Deaf

More deaf people, and dumb, tried airplane rides last week to cure their deficiencies. But they got no more good than did Julius Shaefer, 10, terrified the previous week (TIME, Aug. 27). Fright or sudden air drops may temporarily help cure some cases of deafness or vocal paralysis, but not when essential nerves are dead or brain centres undeveloped.

This Dr. Edwin H. Coward, superintendent of the Atlantic County Hospital, knew last week when he fondly took Bob White, seven months old, to the Atlantic City airport. He put Bob White in a plane. It rose, swooped up and down. Bob White cowered. The plane came to earth. Bob White clambered out of the cockpit. Men chirruped at him; they whistled; they called. And for the first time in his life Bob White heard sounds. Delighted he yelped answers. No congenital deafness was his. More delighted was Dr. Coward. He cherishes Bob White, finely bred grandson of President Coolidge's pet white collie, Rob Roy.

Thomas Edison who is very hard of hearing, once declared that in 100 years all people would be deaf. Of course he was exaggerating. Yet it is certain that hearing defects have been increasing. In England one-third of the population, it is estimated, cannot hear perfectly. Doctors are investigating. One important cause that they blame is city noises. The cacophony injures the auditory nerves, the brain, the whole nervous system.