Evening star., 1927-11-20
Aiding Deafened School Children
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

Over 5000, 900 children in the United
States are deafened and the ma jority
of adults over 35 years of age have i'm.
paired hearing, according to statistics
compiled by the American Federation
of Organizations for the Hard Of Hear
ing.
The federation has not stopped at
gathering statistics, however. 1t has
set to work to alleviate the condition
Of the adults and to do preventive
work for the children. While the mat
ter of social rehabilitation of the
adults is of unquestioned Importance,
it is the work for the children which
must be undertaken the more serious
ly if the increase of deafness is to be
checked. This is proved by the state.
ment of biologists that 80 per cent of
adult deafness could have been check
ed If it had been taken in youth.
Through the federation and its al.
lied organizations city after city is fall
ing into line in work for it's hard-of-
hearing children. Parent-teacher as
sociations, women's clubs, civic clubs,
hearing leagues, are all bringing pres
sure to bear on school boards to take
up the work. Where the work is
already in operation most satisfactory
results are being obtained.
The most approved method Is first
to examine the school children for de-
fective hearing. In some cities the
examination is extended from the
upper grades down through the third
grade, but in most cases it is confined
to the grades Immediately preceding
the high school. The hearing test is
made by the whisper or watch test,
or, far better, by mechanical device.
Pupils registering a certain percent.
age of loss of hearing are advised to
consult ear clinics or. in cases of we'll
to-do parents are induced to consult a
reliable biologist. If curative treat.
ments have no effect, the deafened
their own or a nearby school building.
These lessons are obligatory and in
the best systems the pupils are not
segregated The lip.reading teacher
comes in to give the lessons much as
the special drawing and writing teach.
ers do, so that the deafened child may
continue the school work in his own
grade and will have no inferiority COM
p,nx by being separated from his hear.
ing mates.
An Examining Machine.
The electrical hearing test given in
the schools Is most interesting. 1t is
an instrument much like talking
machine, and by its use 120 to $50
school children may be examined in
an hour. The pupils sit at their desks
| with earphones to their ears, and the
phonograph is started. after a record
is put on. The pupils hear numbers
| uttered first in woman's voice, then
in a mans voice, the voices seeming
to go farther and farther away. Each
pupil writes down all the numbers
he hears in a column, as directed.
A test is made first of the right ear,
| and then of the left ear. The papers
are graded and corrected by means
of a master sheet. containing the
| right numbers.
In connection with this test each
| pupil is required to write, in spaces
designated for it, the history of any
ear trouble-that is, they reply to
such questions as did you ever have
a running ear?" did you ever have
an ache or pain in your ear?
| Does your ear run now?" Did you
ever have noises in your head like
| buzzing, Kissing or roaring?" 1t is
significant that in every case where
deafness Is detected, the history shows
ear trouble of some sort
OF course, the biggest obstacle
workers for deafened school chill
dren have had to overcome Is the
cry Of expense. 1t is estimated, how
ever, that the cost of testing the
ears and giving lip reading to those
with defective hearing is slight com
pared with the cost Of educating re-
peaters who have fallen behind their
grades because they could not hear
For the deafened child is almost sure
to be backward. not because he Is
deficient mentally, but because his
poor ears cannot take in what the
teacher says.
Dr. Franklin w. Book of Rochester
N. Y. who has been the pioneer ir
this work for school children, has
shown by careful reckoning that Il
costs $460 pupil to educate the re
peater in the Rochester schools
while the cost of an ear test with the
mechanical testing machine Is only
II cents a pupil.
In addition, the trained hard of
hearing child comes from the school.
equipped to support himself, as the
unframed is not. He will never be
come a burden upon society If he ha.
been given the lip reading instruction
in his school days. His handicap o
deafness will be greatly lightened b,
his school training.
Work Originated In Rochester.
When the Rochester deafness clini,
was started, nearly 20 years ago, DR.
Book met with the opposition of mer
tolerance, which is sometimes th
most difficult kind of opposition t
overcome. The teachers felt quit
sure there were no hard.of-hearint