Abstract
ASTHMA is a disturbance of the respiratory mechanism involving partial reversible airway obstruction, especially on expiration, and which is marked among other things, by a raised emotional sensitivity in human relationships. There are also indications that asthmatics may be particularly sensitive to some physical stimuli1. It has, for example, already been shown by Tromp that asthmatics show an increased sensitivity to temperature changes in their environment2. When we consider the way in which the hearing system of man has evolved, it seems possible that connexions might still exist between it and the respiratory control centres3. This letter describes an unusual sensitivity to high frequency sound waves in asthmatics.
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References
Alcock, T., Transactions of the World Asthma Conference, 85 (Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., 1965).
Tromp, S. W., Transactions of the World Asthma Conference, 27 (Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., 1965).
Gray's Anatomy, 910 (Longmans, Green and Co., 1942).
Stevens, S. S., and Davis, H., ‘Hearing’ in Psychology and Physiology, 67 (John Wiley, 1948).
Best and Taylor, The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, 1435 (1961).
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MASON, R. Asthma and High Frequency Sound Perception. Nature 214, 99–100 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/214099a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/214099a0
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