Speech and Voice Correction
- Author:
Emil
Froeschels, M.D. Philosophical Library, New York. 1948.
There are nineteen contributors to this symposium, so it is not astonishing that it is a patchy piece of work. In his Foreword, the Editor states that the “… purpose is to offer to persons scientifically and/or practically interested in speech and voice correction the latest developments in the field. I have tried to include as many modern trends as possible so the reader will not be surprized if he finds divergent opinions expressed …” It is not so much divergence of opinion amongst the various authors that arouses comment as the discrepancy in the quality of their contributions. The fact that English is a foreign language to the editor and to some of the contributors accounts for the lack of lucidity in several of the articles and for the inadequacy of the proof reading. It is a pity that here and there in the text a German word is used?not even italicized?though it is quite feasible to find an English equivalent. It is, however, not only the foreign contributors who are at fault?with the honourable exception of Auguste Jellinek, whose articles on Accoustic Education for Children and for Adults are well written and serve a useful purpose; some of the Americans equally fail to use language that makes their meaning clear, and is free from solecisms. Before writing their articles each of them ought to have read that by C. P. Bontrager on ” Remedial Reading and General Semantics ” (pp. 249-69), and taken it to heart.
The book does not always offer enough to those who are ” practically interested “, doubtless owing to lack of space; most chapters only indicate the general principles of therapeutic procedures. Those by Samuel Robbins on ” Dyslalia “, and by Charles Strother on ” Voice Training after Laryngectomy are by far the most satisfying for the reader who seeks practical guidance.
The aim of supplying something for those ” scientifically interested is not really achieved either; there is a great deal of recapitulation of previous knowledge, and sometimes vague expressions of opinion are offered instead of welldocumented proof of what the writers postulate. The article entitled ” The Education of the Speaking Voice ” apparently intends to strike a highly scientific tone; the author never uses a word of one syllable if he can find one of five or six to replace it.
Annie Molenaar-Bijl’s observations on ” Stuttering “, and its differential diagnosis from stammering, is a valuable piece of work, for in practice there is still much confusion on this subject.
The account of ” Hearing Rehabilitation ” as carried out at Hoff General Hospital (a military hospital) and Dr William G. Peachor’s summary of the nature and treatment of speech disturbances arising from ” Gunshot Wounds of the Head and Neck”, justify the editor’s claim to lay the latest developments before the reader. It is a pity that these two chapters were so brief.
Emil Froeschels showed creditable restraint in allocating so little space to himself for his article on ” Stuttering Surely this aspect of the subject warrants more attention than has been given to it here. The whole book would probably have been of greater value if so much had not been crammed into so little space; several of the contributors would no doubt have done their subject greater justice if they had been able to write at slightly greater length. J.H.V.T.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.