It is the purpose of this work to compare the two abilities of deaf children to hear pure tones and to hear speech sounds. The residual hearing for pure tones was examined with 2-A audiometer manufactured by Western Electric Co. in U. S. A. which gives eight pure tones; C, c, c,¹ c², c³, c⁴, c⁵, c⁶.
The subjects were twenty two children who belong to the middle and primary course of the Tokyo Deaf and Dumb School. One of them was ascertained to be able to hear all eight tones of the audiometer, from C to c⁶, while another could hear only one tone c². The rest of all children were to be ranked gradually between above mentioned two children according their own hearing.
To test the ability to hear speech sounds next five characteristics were selected which seem to be most difficult for the deaf to pronounce and at the same time seem to represent most important qualities of speech structures. The characteristics selected were accent, voice and voiceless, sound-s and sound-t, nasal and unnasal and five Japanese vowels. For any one of these qualities except vowels were selected five series of paired words, for example ame (rain) and ame (wheatgluten) inaccent,ito (string) and ido (well) in voice and voiceless etc., which were different on the problematic point and almost similar on the other point, namels as the whole structure.
Every word was pronounced by a little louder and higher voice than in daily conversation in the distance of fifteen cm. from the ear of the patient from which the expiration of the speaker was kept away with a cloth of silk. The ability to hear every word was tested after several trials of the preliminary exercise.
The results were as follows; (1) to recognize accent it was necessary to be audible upto c⁴ from lower tones, (2) the difference of voice and voiceless seemed to be most difficult to catch for all children, (3) to discriminate sound-s and-t necessitated the rest of hearing for c⁵ and lower tones, (4) nasal and unnasal were easiest for all and individual pecurialities were not observed, (5) five vowels were completely heard only by the , child who has the audibility for c⁵, but they were heard too by the child able for c⁴, though with less certainty.
F.Bezold insisted on the ground of the investigation in the abundance of deaf and dumbs that the rest of hearing necessary to hear speech sounds is the one for c². H. Fletcher too measured the audibilities of the deaf children in various methods and considered it to be most suitable to take up three tones c², c³, c⁴ as indispensable for hearing speech.
However as far as this experiment concerns, it seems to me that c⁴ and c⁵ are more important. And as I have concluded in my earlier report, c² is the center to preserve itself of the residual hearing and spreads higher and lower step by step from that point. Therefore the child who is capable to hear c⁴ and c⁵, without saying can hear c², too. Then the simplest way to see the audibility for speech is to investigate the rest of hearing by c⁴ and c⁵. By this shortest way we can find as soon as possible the hearing abilities of deaf children and utilize them to instruct the pronounciation or speaking. This is a suggestion towards the education of the deaf, obtained from this work.

View full abstract

Problem: In the fourth of a series of papers the writer has reported an investigation upon the general law of psycho-physical induction. In connection with this problem a further detailed analysis will be made in the present article.
Now, the outside distances of the diagram A, B, C, etc. in Fig. 7, although actually equal, appear to be of unequal length.
In the following investigation, I have sought to determine a relation between the amount of the illusion and the size of the inner interpol ated stimulus which varies from zero to a marked degree of length.
In making the measurements, the stimulus diagram was observed at the distance where the outer dots of the diagram are just visible. (The size of each dot is 0.5 mm. in breaatn and 1mm. in height. The observer usually sat at a aistance of 5 meters from the objects.)
Fig. 1.
Results: Fig. 2 in Japanese text p.454 shows a typical result of the experiments. It will be seen from the figure that the amount of the illusion varies quite regularly with the change in the length of the inner line. The over-estimation decreases with the increase in the size of the inner line, and the illusion is reversed when the inner line is sufficiently long. The change takes place slowly at first, then rapidly, and finally slowly again. This is what in mathematics is called a sigmoid curve.
There are many variable factors which govern the course of the illusion curve. In the first place, the curve shifts according to whether dots or lines are used -as the outer picture. Other variable factors are the size of the diagram, and the distance between the outer dots (or lines). Fig. 7 in Japanese text p. 460 shows how the illusion varies with the size of the diagram. The larger the diagram, the smaller the over-estimation. Finally, the decrease of over-estimation takes place as the distance between the outer dots is increased (See Fig. 4 in Japanese text p. 456)
To account for these phenomena a physiological hypothesis was offered. According to the writer's supposition, the psycho-physical induction has both peripheral and central causes, and it is quite possible that the synaptic connection of the nervous tracts plays an important rôle.

