EAR HOSPITAL'S EQUIPMENT.

Shannon News, 1 April 1927, Page 3

EAR HOSPITAL'S EQUIPMENT.

WONDERFUL "SILENCE ROOM." London, Feb. 11. In the basement of the new Royal Ear Hospital, Bloomsbury, which was officially opened by the Rt. Hon. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, is a chamber which is said to be unique in this country, known, as the "silence room." The walls, floor and ceiling of this room are so constructed as to be impervious to external sounds, so that exact tests of degrees o£, deafness can be made in ideal and constant conditions. The stillness in this room, when the great double doors are closed, is said to be uncanny, especially to those accustomed to the roar and rush of London streets. It is claimed that the beat of the heart and the flick of the eyelid—when quickly closed and opened —can be heard. Mr. Chamberlain said that in the year 1925 there were more than 50,000 children, or 1 in every 100, attending, school who were to some extent suffering from ear trouble, which required diagnosis and treatment. "I might mention a special form of treatment, namely ionisation, which has been parI ticuarly valuable in ear diseases. Sixty or 70 per cent, of school children can be shown to be capable of being cured if they receive ionisation treatment in I good time." A statement was issued pointing .out that ear trouble was the cause of many hundreds of deaths every year. It was estimated that over 15 per cent, of the population suffered at one time or another from troubles of the ear. It had not been usually recognised how many street accidents were directly due to total or partial deafness. The new hospital is the gift of Lieutenant-Com-mander Geoffrey Duveen, who has provided the v/hole of the necessary amount of #ver £75,000.