Show 9 4 The Amazing New v I Sound— a concert in stereo a roaring waterfall a train whistle— is now being used successfully in the dentist’s office and its potential value in surgery and childbirth seems farreaching v N f ByGAYGAER Wallace Gardner drills painlessly on patient listening to music as Dr Licklider observes Dr boy in Boston who usually cried at the dentist’s sat' quietly while having two cavities filled recently He did this without receiving novocain or gas Instead he wore earphones Hopping out of the chair afterward he had only one comment “Gee Mom that diesel sure can blow its whistle!” A recording of diesel sounds had helped to kill his pain! In a Midwest dental clinic this spring an elderly lady underwent a complicated oral operation without any chemical painkiller Hypertension pre- A five-year-o- ld cluded the usual anesthetics While the doctor pulled four teeth trimmed bone and sewed tissue her only relief came from music and a rushing sound through earphones “Astonishing!” she said later “It didn't hurt” “pain-killiby sound”— is unusual one of modem science’s newest and most discoveries The procedure is simple A patient chooses a recording puts on earphones and relaxes by listening If he feels any discomfort he adjusts a remote control and a sound like the rushing of a waterfall alleviates the pain Incredible as it seems the combination of music and other sounds has alleviated pain in dentistry surgery and childbirth The discovery that sound can kill pain resulted from the lucky meeting of two men Dr Wallace J Gardner a Cambridge Mass dentist had long been experimenting with music as an analgesia when a new patient came to him The patient was ty Dr J C R Licklider a psychologist whose is the study of sound Licklider faced extensive and painful dental work After the first gruel Audio-analgesia- — - well-equipp- ed ng spe-cial- ing session he and Gardner decided that drilling would be less obnoxious if they could drown out the noise of the drill For the next appointment Licklider brought along an electronic noise generator “I put on earphones” he said “and when Doctor Gardner began grinding away at one of my molars I turned up a sound like the roar of Niagara Falls Believe me it Was wonderful to feel tjhat pain recede” This experience led to joint research to discover why sound affects pain and which combination of sounds will mask pain Using a acoustical laboratory and the help of trained specialists they found The most effective sound combinations the first “hi-- fi system” ever designed expressly as a painkiller Since then more than 5000 persons— including 500 extraction cases — have found that dentistry can be a relaxed experience when listening to music ia has been effective on 90 or noise percent of the patients who have tried it Many were children who usually threw tantrums or adults who panicked despite gas or novocain - Dr Frederick A Trevor of Melrose Mass explains that sound eased the anxiety part of their agony in a way no chemical could One of Dr Trevor’s most jvous patients used to go to bed for two days to recover from a visit Last winter he persuaded her to try sound “For the first time” he says “she enjoyed a normal day after seeing me” Because tension and anxiety magnify pain relaxation and distraction are important factors in diminishing it “First of all” says one patient “you Audio-analges- - ’ are told it won’t hurt Then that stereo music in the earphones is so terrific the rest of the world seems far away You couldn’t care less about what’s going on with the doctor You feel half asleep dreaming The noise just pushes the pain out of the way” ia leaves no unEqually important pleasant side effects such as excessive bleeding In one of the first surgicaFtests of the hew killer Dr Licklider had a small tumor removed from his shoulder’ “I felt only the bearable prickling of skin cuts” he said Toenail removals usually very excruciating subsequently were performed using sound and patients felt no pain audio-analges- according to Gardner and others some of heart operations now requiring multiple anesthetics may be performed with only a local anesthetic while the patient listens to music A compact hi-- fi set in ambulances may relieve the pain and shock of accident victims And for many who cannot take anesthesia without dangerous reactions ia could prove a lifesaver Already a number of children have been born to music Obstetricians observe that these babies are born extremely alert as in “natural childbirth” and that the mothers emerge with a sense of well-beiand recover rapidly ia Nobody can predict how widely will be used in the future But those who have experienced it entertain high hopes — like the new mother who was wheeled from the delivery room exclaiming “What a wonderful experience! I’ll always remember South Pacifier Soon audio-analges- ng audio-analges- f rite Timffru COVER: ijiMii qte’Mfa SUx May 22 1960 Polly Bergen lends enchantment to an sunbonnet in Richard Heimann’s photo She models others destined to go to p 18 your head in “Summer Cover-Uold-fashio- ps LEONARD S ned ' DAVIDOW President and Publisher WAITER C DREYFUS Vice President PATRICK E O'ROURKE Advertising Director Bond all advertising communications to Family Weekly 153 N Michigan Ave Chicago 1 III Address all communications about editorial features to Family Weekly 60 E 56th St New York 22 N Y © 1960 FAMILY WEEKLY MAGAZINE INC Board of Editors ERNEST V HEYN Editor-in-ChiBEN KARTMAN Executive Editor ROBERT FITZGIBBON Managing Editor MARGARET BELL Feature Editor PHILLIP DYKSTRA Art Director MELANIE DE PROFT Food Editor ef Bob Driscoll Irma Heldman John Hochmann Jerry Klein Harold London Jack Ryan Peer Oppenheimef Hollywood 153 N Michigan Ave Chicago 1 III All rights reserved |