Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:24:12.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Alfred Gardiner Brown (1838–1882) M.R.C.S.Eng., F.R.C.S.(Ed.)

His contribution to the history of the development of the tuning fork

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Abstract

Alfred Gardiner Brown was the first designated Aural Surgeon to be appointed to the consultant staff of The London Hospital, at the age of 38. In July 1880 he published the paper showing his adaptation of the way in which the tuning fork was applied to the head and its use in measuring hearing power by comparing it with the sense of touch. Had he been blessed with a longer life it is highly probable that he would have made a significant contribution as he was of an innovative and inventive mind. He died at the age of 44.

Type
Historical Article
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Based on a paper presented to the Fifth Meeting of the British Society for the History of ENT, Birmingham, 10th October 1997.

References

Booth, J. B. (1989) Norris Wolfenden – A Footnote. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 103: 10141019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
British Society of Audiology (1987) Recommended procedure for Rinne and Weber tuning-fork tests. British Journal of Audiology 21: 229230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1868) Two methods of removing foreign bodies from the external auditory meatus. Medical Times and Gazette, ii. 146 (8th August).Google Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1879a) I Asyntrophy of the right temporal bone. Lancet ii. 684.Google Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1879b) II On removal of foreign bodies from the external and middle ear by the Hamular method. Lancet ii. 940.Google Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1880a) III Ivory exostosis deeply seated in the external auditory meatus; Removal. Lancet i. 396.Google Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1880b) IV A new standard of measurement of hearing-power by comparison with the sense of touch. Lancet ii. 127.Google Scholar
Brown, A. G. (1881) V The acoustic potentials of the human auricle. Lancet ii. 10821084.Google Scholar
Browning, G. G. (1987) Is there still a role for tuning-fork tests? British Journal of Audiology 21: 161163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browning, G. G., Swan, I. R. C. (1988) Sensitivity and specificity of Rinne tuning fork test. British Medical Journal 297: 13811382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burkey, J. M., Lippy, W. H., Schuring, A. G., Rizer, F. M. (1998) Clinical utility of the 512-Hz Rinne tuning fork test. American Journal of Otology 19: 5962.Google ScholarPubMed
Chole, R. A., Cook, G. B. (1988) The Rinne test for conductive deafness. Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery 114: 399403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Committee for the Consideration of Hearing Tests (1933) Report. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 48: Part I 2248. Part II 77–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, H., Kaufman, R. S. (1966) The Rinne tuning fork test. Archives of Otolaryngology 84: 406408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doyle, P. J., Anderson, D. W., Pijl, S. (1984) The tuning fork – an essential instrument in otologic practice. Journal of Otolaryngology 13: 8386.Google ScholarPubMed
Dundas-Grant, J. (1935) Measurement of loss of hearing in decibels by means of tuning forks. Lancet 2: 996998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girgis, T. F., Shambaugh, G. E. J. (1988) Tuning fork tests: Forgotten art. American Journal of Otology 2: 6469.Google Scholar
Hallpike, C. S. (1933) Critical review: The Hearing Tests Committee Report. 48:114120.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. W. (1970) Tuning forks to audiometers and back again. Laryngoscope 80: 4968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ObituaryBrown, Alfred Gardiner, FRCS, Ed. (1882) British Medical Journal 11th 03.Google Scholar
Politzer, A. (1907) Geschichte der Ohrenheilkunde. I Band. Verlag von Ferdinand Enke; Stuttgart. Translated into English by Milstin, S., Portnoff, C., Coleman, A., (1981) Columella Press: Phoenix, Arizona.Google Scholar
Politzer, A. (1913) Geschichte der Ohrenheilkunde. II Band. Verlag von Ferdinand Enke; Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Samuel, M., Eitelberg, E. (1989) Tuning forks: the problem of striking. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 103: 16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheehy, J. L., Gardner, G., Hambley, W. M. (1971) Tuning fork tests in modern otology. Archives of Otolaryngology 94: 132138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephens, S. D. G. (1979) Centenary of British Audiometry. British Journal of Audiology Supplement 2.Google Scholar
Stephens, S. D. G. (1981) The British medical profession and the first audiometers. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 95: 12231235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed