AIR STUNTS AS CURE FOR DEAFNESS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 8

AIR STUNTS AS CURE FOR DEAFNESS.

I>v an aeroplane plunge of 10,000 feet, Miss Esther Devlin, of Spokane, I'nited Slates, has been partially cured of deafness wliicli has afflicted her since childhood. She developed the ear trouble through an attack of scarlet fever. She entirely lost, the -power of hearing, and. although the leading American specialists were consulted, they confessed themselves powerless. Miss Devlin is now 20. and. until the miraculous air cure, had been unable to hear oven the most intense sounds. Always interested in aviation, she went up with Mr N. ('. Mamer, one of the best pilots in the United States. and asked him to carry out sonic "stunts." lie started in climb higher and higher, so that he could carry out loops. rolls and snins with safetv. When at an altitude of 13,000 feet Mr Mtimer put his aeroplane into a nose dive. Down and down he came at a great speed, and onlookers were afraid that he had lost control of the craft, and that the two would be dashed to death on the earth beneath. Hut all the time the pilot was exercising control, and ho straightened out the machine wiien it was 3000 feet from the earth. During that headlong plunge to earth Miss "Devlin was able to hear for the first time during the past 1-1 years. The whistling of the wind through the wires of the aeroplane was the first thing audible to her. and then came the roar of the engine as the pilotswitched it on. On landing, the girl ny us astounded sum! dulighted to Yew Use that she could hear the voice of the pilot. The medical authorities attribute the euro to the shock that was experienced during the nose-dive, but Miss Devlin said she thoroughly enjoyed the sensation, and not. at any moment did she have fear. She intends to undertake a similar flight, in order completely to restore her hearing.