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Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22105, 29 May 1937, Page 21

A person deaf and blind can get a sense of the direction of a person talking to him even though the person can neither see nor hear the speaker Dr. Robert H. Gault, of the American Institute for the Deaf-Blind at Northwestern University, reported at the recent meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. The speech was conveyed to the deaf person through a vibro-tactile device. In this device is a vibrator which is set into action by electrical current modulated by the sounds spoken into a microphone. The deaf person places his index finger on the vibrator, and learns to identify sounds by their vibration. Dr. Gault used two microphones, separated by a distance. A vibrotactile device was connected to each Microphone and the blind-deaf person Placed the finger of the left hand on °ne and of ther ight hand on the other. He was supplied with a pointing device which he could turn in the direction from which the “voice” seemed to come. As Dr. Gault moved his position with respect to the microphones the blind-deaf man moved the pointer in directions which corresponded with his position. This gave a clear indication that the blind-deaf Man could not only “hear” what was spoken to him, but could "see” the speaker’s position.