Article ID: CBB012660650

Phyllis M. Tookey Kerridge and the Science of Audiometric Standardization in Britain (2018)

unapi

The provision of standardized hearing aids is now considered to be a crucial part of the UK National Health Service. Yet this is only explicable through reference to the career of a woman who has, until now, been entirely forgotten. Dr Phyllis Margaret Tookey Kerridge (1901–1940) was an authoritative figure in a variety of fields: medicine, physiology, otology and the construction of scientific apparatus. The astounding breadth of her professional qualifications allowed her to combine features of these fields and, later in her career, to position herself as a specialist to shape the discipline of audiometry. Rather than framing Kerridge in the classic ‘heroic-woman’ narrative, in this article we draw out the complexities of her career by focusing on her pursuit of standardization of hearing tests. Collaboration afforded her the necessary networks to explore the intricacies of accuracy in the measurement of hearing acuity, but her influence was enhanced by her ownership of Britain's first Western Electric (pure-tone) audiometer, which she placed in a specially designed and unique ‘silence room’. The room became the centre of Kerridge's hearing aid clinic that, for the first time, allowed people to access free and impartial advice on hearing aid prescription. In becoming the guardian expert and advocate of the audiometer, Kerridge achieved an objectively quantified approach to hearing loss that eventually made the latter an object of technocratic intervention.

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Authors & Contributors
Blume, Stuart S.
Crane, Jennifer
Seaton, Andrew
Jepsen, Kim Sune
Davies, Stephen M.
Welch, Ellen
Concepts
Medicine
Public health
Hearing aids
Medical technology
Medicine and government
Health care
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
20th century, late
18th century
Places
Great Britain
England
Manchester (England)
Wales
United States
Netherlands
Institutions
National Health Service (Great Britain)
Rockefeller Foundation
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