Facts and opinions relating to the deaf from America.

Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Facts and opinions relating to the deaf from America. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    49/212 (page 37)
    and actual deafness, because the deaf person is enabled to bear his own voice as well as that of the person speaking to bim, and thus he is placed in as nearly a normal condition as is possible. ' You can readily understand, from your past experience, of what great value this becomes in the culture of the voice. 'For conducting musical sounds the London dome ear trumpet is very useful, but for voice sounds it does not equal my conico-cylindrical tube. ' The audiphone was thoroughly tested here, but it was not of sufficient conducting power to render its use available in our work. It has a value, however, and for many cases, slightly deaf as we should term them, in which a greater degree of hear- ing has existed and education has been acquired prior to the diminution of that sense, is an all-sufficient aid to an under- standing and appreciation of sound. ' In a paper on Aural Development, which I wrote, at the request of Mr. Gillespie, for presentation to the Convention of last summer, I gave an outline of my method of procedure in the class-room as follows:— ' Begin by accustoming the ear to interpret the sounds of the short vowels and their modifications combined with the consonants, for the reason that a very large proportion of the syllables in the English language have the short vowel sounds, and also, because the first efforts required to master the pro- nunciation of our language are facilitated by a limited number of easy rules. The class being furnished with the double instru- ment before mentioned, write a sentence on the large slates, one in which short a only is used : That cat has a rat. Placing the ear-pieces firmly in the external meatus, speak the sentence slowly into the bells of the tubes gathered in a cluster and require each pupil to repeat the words as nearly as it may be possible for him. Next, repeat the sentence naturally and urge the pupil to attempt it in the same way without assistance. The pupil should be allowed to observe the lips of his teacher at the same time in order that he may the more readily imitate the