My First Paper
One day Dr. Walter Page Covell, Professor of Anatomy and Otolaryngology (and a very good friend) told me that there was a large collection of sections of guinea pig cochleas that had been used in an investigation carried out for the American Air Forces during the Second Word War. All of the guinea pigs had been exposed to noise and the hair cells in the organ of Corti had been carefully evaluated, establishing a relation between the intensity of the noise exposure and the cell damage. Different frequencies had been used, as well as different intensities. This extensive study was carried out by Dr. Covell and Dr. Donald H. Eldredge, a neurophysiologist at the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID).
“In many of these sections,” said Dr. Covell, “we can see parts of the vestibular labyrinth. I want you to check whether the intense sound can also damage the vestibular end-organs.”
For the next few months I was busy checking the sections of each guinea pig in the study to find the ones in which the vestibular labyrinth had also been sectioned. And I began to look at the utricle, the saccule and the semicircular canals – all of the vestibular hair cells. I found unquestionable evidence that there was damage to the vestibular end-organs, caused by intense sound.
We took the slides to the illustration department and prepared the paper for publication. I received considerable help from Dr. Covell, who oriented me as to which findings were noteworthy and advised me on the use of the English language in medical publications.
Every Thursday afternoon there as a seminar at the CID, where their own research was reported and occasionally there were lectures by invited guests. Dr. Covell told me that he had talked to Dr. Hallowell Davis and I would be invited to present my research at the CID.
The invitation came and I went there to make my presentation. I was among friends, so everything went quite well. Then Dr. Davis said that he was going to submit the paper to the Research Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
The coordinator of the program on that year was Dr. William D. Neff, who worked at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Neff worked extensively in removing parts of the central nervous system in cats and studying the effect of these ablation on the cat’s hearing. This involved conditioning the cats for behavioral audiometry (auditory electrical responses were yet to be discovered at that time), then performing surgery and then reconditioning the cat for post-operative audiometry.
Dr. Neff wrote me a letter stating that he wanted as many new researchers as possible in the program and that my paper had been accepted.
During the period of time that I spent in Saint Louis, all of the American Academy Meetings were in Chicago. So I went there for my presentation.
Try to imagine the situation. In the first row of the amphitheater I could see all of the most famous American otolaryngologists of that time. As the moment of my presentation approached I was becoming increasingly nervous. Ian Wersäll, from Sweden, was a fellow at the CID and his presentation preceded mine. Suddenly I saw him writing something. “Ian, what are you doing?” I asked him. “I am writing the beginning of my presentation. After that I will proceed without problems.” Ian became the Professor of Otolaryngology of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
I figured that that was a good idea and wrote my beginning too. It definitely helped me. But I did a good job. And I no longer get nervous in my presentations. I have never been as worried about my audience as on that particular day.
This presentation was the material for my first paper, published in December 1959.
Mangabeira Albernaz PL, Covell WP, Eldredge DH. Changes in the Vestibular Labyrinth with Intense Sound. Laryngoscope, 1959; 69: 1478-93.
“In many of these sections,” said Dr. Covell, “we can see parts of the vestibular labyrinth. I want you to check whether the intense sound can also damage the vestibular end-organs.”
For the next few months I was busy checking the sections of each guinea pig in the study to find the ones in which the vestibular labyrinth had also been sectioned. And I began to look at the utricle, the saccule and the semicircular canals – all of the vestibular hair cells. I found unquestionable evidence that there was damage to the vestibular end-organs, caused by intense sound.
We took the slides to the illustration department and prepared the paper for publication. I received considerable help from Dr. Covell, who oriented me as to which findings were noteworthy and advised me on the use of the English language in medical publications.
Every Thursday afternoon there as a seminar at the CID, where their own research was reported and occasionally there were lectures by invited guests. Dr. Covell told me that he had talked to Dr. Hallowell Davis and I would be invited to present my research at the CID.
The invitation came and I went there to make my presentation. I was among friends, so everything went quite well. Then Dr. Davis said that he was going to submit the paper to the Research Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
The coordinator of the program on that year was Dr. William D. Neff, who worked at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Neff worked extensively in removing parts of the central nervous system in cats and studying the effect of these ablation on the cat’s hearing. This involved conditioning the cats for behavioral audiometry (auditory electrical responses were yet to be discovered at that time), then performing surgery and then reconditioning the cat for post-operative audiometry.
Dr. Neff wrote me a letter stating that he wanted as many new researchers as possible in the program and that my paper had been accepted.
During the period of time that I spent in Saint Louis, all of the American Academy Meetings were in Chicago. So I went there for my presentation.
Try to imagine the situation. In the first row of the amphitheater I could see all of the most famous American otolaryngologists of that time. As the moment of my presentation approached I was becoming increasingly nervous. Ian Wersäll, from Sweden, was a fellow at the CID and his presentation preceded mine. Suddenly I saw him writing something. “Ian, what are you doing?” I asked him. “I am writing the beginning of my presentation. After that I will proceed without problems.” Ian became the Professor of Otolaryngology of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
I figured that that was a good idea and wrote my beginning too. It definitely helped me. But I did a good job. And I no longer get nervous in my presentations. I have never been as worried about my audience as on that particular day.
This presentation was the material for my first paper, published in December 1959.
Mangabeira Albernaz PL, Covell WP, Eldredge DH. Changes in the Vestibular Labyrinth with Intense Sound. Laryngoscope, 1959; 69: 1478-93.
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