Adventures in SilenceCollingwood, Herbert W. (Herbert Winslow)
Science
Adventures in Silence
Collingwood, Herbert W. (Herbert Winslow)
Deafness
Speaking of head noises and imaginary voices, I have an idea that there
are deaf men who took these things too seriously and came to think
that such noises appear to all. This led to a condition which made it
something of a trial to live with them. They have been railroaded off to
some “sanitarium” or asylum, even though they may be entirely sane. I
have met deaf men who realize all this, and therefore, as they express
it, they “will not tell all they know.” I am convinced that for this
reason much that might be valuable to the psychologist is lost to the
world.
Another strangely interesting point in this connection is that the
deaf hear perfectly in dreams. Even considering dream psychology,
this is to me the most curious phenomenon of the condition. In dreams
I seem to meet my friends just as in waking hours, and I hear their
conversation, even to a whisper. I also hear music, but it is entirely
of the old style which I heard as a young man, before my hearing failed.
Unfortunately (or otherwise) the modern “jazz” and rag-time tunes mean
nothing to me; I have never heard a note of them. In dreams I hear grand
operas and songs of the Civil War and the following decade; these last
are plaintive melodies for the most part, for New England, when I was a
young man, was full of “war orphans,” who largely dictated the music of
the period. But even in sleep, listening as easily as anyone to this old
music or to the voices of friends, the thought comes to me constantly
that I am really deaf, and that all this riot of music and conversation
is abnormal. The psychological explanation that here is a dream struggle
between a great desire and the fact which thwarts it in real life sounds
plausible enough, but the deaf man still must ponder on the profound
mystery of his dream-life. I do not know just how common this dream
music or sleep conversation may be among the deaf. I am told that some
deaf people rarely, if ever, have this experience, while others tell
very remarkable stories of what comes to them in sleep. It must be
understood that I am merely giving my own personal experience, without
trying to record the general habit of the deaf.
Physicians relate some curious experiences in this line. In one case a
deaf and dumb man, utterly incapable of hearing when awake, was made to
hear music and conversation when asleep. On the other hand, a deaf man
who could hear music and conversation in dreams could not be awakened
even by loud noises close to his ear. He showed a mechanical response
to the vibration by a slight flicker of the eyelids, but protested that
he _heard_ nothing of the racket. In most cases of hysterical deafness
arising from nervous trouble or shell shock during the war the patient
seemed to have _forgotten how to listen_. If he could be made to listen
intently he usually made some gain in hearing. Mind control or the use
of some hypnotic influence is actually helpful in many cases.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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