The Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Abstract

THE LAST five years was a period of prolific and creative basic research in audition theory. Practical research in the education and rehabilitation of the deaf was not conducted with the same spirit of objectivity and determination in examining crucial issues. Consequently, an important concern is with research which has failed to appear. Research in audition provided a theoretical framework based on precise specification of stimuli, rigorous controls, abundant checks, and consistency with replication. Wever and Lawrence's Physiological Acoustics (133) considered middleear behavior under various experimental conditions and described relative motion in bone conduction involving translation and compression components. Davis (19) summarized experimentation in biophysics and physiology of the inner ear. Galambos (43, 44) in a series of brilliant experiments demonstrated the function of neural mechanisms in audition, especially the auditory pathways from the cortex to the cochlea through the reticular formation, revealing a motor connection to complete the auditory feedback loop. Bekesy (3, 4, 5, 6) constructed a mechanical model of the cochlea, using the skin on the arm as a sense organ comparable to the organ of Corti. His research permitted him to study funneling action, summation and inhibition, and demultiplication phenomena pertaining to audition in the nervous system. Zwislocki's measurements of the impedance of normal and pathological ears led him to the development of a mathematical model reflecting the dynamics of middle-ear behavior (139, 140, 141). These researches constitute a body of knowledge sufficient for a lifetime of study. Even so, basic research continues to extend vistas of learning.