The Edge of Silence: A History of Fanciful Deafness Fads

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

12-1pm Eastern Time (US and Canada)

~ Department of Medicine Grand Rounds ~

Jaipreet Virdi, PhD

Assistant Professor of History, University of Delaware

Healing fads thrive on spectacle and fascination, fueled by the media’s obsession with sensational stories and charismatic celebrities undergoing extraordinary treatments. These fads promise a cure and promote the belief that no matter how implausible or dangerous, any cure for a stigmatized condition is worthwhile if it can promise hope. This talk focuses on the history of twentieth-century medical fads for deafness that obtained legitimacy within American medical circles, including magnetism, chiropractic adjustment, and osteopathy. By appealing to the emotional vulnerability of patients and offering optimism, these fads gained prominence—even when their benefits fell short of expected outcomes. Contact Tiffany Rocco (roccotp@upmc.edu) if you would like to attend.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

6-7:15pm Eastern Time (US and Canada)

~ Reynolds Society Lecture ~

Recording of evening lecture

In the evening, Professor Virdi presented "Negotiating Normalcy: Deafness Cures in American History," based on her book, Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History (University of Chicago, 2020). She is a specialist in the history of medicine, disability studies, and the history of technologies such as hearing aids. See her website for a Curriculum Vitae and current work.

The C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society thanks the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law for its generous support of the continuing relevance of medical history in our world.