Abstract
THE principle of the so called “Audiphone,” described in NATURE, vol. xxi. p. 243, is by no means a new discovery, although the application of it may be novel. It has long been known that sounds may be conveyed to the auditory nerves through the mouth when the drum of the ear is defective in its action, although the principle has, perhaps, been little acted upon by aurists. Mr. Rhodes's system is to press the edge of a vibrating metal disk against the upper teeth, and “the vibrations thus taken up by the disk are transmitted through the teeth and bones of the skull to the auditory nerve.” (?) Such a remedy will, in many cases, be thought more inconvenient than the defect, and it is by no means necessary thus to jar the teeth and the bones. Although I am not deaf, some years ago I practised the listening to very feeble sounds through the mouth instead of by the outward ear, at the recommendation of the late Sir Charles Wheatstone. The inducing cause was to verify by experiment the true character and the notes of resultant tones, or Tartini's tones, about which no two authors had agreed. Sir Charles lent me one of his symphoniums—little instruments made like his concertinas, except that they were blown by the mouth directly upon the metal springs instead of by bellows. According to his directions I stopped my ears lightly with cotton, but pressed it into the concha with a thumb upon the lip of each ear. The little instrument was supported by my third and fourth fingers, leaving the notes to be touched by the first and second fingers of each hand. By thus excluding external sounds I could hear the deep and soft resultant tones to perfection; the instrument should not be tempered because they result from coincident vibrations of the notes sounded above. In these experiments I touched the symphonium as lightly as possible with elongated lips, the cavity of the mouth receiving the sounds. The teeth were covered by the lips.
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CHAPPELL, W. Hearing through the Mouth. Nature 21, 250 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021250a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021250a0
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