THE EAR DETECTIVE

Shannon News, 14 September 1928, Page 3

THE EAR DETECTIVE

Testing the hearing by holding a watch to the ear may soon be a thing of tho past. Accurate instruments are now used which, with psychological aids, determine a person's exact degree of hearing. False claims of deafness can be discovered in compensation cases. A device makes it possible t© switch the sound to either ear, or both. A loud tone in either ear causes the eye nearer it to blink slightly, though the patient may claim that he hears nothing. A push button enables the sound to be stopped at any mom'ent. If a patient claims that he still hears it when it has been cut off, it is evident he has been deceiving himself.. When a false claim for deafness in one car is suspected, the tone is switched rapidly back and forth between the ears at varying intensity, and the patient is asked to signal each time he hears a sound. A truthful sig- . nal can be made almost instantaneously but if the patient must stop to decide each time in which ear he hears the sound, he quickly becomes confuted and betrays himself.