Jaipreet Virdi - Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History

JAIPREET VIRDI

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

2020 by The University of Chicago

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

Published 2020

Printed in the United States of America

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ISBN-13: 978-0-226-69061-2 (cloth)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-69075-9 (e-book)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226690759.001.0001

Published with support of the Susan E. Abrams Fund.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Virdi, Jaipreet, author.

Title: Hearing happiness : deafness cures in history / Jaipreet Virdi.

Description: Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019041405 | ISBN 9780226690612 (cloth) | ISBN 9780226690759 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: DeafnessTreatmentUnited StatesHistory19th century. | DeafnessTreatmentUnited StatesHistory20th century. | Quacks and quackeryUnited States. | MedicineUnited StatesHistory.

Classification: LCC RF291 .V57 2020 | DDC 362.4/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041405

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

To Geoffrey.

This is yours as much as it is mine.

None of the medicines that are advertised to the public as deafness cure will cure deafness, nor will a good many of the hearing devices that are advertised.

Arthur J. Cramp, Director of the Propaganda Department, American Medical Association, 1929

Acousticon hearing aid advertisement indicating normal living

The technological transformation of acoustic aids

Breathing into the ear to relieve deafness

Astley Coopers procedure for tympanic membrane perforation

Nicolas Deleaus technique for Eustachian tube catherization

F. C. Rein advertisement

Katherine Mansfield with Dorothy Brett and Toby

Self-Portrait by Dorothy Brett

Dorothy Brett with one of her machines

Dorothy Brett with one of her paintings

An elderly woman holding her conversation tube

George H. Wilson, inventor of Wilsons Common Sense Ear Drums

Frances M. Way, artificial eardrum inventor

The Morley Ear Phone, a type of artificial eardrum

Orris Benson tests the Akoulallion by listening to opera singer Suzanne Adams

Dr. Guy Clifford Powells electrotherapy machine

The Vibrometer

The Jordan Aural Vibrator in use

An advertisement for the Jordan Aural Vibrator

Fenskys Vibraphones

Harvey Lillard, the first chiropractic adjustment

Curtis Muncies finger surgery

Patients watching Muncies demonstration and waiting their turn

Julius Lempert

Acousticon advertisement, Hearing Aid Jitters

Zenith advertisement, Mother Can Hear

Advertisement, Deaf Can Fight, Too!

Sonotones Better Living magazine

Sonotones Sono-Charm

Page from FASHION: Your Passport to Poise

Nobody Knows Im Deaf!

Better Hearing Styled for Men

Before-and-after illustration of the deaf-face

Paravoxs HEARzone

Acousticon dealer cards for sales demonstration

The usefulness of Sonotone Consultants

Celebrity users of Zeniths $75 hearing aid

Zeniths competitive advertising

Join the Thousands Who Enjoy Real Hearing Happiness

My friend Erin and I attended the same special class for hearing-impaired children and became friends when we were in grade six. We lost touch and drifted apart some time at the end of our high school years, partly because we were at different schools and partly because our lives were heading down different paths. For most of our lives, Erin and I were told we were hard-of-hearing though we were both audiologically classified as profoundly deaf. As such, we grew up experiencing struggles of identity formation. Erin found a sense of belonging in Deaf culture. I struggled to pass as hearing and finally asserted my deafness in my thirties after continuous difficulties transitioning from analog to digital hearing aids.

Perhaps it was serendipity, but not long after my assertion, Erin and I realized we had both settled in the same city, a few blocks from each other. We had kept in touch over the years, but it was in this city where our friendship blossomed. Because I was working on this book, many of our conversations centered on the meanings of deafness and identity through historyon hereditary deafness and the impact it has on families, on cochlear implants, on community and belonging, and on historical definitions of deafness.

Erin reminded me that discussions about hearing being restored after being lost do not fit with the discourse of deafness and Deaf culture, because most Deaf people were born deaf and thus, never had any hearing to lose. I should clarify then, that this is a book about oralist experiences of deafness, hardness of hearing, and hearing impairment, not cultural Deafness, though that is not to say that the Deaf do not figure in the story. My aim is not to deny the richness of Deaf culture, but to enrich our understanding of a nuanced and considerably underrepresented aspect of deaf history: that of the medical and technological avenues for curing hearing loss. Most of the actors in this book are those we would classify as hard of hearing and largely relied on oral communication. That is not to say that these actors themselves may have, or have not, considered themselves as deaf or Deaf. Ive adhered to the historical record as faithfully as possible, so I use terms such as deaf and dumb, deaf-mutes, hearing impaired, or deafened as people at the time used them.

The contents of this book should not be construed as medical advice. I am a historian of medicine, not a physician. My object is to contextualize and deepen your experiences of medicine, health, and disability. If you are concerned about your hearing, visit a qualified specialist for an assessment.

Another experience that people who are gradually deaf go through is that they think they are going to get better. They cant believe it is going to happen to them. There must be a cure somewhere, in this modern age of miracles. It is of course, on the surface a shame to take the hope away from them.

Logan Clendening, 1943

The belief in cures tethers us not only to what we remember of our embodied selves in the past but also to what we hope for them in the future. And when those hopes are predicated on cure technology not yet invented, our body-minds easily become fantasies and projections.

Eli Clare, 2017

When I was four years old, I became ill with bacterial meningitis and nearly died.

It was November 1985. We were living in Kuwait at the time, before the Gulf War displaced and scattered my close-knit family across disparate lands. These were still days marked by weekend treks to the desert, where my dad cooked kebabs; days of unexpected playdates and jubilant birthdays. I was an energetic, talkative child who learned six languages but remained shy when reciting the Sikh