A Simple Tonometer

Abstract

AN apparatus has recently been developed in connexion with the work of linguists which promises also to be useful to investigators of speech in the deaf. Linguists who study tonal languages such as Chinese and many of the African languages have had in the past to rely almost entirely on the subjective process of listening, in order to determine the all-important pitch of each syllable. The oscillograph is not a practical proposition for dealing with thousands of words. Teachers of the deaf are faced with the fact that intelligibility depends not only on correct enunciation and rhythm, but also on the rise and fall of the voice. The latter accomplishment has proved too difficult save for the more gifted pupils, as it has been undemonstrable.