The nature and causes of catarrhal, "throat", or hereditary deafness : an explanation of paracusis willisii the mechanism of aural accommodation, the regulation of labyrinthine fluid pressure, the tightening of relaxed tympanic membrances and joints, the relief of tinnitus aurium with the description of a new method of treatment and some illustrative cases / by Charles J. Heath.

  • Heath, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1856-1934
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The nature and causes of catarrhal, "throat", or hereditary deafness : an explanation of paracusis willisii the mechanism of aural accommodation, the regulation of labyrinthine fluid pressure, the tightening of relaxed tympanic membrances and joints, the relief of tinnitus aurium with the description of a new method of treatment and some illustrative cases / by Charles J. Heath. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lfi family there was no deafness. She had suffered from “ hay fever ” for several summers and had become deaf. Her deafness also was associated with paracusis, and accompanied by relaxation of the drum-membranes and joints. This condition was undoubtedly the result, as in the boy just mentioned, of distension of her ears by frequent and forcible use of the pocket-handkerchief. These two cases may be regarded as examples of deafness much increased, if not entirely caused, by the repeated and vigorous use of the pocket-handkerchief — i.e., pocket-handkerchief deafness.8 While such frequent distension of the tympanum with air may be responsible for paracutic deafness in a certain number of people, this habit alone does not appear to be the most frequent cause of this trouble. In the majority the conditions indicate more than a mere flaccidity of membranes and a simple relaxation of joints: an actual change in drum-head structure, is perceptible, a change which apparently involves all its com- [Note 8.—Our ancestors used no handkerchiefs, and suffered less from ear troubles than we do. Further, the distension of the tympanic membrane, which results from frequent and forcible blowing of the nose while holding it tightly, is often accompanied by distension of the alveoli of the lungs, and, if persisted in, leads to emphysema.]