[Report 1968] / School Medical Officer of Health, Worcester City.

  • Worcester (England). City Council.
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1968] / School Medical Officer of Health, Worcester City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Defects of Ear, Nose and Throat: A routine sweep testing with the pure tone audiometer was carried out on 1,524 school entrants. The standard used is lack of response by the child to any one frequency over 20 decibels. A child who fails this test is referred for a threshold test of hearing. If this examination shows a hearing loss the child is referred to the School Medical Officer for confirmation and ex¬ clusion of simple causes of deafness such as respiratory infection or wax in the ears, before referral to the hospital Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic. The result of the sweep testing during 1968 is as follows : Entrants Number referred for Ear Nose and Year Examined Threshold Hearing Testing Throat Clinic 1968 1.524 143 24 1967 1,145 207 20 During the year nine children were provided with hearing aids. I am indebted to Mr. R. Walsh, Peripatetic Teacher of the Partially Hearing, for the following report on his work :— “ This year 1968 saw the passing on June 1st at the age of 87 years of Miss Helen Kellar, a legend in her own life time. She leaves the whole world — the hearing, the blind and the deaf and dumb — sad and poorer for her passing, yet very much greatly enriched by her living. The boundaries of her land of birth were far exceeded by her personality and her achievements and she became both honoured and known throughout the world. She will be remembered as a symbol of hope for those handicapped by blindness and deafness. She was repeatedly asked to say which was the most severe handicap; her answer was : ‘ The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune, for it means loss of the most vital stimulus — the sound of the voice — that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man