The Telephone

Abstract

HAVING seen a paragraph in NATURE communicated by Mr. Severn, of Newcastle, New South Wales, describing a method of using a telephone to enable deaf persons to hear, I have tried the experiment in the manner Mr. Severn describes—by fastening a string to the parchment diaphragm of a simple telephone made of wood, and carrying this string round the forehead of the deaf person, who clasps the string with both hands and presses them over his ears. The experiment in this way was partially successful; the sound of the voice was always heard, and some words were distinguished. Afterwards I fastened a single string to the telephone and got the deaf person to hold the string between his teeth. He then heard every word distinctly, even when spoken in a low tone of voice at the whole length of the room.