bell actually did quite a lot for the
deaf and
hearing-impaired. his own
mother was deaf, and taught him the standard
finger alphabet. his father went a step further and taught him something called
visible speech. this was actually meant to show bell how to
enunciate words properly, but later on bell used this technique to teach speaking at the
boston school for
deaf mutes, as well as the clarke school, where his
future wife was a
student.
bell invented the
audiometer, a device to test hearing using different levels in sound intensity, in 1879. today those differences are known as "
decibels."
he helped found the
american association for the promotion of teaching of speech to the deaf in 1890; after his
death this became the
alexander graham bell association for the deaf.
bell's influence in the
world of the hearing-impaired is made most obvious when one considers that the number of deaf
children taught to speak rose from 40% to 80% during his
life.
gleaned from "person-to-person," a brochure out of the chazy & westport telephone company office