Evening star., 1928-12-16
DOCTOR SCOFFS AT CLAIMS
FLYING CURES DEAFNESS
Deplores Resort to Terror Caused by
Stunting as Means of Restoring
Speech or Hearing.

plane engine and the continuous
changes from ordinary air pressure to
rarified, tend to injure the hearing OF
aviators This statement is borne out
by the tests conducted by the Army Air
Corps, according to Lieut.. Col. Levy M
Hathaway, chief medical officer.
This condition is even more marked
among boilermakers, a large percentage
of whom became deafened.
Persons with any physical defect, and
particularly those who are deafened,
are very susceptible to suggestions ana
are affected psychologically by the
merest trifies. They can imagine that
they have been benefited by various
fake cures when there is really no
scientific basis whatever for their be-
lief Full advantage IS taken OF this
psychological fact by quacks OF all
kinds, who depend upon 1t to bring
them hundreds of grateful letters from
persons who sincerely imagine for
time that they have been helped by
the most fantastic frauds.
When a deafened person claims that
his hearing has been improved even
tiny bit by ride in an airplane his
statement cannot possibly be taken at
It's face value. The only way really to
check up is to give him a hearing test
with an audiometer, which is not credu-
lous and cannot be fooled. 1t is an in
Strument which can test hearing with
almost mathematical exactneSs. A Spe-
cially prepared record in which num-
bers are repeated in varying tones of
voice and varying degrees of loudness
is put on a talking machine and the
deafened person is asked to write down
the numbers as he hears them. No
matter how much he may think his
hearing is improved, If he cannot give
the numbers correctly according to the
accompanying chart, at least as well
as he could give them before his cure"
he is shown to be no better of than
he was. He may even, because Of the
nerve strain he has undergone, prove
to be worse.
Hysteria Causes Mutism.
In rare and exceptional cases a per-
son may temporarily lose the ability to
talk as the result of some emotional
shock or mental disturbance. There is
nothing physically the matter with his
organs of speech; he is suffering from
hysteria, and his speechlesSness Is often
a defense mechanism created by his
subconscious mind in order to help him
get his way in some disputed matter or
20 assist him in escaping from an un-
pleasant situation. In the journal Of
Abnormal Psychology" DR.. Abraham
MyerSon describes such a caSe-that of
a woman who had violent quarrels with
her husband about the neighborhood
in which they were to live, and when
she could not bring him around to her
point Of view suddenly developed an
apparent loss of speech. for which
there was no physical cause, the idea
having been suggested to her by asso-
citation with mute old woman whom
she was nursing.
1t is conceivable that an individual
might suddenly develop a hysterical
but not true deafness. If he shows no
physical defect his case should be taken
to psychiatrist, who is able to make
complete survey of all the causes lead
ing up to his condition and suggest an
intelligent regime of treatment, instead
OF subjccting him to flying stunts and
other uascientific measures.