View full abstract

In this experiment we tried to examine whether the intuitive description of geometrical figure by words is possible or not.
Exp. I: Subjects of one group explain the 2 sorts of geometrical figures by sentence, and subjects of another group reproduce original figures, reading the sentence written by others.
Subjects as reproducer are 139 students of a technical school.
Each of sentences is selected by 2 psychologists who consider it easiest to understand in the descriptions by 40 students of a nurse training school. There are various differences between interpretations even for the same sentence as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 in the Japanese Text.
This result is caused by une vagueness of expression, that is, by the ability, method and attitude of interpretation.
Exp. II: Then other new 2 figures are added to the former, and these 4 figures are classified in 2 classes and two groups of psychologists, each consisting of 4 members, describe the figures of each class, and reproduce original figutes by the descriptions of another group.
We can expect from the result that the method and attitude of interpretation may be determined by the character of interpreter.
Exp. III: Again the other 8 psychologists interpret the 8 descriptions gained from Exp. II.
The difficulty of reproduction is due to the vagueness of description, but there are some differences between the attitudes of interpretation caused by the character of interpreter, for even the same sentence may be possible to be reproduced by some, interpreters and not by others.
The difficulty of reproduction is caused by the following conditions:
α) the expressions with contradiction and incorrectness,
b) vagueness of expression,
c) nonsensical and prolix expression,
d) the expression through the subjective imagination of interpreter,
e) the expression using no sign,
f) the expression from whole to part,
g) the expression of too much logical analysis.
The contradiction between f) and g) seems due to the character and attitude of interpreter. As the attitude of interpretation we perceive the following:
α) indignant attitude,
b) sympathetic attitude,
c) occupying attitude,
d) diverting attitude,
e) relinguish attitude.
But the types of description are classified by interpreter as following:
α) analytical type,
b) synthetic type,
c) none logical, vague and prolix type,
d) logical, simplified and well-ordered type.
An observer who has sympathetic attitude can interpret the sentence of analytical type more easily than that' of synthetic type, for analytical type has the margin to interpret sympathetically with speculation and supplement.
An observer, who has the occupying attitude so as to' interpret the sentence literally, gives up to interpret when it is ambiguously expressed.
In consequence the relation between expression and interpretation is reduced to the psychological relation between the describer and interpreter, and so the methods of interpretation vary with the attitude of the interpreter, being determined by the situation of interpretation.
The problem of hermeneutics, that is to find universal validity in the interpretation of sentence must be studied psychologically, for the process of understanding is nothing but the personal interaction between the describer and interpreter.

View full abstract

As a member of the oceanic department of the. Japanese Students League of Aviation, I (Satô) have practised the art of flying, since July, 1934, as I have a deep interest in aviation psychology.
I have found that an aviator can not do without a keen sense of depth, namely, the ability to discriminate keenly the degree of unevennesis of the ground. On the 26th December, 1935, I tried to rise up to a height of about 3,000 metres over IIanedaAerodrOlne in a training machine of the Mongs III type, and to discriminate the difference of heights of objects. it was glorious weather.
When my aeroplane, in ascending, had just come to the point where it was no more possible to distinguish the difference of heights of objects, it altitudes were as follows (the horizontal distance between the two respective objects was within 10 metres):
1) The surface of a lawn and an aeroplane flying above it (3-4 metres high) 150m.
2) An iron pipe (about 10m. high) and a cottage (5m.high)200m.
3)The ground and the electric wires over it 150-300m.
4) A pine tree (10 m. high) and a lodge (4 m. high) 300m.
5) The difference between the heights of roofs of ordinary houses 700m.
6) The surface of the sea or of a lawn and an aeroplane flying at an altitude of 150 to 200m 750m.
7) The difference between the roof (10m. high) and the chimney of a factory 850m.
8) The surface of an aerodrome and an aeroplane flying at an altitude of 200m 1,100m.
9) The ground and various flying aeroplanes 1,300m.
10 The heights of the hills near Ohmori 1,800m.
11) The ground and the gas-tank (40m high) near the coast of Omori 2,200m.
Since the records indicating the altitude of over 1,000 metres are not of full certainty, they ought to be tested once more by a series of experiments at some future time. And yet it will be necessary to take various weather conditions into consideration, and to make experiments with a subject who is ignorant of the sizes of the landmarks.

View full abstract