DEFECTIVE HEARING

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 95, 23 April 1931, Page 10

DEFECTIVE HEARING

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Of ' intense, interest to every man nnd woman in New Zealand is the following sentence appearing under the heading of "Defective ..Sight" on page 9 of .your, issue of the'9th: "The international movement to study preventable blindness, with a-view to a. national campaign, has found a responsive echo, among the social wely fare bodies-of| Canada." .If: it is correct that only 7 per cent, of the "population should'be without glasses, wo have as a people to be profoundly' thankful for the ever-increasing efforts that are being made to preserve good eyesight, whether naturally or by artificial means. Some of us may at the same time, however, legitimately wonder.why little or no effort has.been put forward by--either the medical profession or the national health authorities to combat the twin malady of deafness in an equally effective and organised manner. With your permission^ 'Sir, I should like to make an,earnest plea to the nation to , interest itself in a complaint' that in .its own way is as distressing and as serious in its effects as blindness. .It is not confined to old people as seems to be commonly imagined, and it has no ; necessary 1 connection whatever with mental defectiveness. It seems,at the present'day: to be growing more and more common among younger people. The result is a deplorable waste of national efficiency, not to speak of the social isolation of those who suffer from, the complaint. It cannot bo too strongly emphasised, Sir, that deafness, like blindness, is a national problem, in need therefore ofi national, attention. That: this is the case .public opinion must recognise'in its-own interests, and it .will be well for the national well-being that this recognition should not be too long delayed. National attention to the problem, should eliminate much of the exploitation, at present practised, by manufacturers of worthless acoustic instruments, and should result in proper standards of efficiency being insisted upon by the health authorities with regard to mechanical hearing dovices/ : It should further lead to thorough : arid systematic medical research, into .the, " causes of the malady and means of alleviation. ' ■ ■■■' '/..... ■ •: ■■ ■ .- "■'' .'. . . '

Both the Government and the medical profession are at present too hard worked to take the initiative in the matter. I appeal to public-spirited citizens who realise the pressing necessity for national action in this matter to set up a fund which may later bo used to endow medical research and to institute a bureau or clinio which may, by advice, testing, and the supplying of information relating to mechancial hearing devices, be able to render to deaf people a service similar to that now being offered by free clinics in various parts of the world to sufferers from defective eyesight. If such a campaign could be led by a medical practitioner its success should be assured and New Zealand might have the satisfaction of leading the way in this as she has done in many other directions.—l am, etc., McK. A copy of the above letter was submitted to tho Health Department, which replied that1 the annual report of the school medical service states that last year the percentage of school 'children found to be suffering from defective hearing was 0.4. Tho percentage showed a slight decrease as compared with previous years. The percentage is also less than that in England. The decrease is to be expected since conditions which predispose to deafness (such as unhealthy throat and nose conditions and certain infectious diseases) owing to the supervision of the officers of the Health Department are now detected and placed under treatment at a much earlier stage.' Special educational methods are provided by the Education Department for children suffering from deafness to an extent that makes them unable to benefit from the ordinary school curriculum. The._ Quackery Prevention Act includes provision to protect the public against exploitation by vendors of acoustical apparatus for which unwarrantable claims, are made.