HEARING BY TOUCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 10 June 1926, Page 2

HEARING BY TOUCH

Fifty years ago Alexander Graham Bell, seeking a means by which the liu-! man voice could reach the ears of tlie | deaf, found as a by-product of his ex- - periinenls an instrument —the telephone, j To-day, vising the Bell telephonic prin-1 ciple,*t)r. Robert 11. Gault, professor of psychology at the North-Western Uni-1 varsity, predicts a. means of eomnnuii- j eating vibrations of speech vo the skin ■ in such a way that words may be felt, ; not heard (says the Washington corres-l pondeiit of the Glasgow Herald). Thoj vibrations, according to Dr Gault, are | felt so distinctly that with practice they; may be distinguished and pul together into sentences and continued discourse. Ultimately lie. believes it may bo' possible for deaf, persons to enjoy music by its ‘‘feel”, and poetry as it is read to their skin, if lie can continue his experiments. Dr .Gault, it is explained, has found that the- deaf lip-reader is enormously helped in tl"e art of interpreting speech if lie can simultaneously see a speaker's face and feel his words by applying a finger to an instrument that vibrates with the speaker’s voice. This is because many differences among words car. be felt while they cannot be seen upon the lips, and face of the one who-is uttering them. But not only so, for the 'rhythm. and emphasis and the accent and tempo of speech, can bo felt but not seen, and rhythm an£ emphasis and the vest help hearing people to understand. In the same way they, will help deaf people to understand. These factors in the psychology of speech and hearing, when brouglr to the deaf through their sense of touch, are making them able to enjoy speech, to enjoy poetry also as it is read to The skin. This has hitherto been a -closed book to those who liave'no hearing. Ultimately they should obtain the same pleasure from silently reading verse that others gain. The entire experiment requires special that are being developed by the Bell telephone laboratories according to Dr. Gault’s ideas. There may yet be a time when the deaf will prick up their skin as ordinary people do their ears.