as different from as it sounds.
A feels heavy, especially at the be
ginning, and long. L is long, but
smooth, compared with a. / has
sharp punch at the beginning, fol-
lowed by partial let-up and then
a second punch. has an undulation
about it that sometimes confuses 4
with |. L feels short and smooth.
After the single letters are learned
comes the more difficult task Il dis
tinguishing them in words. When
this stage is reached, however the
student has become so familiar with
touch sensations that the transition
is not difficult.
Better Devices Seen.
The time seems possible when a
deaf man Will carry around with him
a complete telephone set win the am
pliffed receiver. The palm of the hand
is used for ear at present because
il is the most convenient spot for the
receiver. 1t is not the part most deli
cate TO sound sensations A much
larger receiver may be constructed
in the future, Prof. Gault says, which
viii cover the whole breast. Then
ii will be possible to make the "A"
sound fall on one area of the skin
and b on another, so that the sub
jeCt can use his sense of direction in
differentiating them.
But up to the present no success
full means has been devised to teach
the deaf mutes to speak. With GER
tain exceptions they are dumb not be
cause of any organic defects vocally.
but because they never have heard
words upon which to model their own
Their experience is somewhat like
that of an American trying to learn
Chinese from a textbook alone with
out an Instructor. lie might learn to
read successfully. but he has no
means of knowing what the spoken
symbols sound like. He must have
some one who knows Chinese upon
which to model his tones. But the
deaf mute never can hear his in
structor. His case is practically hope
less from the start. A very few no
table examples, such as Helen Keller
have learned to talk indistinctly.
But once having learned the sound
language against the palms of their
hands they have something to model
on. They can go off by themselves
and spend hours making sounds into
the mouthpiece until they are able TO
produce the same sensations on the
skin as were produced by the voice Of
the instructor. 1t will be long and
hard-but SO is il long and hard for
a baby to learn to talk. And it offers
the brightest hope they have of max
ing themselves understood in conver-
sation.
The speech process viii require
more elaborate instruments. but
these are entirely within the range
OF probability. DR.. Gault says. Dur
ing the three months he has worked
here the mechanical equipment has
been improved about 20 per cent. and
still further Improvements. making
the sound sensations more vivid. are
likely.
Il realize" said Dr., Gault that
We have nothing easy here. II Will
not accomplish anything very vau-
able today or tomorrow. But | am
confident that we have something
which may turn out of great benefit
to the world in the end. Any method
of communication can be learned by
q deaf mute only after very tedious
experience and great deal of hard
work"
The Gallaudet students. however,