Evening star., 1954-10-25
Skin Heoring Device
Progress Is Reported
Electrical vibrutors
Use Touch Alphabet
By Thomos r. Henry

Considerable progress Is being made
on device for hearing with the skim"
This has just been reported through
the once Of Naval Research by DR..
Frank A. Geldard, psychologist Of the
University Of Virginia. who has been
working with Navy grant. The system
may not only provide q means by which
deaf may 'hear" both words and music
but also by which person-to-person
communications, such as immediate
military orders. may be delivered with
out sound.
Blind and deaf persons. it has long
been recognized, may acquire an extra
ordinary ability to interpret sensation
Of touch so as to recognize various
objects in their environment and read
with raised type. It is not necessarily
that the sense Of touch, per Sc, becomes
more acute. But q greater ability is
developed in the brain itself, to inter-
pret touch sensations. Some of the
brain paths Of hearing and seeing may
actually be utilized.
DR.. Geldard, however, Is going con-
siderably further. He is developing q
touch alphabet" through which it may
be possible actually to carry on simple
conversation. In the final analysis, he
explains in his report, all human COM
munication is carried on by means Of
SO symbolS-26 letters with their &C
companying sounds and ten digits.
Electrical vibrators.
The "skin ears" consist essentially Of
four electrical vibrators placed some
distance apart on the chest. Vibrations
can be varied about as much as one
pleaseS in intensity and duration. Each
intensity, duration and location may
represent letter, or figure. Thus an
intensity of duration A with intensity
c at location might represent the
letter and sound w.
Thus. DR.. Geldard points out, the
whole SO letters and digits can be rep
resented with three durations, three
intensities and four locations. Some
persons might be able to make use Of
much more complicated system but
this, he holds, Is about what the aver
age individual could master with some
intensive training.
Thus, third major communication
sense might be added to mans means
Of contracting the world around him.
Eventually almost any communication
might be conveyed through this sense.
It would be unsafe to consider for prac-
tical purposes q much more compn-
Gated system, he says.
Compared to Morse Code.
Using such a system of chest vi
orators with group of unpracticed
subjects. he found that they could
understand such communications as
well as those conveyed with visible light
signals. The task appeared hardly
more difficult than that of telegraph
operator in mastering the Morse code.
What could be accomplished with long
practice remains to be determined.
Possibilities of successful communi-
cation are many" DR.. Geldard says.
Perhaps with continued investigation
of its potentialities we shall find that
the skin is able to mediate many tasks
hitherto reserved for its more discriml-
native but frequently overburdened
sensory relatives"
The chest was chosen for the loca-
ton of the vibrators, he explains. be-
cause it is quite sensitive, has q fairly
large expanse so that the instruments
can be placed far enough apart for
easy discrimination of location, and Is
conveniently located part of the body.
There is no important use for it. as is
the case with other sensitive parts Of
the body such as feet and hands"