HEARING ABILITY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21120, 22 March 1934, Page 7

HEARING ABILITY

♦- - - .MOTORISTS' MC'KNSK PROBLEM I'OSSI HI. K AMKND.MEM Id HK(il I.ATIONS [ THE PRESS Special Seivicc.] WKLIJNGTON. Marc!. til. I .Me.-! people know how diflicult it ;<> hear when anywhere near the' nervo-rackms clatter of a pneumatic j aril! hi riveting machine, but stranuc, tn the hearing of the men who; operate ihe.-e appliances is then at. its; be-t, So accustomed to do they and j other workers who constantly use J noise-emanating machines become to i such conditions, that tlicy reach a! stage when they can hear far better i in noise than in silence. This charac- j tensuc is known as oto-seierosis. and to meet the case of people who suffer from the disease and desire to apply for a motor-driver's license the Transport Department has in mind an amendment to the present regulations. The department has circularised local bodies, indicating the nature ol the amendment it proposes, and at the same time inviting these authorities to forward any comments or observations they might care to make. The circular states that some persons suffer from oto-sclerosis, a characteristic of which is thai the sufferer's hearing may be

i quite adi-.iuato for motoring purposes, ! although under ether conditions definitely bcluw norma!. Tiie department considers that the present clause in the motor-drivers' regulations in respect to the hearing ability of an applicant for a license 1 operates somewhat harshly in the case of persons suffering from the disease, and proposes to make provision for cases being referred to a specialist who will have authority to decide whether .the person-, if otherwise eligible, are entitled to license.-: or not. It appeals that cases have occurred u here sufferers from oto-sclerosis have been unable to pass the medical test iri ; respect to hearing, to enable them to ; obtain drivers' licen.-es. They can hear quite well under the noisy conditions associated with their employment, and equally as well when driving a motor | vehicle by reason of the noise from the | vehicle and other traffic. In the quiet - ; r.ess ot the examining doctor's suri .eery. however, they have not been .able to hear sufficiently well to pas* | 'he tests laid down in the regulation?. 1 It is to meet such cases as these thai j the amending regulation is intended, i A medical man said yesterday that ' oto-sclerosis was contracted by work- ; ers whose ears were subjected to frei quent concussions over a long period. The nerve ends and the tissues of the labyrinth and middle ear adjusted themselves to the situation. Under some forms of deafness people could hear best when a din was going on