The Malingering Ear: Audiometric Surveillance in the Early Twentieth Century United States

This abstract has open access
Abstract Summary
In the late nineteenth century, new opportunities arose for practicing that most venerable and ancient of military arts—malingering. The expansion of workplace benefits made "playing sick" profitable in a range of new occupations while the growth of the workforce militated against close surveillance of sick workers and soldiers. Feigned deafness, in particular, presented a promising field of endeavor for the malingerer. The cacophonous modern battlefield and factory made hearing damage plausible and the technical demands of modern labor meant it often unfitted one for duty. Most importantly, unilateral deafness was easy to fake and difficult to detect. This paper examines one front in the state’s turn-of-the-century war on malingering—the use of hearing tests as a form of surveillance. Beginning around 1900 physicians associated with corporate and military employers developed audiometric techniques to sort malingerers from those with genuine hearing damage. In so doing they participated in an intensification of the logic of surveillance, peering past workers’ behaviors and utterances to probe directly the content of their sensory experience. In this respect, audiometry represents a close relative (and predecessor) of the polygraph.
Abstract ID :
HSS836
Submission Type
Abstract Topics
Chronological Classification :
20th century, early
Self-Designated Keywords :
surveillance, measurement, audiometry, hearing, sound, military, states, corporations
University of Michigan

Abstracts With Same Type

Abstract ID
Abstract Title
Abstract Topic
Submission Type
Primary Author
HSS575
Aspects of Scientific Practice/Organization
Organized Session
Prof. Anna Graber
HSS355
Technology
Organized Session
Francesco Cassata
HSS587
Medicine and Health
Organized Session
Chantal Marazia
HSS872
Thematic Approaches to the Study of Science
Organized Session
Dr. Alison Kraft
HSS5847
Biology
Organized Session
Dr. Dominik Huenniger
HSS512
Aspects of Scientific Practice/Organization
Organized Session
Alrun Schmidtke
79 visits