Audiologic aspects of audiosurgery.

Abstract

In recent years two major approaches have emerged for the relief of the handicap of deafness—auditory rehabilitation and audiosurgery. * The early part of the 20th century saw the first organized efforts to develop compensatory skills for the communication handicap which divided the person with impaired hearing from his fellow man. Leagues for the hard of hearing and some universities developed systems for teaching lipreading and offered help in the eradication of voice and speech changes resulting from the defective hearing. In the 1940's the electronic hearing aid gained maturity and its acceptance on an increasingly large scale was assured. During and after World War II the Army and Navy aural rehabilitation programs brought a fresh emphasis on the team approach to deafness and stimulated the development of the science of audiology. At about the same time the surgical treatment of middle-ear deafness, abandoned some years before, commanded renewed interest, particularly