About this Project
Deafness in Disguise presents images, illustrations, advertising pamphlets, trade catalogs, patents, rare books and other material pertaining to mechanical and electrical hearing devices from the 19th and 20th centuries. Of particular focus in this exhibit are hearing devices that were designed for concealment or camouflage within everyday items.
The Deafness in Disguise exhibit was originally a collaborative project between Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) and the Washington University School of Medicine Bernard Becker Medical Library, incorporating hearing devices, archival material and rare books from their respective collections. It was launched in 2002, coincident with the Annual Meeting of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, held in St. Louis in the summer of 2002. Involved with this project were William Clark, Arnold Heidbreder, Kim Readmond, Cathy Sarli, Brent Spehar and Rosalie Uchanski from CID, and Barbara Halbrook, Russ Monika, Philip Skroska, Lilla Vekerdy and Ed Walter from the Becker Library.
In 2003, the CID-Max A. Goldstein Historic Devices for Hearing Collection and related archival material were donated to the Bernard Becker Medical Library, effective with the acquisition of CID’s professional education, adult clinic, and deafness research programs by Washington University School of Medicine.
In 2005, the Deafness in Disguise digital exhibit was revised and expanded to reflect the new ownership of the CID-Max A. Goldstein Historic Devices for Hearing Collection. The revised exhibit was designed and written by Cathy Sarli and Ellen Dubinsky, with the design executed by Ellen Dubinsky. Michael Valente, Ph.D., Director of Adult Audiology and Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Rosalie Uchanski, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the Washington University School of Medicine, served as advisors to the project.
Funding for the revised Deafness in Disguise project was awarded by the Missouri State Library using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the federal Library Services and Technology Act.
The hearing devices portrayed in this exhibit are from the CID-Max A. Goldstein Historic Devices for Hearing Collection at Washington University Bernard Becker Medical Library. The rare books are from the CID-Max A. Goldstein Collection in Speech and Hearing at the Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University. Becker Library is indebted to Claus Nielsen of the Oticon Eriksholm Museum, Arnoud R. Beem, author of De Historie van het Hoortoestel, Kim Readmond of CID, and Arnold Heidbreder, Senior Design Engineer, Washington University School of Medicine Electronics Shop for their contributions to the project. All material in this exhibit is from the Bernard Becker Medical Library unless otherwise noted.
The Image Gallery section contains a sampling of images and related materials from the entire CID-Max A. Goldstein Historic Devices for Hearing Collection at Washington University Bernard Becker Medical Library. Concealed and non-concealed hearing devices are included, such as 19th century trumpets, conversation tubes and horns, and 20th century electrical hearing aids. Three dimensional digital surrogates of twenty of these hearing devices have been produced as part of Exploring Object Virtual Reality, a project which applies Object VR to small- and medium-sized objects.
Bernard Becker Medical Library is interested in acquiring archival material and hearing devices to document the history and development of hearing devices. Please contact Cathy Sarli for more information.
Digitization
Images were digitized in compliance with the Best Practices Guidelines advocated by the Missouri Digitization Project Planning Committee, Scanning Working Group. Three-dimensional artifacts were photographed using a Sony MVC-FD200 digital still camera. Two-dimensional items were scanned on a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet XPA, a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 7490c, or a Hewlitt-Packard ScanJet 5550c. Twenty-four bit RGB full-color scans were made at 100% of the original prints’ dimensions with a resolution of 600 dpi. Master image files of both the photographed and scanned items were saved as lossless, uncompressed TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) image files. Derivative access and thumbnail images were created from the master files and saved as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group format) image files.
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This Web site is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the state of Missouri. |
Credits:
Website content: Cathy Sarli
Cataloging and design: Ellen Dubinsky
Online Image Gallery Programmed by Simon Igielnik
Digital photography: Philip Skroska, Ellen Dubinsky, and Deutsches Museum, München, Germany
Project director: Barbara Halbrook