Overcoming deafness [electronic resource] : the story of hearing and language / Ellis Douek.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. I. Sound and hearing. ch. 1. Sound. 1.1. Measuring loudness. 1.2. Measuring pitch. 1.3. Mysteries. 1.4. How sound behaves. 1.5. Background noise. 1.6. Loudness and sound distribution. ch. 2. Hearing. 2.1. The mechanism of hearing. 2.2. Measuring hearing. 2.3. Names and nomenclature. 2.4. Testing children -- pt. II. Deafness. ch. 3. Conductive deafness. 3.1. Disease of the outer ear. 3.2. Disease of the middle ear. ch. 4. Perceptive or neurosensory deafness. 4.1. Disease of the inner ear. 4.2. Disease of the nerve. 4.3. Brain deafness. 4.4. Born deaf. 4.5. Tinnitus -- pt. III. Communication. ch. 5. Language. 5.1. The God with no mouth. 5.2. An inner language. 5.3. Wild children. 5.4. The critical period. 5.5. A language instinct. 5.6. Bilingualism and prejudice. 5.7. Broca's brain. 5.8. The voice. 5.9. Speech. 5.10. Gesture -- ch. 6. Music and the sound of feelings. 6.1. Music and birdsong. 6.2. Music as a human attribute. 6.3. Music and deafness -- ch. 7. Poetry and the sound of words. 7.1. Sound patterns. 7.2. Rhythm, beat and metre. 7.3. Rhyme. 7.4. Onomatopoeia. 7.5. Alliteration. 7.6. Assonance. 7.7. The sound of poetry -- pt. IV. Impaired communication. ch. 8. When hearing is impaired. 8.1. Two approaches. 8.2. Deaf children today. 8.3. Hearing aids. 8.4. The cochlear implant. ch. 9. When the hearing is normal. 9.1. Language deprivation. 9.2. Mental disability. 9.3. Specific language disorders.

Hearing is one of the most empowering of our senses; it enables us to work, socialise and communicate. It's hard to imagine living in a silent world, yet just 60 years ago this was the inevitable outcome for the majority of people with ear disease or language problems. Nowadays, virtually everybody can be helped to some extent and many cured. But how did we get here? This book tells the fascinating story of science and medicine's winning battle with deafness, covering all the hearing diseases and the progress of their treatment from the beginning of Ellis Douek's career in the 1950s to the present day. Unlike other books on hearing, this covers language disorders as well as the surgery of deafness; it is a book about human communication, discussing music and poetry as well as delving into the medical science. In our ageing population, hearing disorders are increasingly a part of everyday life; that they are almost always treatable should not be taken for granted. This book should be the first reference for anyone who has experienced hearing loss and would like to know more about hearing and language development, and for professionals in hearing science, medicine and allied fields of interest.

Electronic reproduction. Singapore : World Scientific Publishing Co., 2014. System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Mode of access: World Wide Web.