Speaker 1: Training the ear. The sense of hearing is one of
the highest of the senses or channels whereby we receive
impressions from the outside world. In fact, it ranks almost
as high as the sense of sight. In the senses
of taste, touch, and smell, there is a direct contact
between the sensitive recipient nerve substance and the particles of
the object sensed, while in the sense of sight and
the sense of hearing, the impression is received through the
medium of waves in the ether in the case of sight,
or waves in the air in the sense of hearing. Moreover,
in taste, smell, and touch, the objects sensed are brought
into direct contact with the terminal nerve apparatus, while in
seeing and hearing the nerves terminate in peculiar and delicate sacs,
which contain a fluidic substance through which the impression is
conveyed to the nerve. Proper loss of this fluidic substance
destroys the faculty to receive impressions, and deafness or blindness ensues.
As Foster says, waves of sound falling upon the auditory
nerve itself produces no effect whatever it is only when
by the medium of the endolymph. They are brought to
bear on the delicate and peculiar epithelium cells which constitute
the peripheral terminations of the nerve, that sensations of sound arise.
Just as it is true that it is the mind
and not the eye that really sees, so it is
true that it is the mind and not the ear
that really hears. Many sounds reach the ear that are
not registered by the mind. We pass along a crowded street,
the waves of many sounds reaching the nerves of the ear,
and yet the mind accepts the sounds of but few things,
particularly when the novelty of the sounds has passed away.
It is a matter of interest and attention in this
case as well as in the case of hearing. As
Hallick says, if we sit by an open window in
the country on a summer day, we may have many
stimuli knocking at the gate of attention. The ticking of
a clock, the sound of the wind, the cackling of fowl,
the quacking of ducks, the barking of dogs, the lowing
of cows, the cries of children at play, the rustling
of leaves, the songs of birds, the rumbling of wagons,
et cetera. If attention is centered upon any one of these,
that for the time being acquires the importance of a
king upon the throne of our mental world. Many persons
complain of not being able to remember sounds or things
reaching the mind through the sense of hearing, and attribute
the trouble to some defect in the organs of hearing.
But in so doing they overlook the real cause of
the trouble. For it is a scientific fact that many
of such persons are found to have hearing apparatus perfectly
developed and in the best working order, their trouble arising
from a lack of training of the mental faculty of hearing.
In other words, the trouble is in their mind, instead
of in the organs of hearing. To acquire the faculty
of correct hearing and correct memory of things heard, the
mental faculty of hearing must be exercised, trained, and developed.
Given a number of people whose hearing apparatus are equally perfect,
we will find that some hear much better than others,
and some hear certain things better than they do certain
other things, and that there is a great difference in
the grades and degrees of memory of things heard. As
Kay says great differences exist among individuals with regard to
the acuteness of this sense hearing, and some possess it
in greater perfection in certain directions than in others. One
whose hearing is good for sound in general may yet
have but little ear for musical notes, and on the
other hand, one with a good ear for music may
yet be deficient as regards hearing in general. The secret
of this is to be found in the degree of
interest and attention bestowed upon the particular thing giving forth
the sound. It is a fact that the mind will
hear the faintest sounds from things in which is centered
interest and attention, while at the same time ignoring things
in which there is no interest and to which the
attention is not turned. A sleeping mother will awaken at
the slightest whimper from her babe, while the rumbling of
a heavy wagon on the street, or even the discharge
of a gun in the neighborhood may not be noticed
by her. An engineer will detect the slightest difference in
the whir or hum of his engine, while failing to
notice a very loud noise outside. A musician will note
the slightest discord occurring in a concert in which there
are a great number of instruments being played, and in
which there is a great volume of sound reaching the ear,
while other sounds may be unheard by him. The man
who taps the wheels of your railroad car is able
to detect the slightest difference in tone, and is thus
informed that there is a crack or flaw in the wheel.
