Effect of Certain Drugs ox Acuity of Hearing 141 



ator of his own design. The drug effects were studied both 

 subjectively and objectively by Pohlman 2 . We are indebted to 

 Colonel George Fabyan of Riverbank, Geneva, 111., for the op- 

 portunity of collaborating on this problem of applied physics. 



The article by Macht, Greenberg and Isaacs 3 reviews the 

 literature thoroughly and includes certain notations on the ef- 

 fects of quinine of which we shall speak later. They confined 

 their attention to antipyretics and to certain combinations of 

 these drugs. In a general way, they exhibited small doses of the 

 various drugs to normal individuals and after an hour interval 

 tested the acuity of hearing. This was done by comparing the 

 distance at which a watch tick could be heard before and one 

 hour after the administration of the drug. The difference there- 

 fore gave a reading of greater or lesser distance. The authors 

 state that the figures are after all only empirical guides because 

 they recognize "true intensity varies as the square of the distance 

 of the sounding object." 



Inasmuch as this paper is mainly directed toward suggesting 

 more definite methods, it may be well to point out certain dis- 

 advantages in the use of the watch as a test for minimum audi- 

 bility. The watch tick is not only a difficult sound, or rather 

 series of sounds, to handle but the conditions under which the 

 usual tests with a watch are taken make quantitative measure- 

 ments practically valueless for anything approaching accuracy 

 in results. This statement must not be construed as a specific 

 criticism. It is to be lamented that no better quantitative test 

 methods were available for the work on the antipyretics. This 

 same objection holds for the exhaustive study by Kato 4 on the 

 reflex responses of the M. tensor and M. stapedius in experi- 

 mental animals even when the various pitches used were gener- 

 ated by a Galton w T histle actuated by a definitely controlled air 

 pressure. The distance at which a given watch tick will be heard 

 is not only dependent on the character of the watch and the 

 manner in which it is held but it is also dependent on the stand- 

 ing wave system in the room in which the test is being conducted. 

 This is never the same in any two rooms or is it the same in any 



2 Pohlman, A. G., Annals of Ot., Rhin. and Lary., 1922, xxxi, 1 and 430. 

 S Macht, Greenberg and Isaacs, Jr. Thar, and Exp. Med., 1920, xv, 149. 

 4 Kato, Arch, and Ges. Physiol, 1913, cl, 569. 



