Pages from the Past: Causes of Deafness

Although attributions of causality to "mental impressions" of the mother may strike us as naive, a close reading of this manuscript provides significant insight into the demographic characteristics of students at that time, and some cultural perspectives. It appears that a large proportion of students might be classified today as hard of hearing. Of 20 students, 10 could hear the louder tones of the human voice. Also, Turner notes that about half of the students had "accidental" deafness, with approximately half of that number involving scarlet fever. It would appear, then, that enrollment in residential schools for the deaf today is made up of a far higher proportion of children with profound congenital hearing losses. He notes only 2 cases of deaf children of deaf parents before education of the deaf was established. Both cases involved a deaf father and a hearing mother. Turner reported that since the establishment of the American School 30 years previously approximately 100 marriages had been formed, in about half of which both parties were deaf. This suggests a much higher rate of deaf/hearing marriages than is presently the case.