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The neurological mechanisms of hearing and speech in children
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY AND CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
BOOK
645
REVIEWS
Edited by CHARLES E. HENRY Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.)
Alteraeiones eonvulsivas (Convulsive disorders). - - A. A. Monti (University of Cordoba Press, Cordoba, Argentine, 1964, 144 p., 380 Argentine pesos). This book has been written for the general practitioner and the neurologist in training. It is a brief, well written, summary of current knowledge on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. It follows closely the classification proposed by Penfield and Jasper. The emphasis placed by the author on the careful clinical study of seizure phenomena is of special value in a handbook for general practitioners working in an environment where electroencephalography is not readily available. This is nicely balanced by his insistence that epileptic seizures are symptoms of brain lesions which may require specialized care. To readers in the Northern Hemisphere this last statement may seem to belabor the obvious, but it must be remembered that there are many medical schools in the world still teaching that epilepsy is a single, genetically determined disease which is treated with calcium bromide. To physicians trained in these antiquated concepts, reading this book will be an enlightening experience. ]EDUARDOEIDELBERG, M.D.
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Ariz. Electroenceph. clin. NeurophysioL, 1965, 18:645
The neurological mechanisms of hearing and speech in children. - - I. G. Taylor (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1964, 237 p., 42 sh.). As Sir Alexander Ewing states in the preface, this book describes problems " o f increasing national significance, since it has been reported in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America, that the number of children found to be suffering from 'brain-injuries' is increasing." This is a descriptive and theoretical book. The author reviews the physiology of the ear, the pertinent neuroanatomy of the auditory tracts and the cortex, the pathogenesis of peripheral hearing losses, and the development and symptom complexes of children who are mentally retard-
ed, aphasic or dysphasic, or cerebral palsied. He offers a good review of the literature concerning basic EEG, the effects of barbiturates which he uses for sedation for sleep studies, and the current status of E E G audiometry. Into this review is mixed psychogalvanometry, although results of this technique are not reported on his patients. He describes in detail his technique of reading EEG responses to sound by direct observation of the tracing, but fails to give any examples of his own E E G tracings and fails to specify what he uses as the ratio of positive to absent EEG changes that he accepts as evidence of response. His results suggest that he obtains no false positives so that every single change in EEG to a tone is acceptable evidence of a brain response. There is a detailed description of his use of behavioral responses in the waking child to sounds, well illustrated with photographs. He describes clearly both the problems and their solution for the early infant years. The last half of the book (about 100 pages) describes his results obtained in 67 children studied from a few months of age until several years older. For those who wish a careful analysis using the scientific method, this report is not satisfactory. For those who enjoy a vivid and artistic description of an interesting group of children intermingled with theorizing by the author, there is a rich experience. The author is obviously imaginative and original. His final proposal is that failure of language development in the child who is not peripherally deaf relates to damage in the tegmental areas. Some 40 pages are used to present the graphs of EEG audiometrie studies in sleep. Each patient receives about 15-27 stimuli at the rate of one every 30 sec or so, therefore, his actual testing time probably occupies no more than 15 min. This is an amazingly short time for this procedure. The reviewer felt that the diagnosis and management of these patients was probably excellent. The description of the testing of hearing in the waking state was most informative. Many of the patient histories were interesting. The analysis, however, of the total collection of findings was nearly absent and the analysis of his results with the EEG responses to sound were disappointingly superficial. A. J. DERBYSHIRE
University of Illinois, Chicago, 1ll. Electroenceph. clin. NeurophysioL, 1965, 18:645
BOOK
645
REVIEWS
Edited by CHARLES E. HENRY Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.)
Alteraeiones eonvulsivas (Convulsive disorders). - - A. A. Monti (University of Cordoba Press, Cordoba, Argentine, 1964, 144 p., 380 Argentine pesos). This book has been written for the general practitioner and the neurologist in training. It is a brief, well written, summary of current knowledge on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. It follows closely the classification proposed by Penfield and Jasper. The emphasis placed by the author on the careful clinical study of seizure phenomena is of special value in a handbook for general practitioners working in an environment where electroencephalography is not readily available. This is nicely balanced by his insistence that epileptic seizures are symptoms of brain lesions which may require specialized care. To readers in the Northern Hemisphere this last statement may seem to belabor the obvious, but it must be remembered that there are many medical schools in the world still teaching that epilepsy is a single, genetically determined disease which is treated with calcium bromide. To physicians trained in these antiquated concepts, reading this book will be an enlightening experience. ]EDUARDOEIDELBERG, M.D.
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Ariz. Electroenceph. clin. NeurophysioL, 1965, 18:645
The neurological mechanisms of hearing and speech in children. - - I. G. Taylor (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1964, 237 p., 42 sh.). As Sir Alexander Ewing states in the preface, this book describes problems " o f increasing national significance, since it has been reported in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America, that the number of children found to be suffering from 'brain-injuries' is increasing." This is a descriptive and theoretical book. The author reviews the physiology of the ear, the pertinent neuroanatomy of the auditory tracts and the cortex, the pathogenesis of peripheral hearing losses, and the development and symptom complexes of children who are mentally retard-
ed, aphasic or dysphasic, or cerebral palsied. He offers a good review of the literature concerning basic EEG, the effects of barbiturates which he uses for sedation for sleep studies, and the current status of E E G audiometry. Into this review is mixed psychogalvanometry, although results of this technique are not reported on his patients. He describes in detail his technique of reading EEG responses to sound by direct observation of the tracing, but fails to give any examples of his own E E G tracings and fails to specify what he uses as the ratio of positive to absent EEG changes that he accepts as evidence of response. His results suggest that he obtains no false positives so that every single change in EEG to a tone is acceptable evidence of a brain response. There is a detailed description of his use of behavioral responses in the waking child to sounds, well illustrated with photographs. He describes clearly both the problems and their solution for the early infant years. The last half of the book (about 100 pages) describes his results obtained in 67 children studied from a few months of age until several years older. For those who wish a careful analysis using the scientific method, this report is not satisfactory. For those who enjoy a vivid and artistic description of an interesting group of children intermingled with theorizing by the author, there is a rich experience. The author is obviously imaginative and original. His final proposal is that failure of language development in the child who is not peripherally deaf relates to damage in the tegmental areas. Some 40 pages are used to present the graphs of EEG audiometrie studies in sleep. Each patient receives about 15-27 stimuli at the rate of one every 30 sec or so, therefore, his actual testing time probably occupies no more than 15 min. This is an amazingly short time for this procedure. The reviewer felt that the diagnosis and management of these patients was probably excellent. The description of the testing of hearing in the waking state was most informative. Many of the patient histories were interesting. The analysis, however, of the total collection of findings was nearly absent and the analysis of his results with the EEG responses to sound were disappointingly superficial. A. J. DERBYSHIRE
University of Illinois, Chicago, 1ll. Electroenceph. clin. NeurophysioL, 1965, 18:645