One who handles large quantities of coin will have his
attention drawn to the slightest difference in the ring of
a piece of gold or silver that informs him that
there is something wrong with the coin. A train engineer
will distinguish the strange whirr of something wrong with the
train behind him amidst all the thundering rattle and roar
in which it has merged. The foreman in a machine shop,
in the same manner, detects the little strange noise that
informs him that something is a miss, and he rings
off the power at once. Telegraphers are able to detect
the almost imperceptible differences in the sound of their instruments
that informs them that a new operator is on the wire,
or just who is sending the message, and in some
cases the mood or temper of the person transmitting it.
Trainmen and steamboatmen recognize the differences between every engine or
boat in their line or river, as the case may be.
A skilled physician will detect the faint sounds denoting a
respiratory trouble or a heart murmur in the patients. And
yet these these very people who are able to detect
the faint differences in sound above mentioned, are often known
as poor hearers in other things. Why simply because they
hear only that in which they are interested and to
which their attention has been directed. That is the whole secret,
And in it is also to be found the secret
of training of the ear perception. It is all a
matter of interest and attention. The details depend upon these principles.
In view of the facts just stated, it will be
seen that the remedy for poor hearing and poor memory
of things heard is to be found in the use
of the will in the direction of voluntary attention and interest.
So true is this that some authorities go so far
as to claim that many cases of supposed slight deafness
are really but the result of lack of attention and
concentration on the part of the person so troubled. Kay
says what is commonly called deafness is not infrequently to
be attributed to this cause the sounds being heard but
not being interpreted or recognized. Sounds may be distinctly heard
when the attention is directed toward them that in ordinary
circumstances would be imperceptible, and people often fail to hear
what is said to them because they are not paying attention.
Harvey says that one half of the deafness that exists
is the result of inattention. Cannot be doubted. There are
but few persons who have not had the experience of
listening to some bore whose words were distinctly heard, but
the meaning of which was entirely lost because of inattention
and lack of interest. Kerk's sums the matter up in
these words. In hearing, we must distinguish two different points,
the audible sensation as it is developed without any intellectual interference,
and the conception which we form in consequence of that sensation.
The reason that many persons do not remember things that
they have heard is simply because they have not listened properly.
Poor listening is far more common than one would suppose
at first a little self examination will reveal to you
the fact that you have fallen into the bad habit
of inattention. One cannot listen to everything, of course it
would not be advisable, but one should acquire the habit
of either really listening or else refusing to listen at all.
The compromise of careless listening brings about deplorable results, and
is really the version why so many people can't remember
what they have heard. It is all a matter of habit.
Persons who have poor memories of ear impressions should begin
to listen in earnest In order to reacquire their lost
habit of proper listening, They must exercise voluntary attention and
develop interest. The following suggestions may be useful in that direction.
Try to memorize words that are spoken to you in
conversation a few sentences, or even one at a time.
You will find that the effort made to fasten the
sentence on your memory will result in a concentration of
the attention on the words of the speaker. Do the
same thing when you are listening to a preacher, actor,
or lecturer. Pick out the first sentence for memorizing and
make up your mind that your memory will be as
wax to receive the impression and as steel to retain it.
Listen to the stray scraps of conversation that come to
your ears while walking on the street, and endeavor to
memorize a sentence or two as if you were to
repeat it later in the day. Study the various tones, expressions,
and inflections in the voices of persons speaking to you.
You will find this most interesting and helpful. You will
be surprised at the details that such analysis will reveal.
Listen to the footsteps of different persons, and endeavor to
distinguish between them. Each has its peculiarities. Get someone to
read a line or two of poetry or prose to you,
and then endeavor to remember it. A little practice of
this kind will greatly develop the power of voluntary attention
to sounds and spoken words. But above everything else, practice
repeating the words and sounds that you have memorized so
far as possible, for by so doing you will get
the mind into the habit of taking an interest in
sound impressions. In this way, you not only improve the
sense of hearing, but also the faculty of remembering. If
you will analyze and boil down the above remarks and directions,
you will find that the gist of the whole matter
is that one should actually use, employ, and exercise the
mental faculty of hearing actively and intelligently. Nature has a
way of putting to sleep or atrophying any faculty that
is not used or exercised, and also of encouraging, developing,
and strengthening any faculty that is properly employed and exercised.
In this you have the secret use it. If you
will listen well, you will hear well, and remember well
that which you have heard.