Deafness: Its Causes and What Can Be Done About It

Abstract

on deafness has been done with both animals and human beings as subjects. In the past three years extensive experimental work has been carried on as a result of demands for answers to problems raised by the war. Again the question is asked, "What is deafness, and what can otologists do for it?"This question divides itself, as always, into two components: (1) the problem of deafness due to mechanical causes, that is, to obstructive conditions that prevent sound from reaching the sense organ or the organ of Corti (middle ear deafness), and (2) the problem of deafness due to changes occurring in the sense organ and the cochlear nerve (nerve deafness). These two components rarely occur as separate entities.