World’s first speech and hearing museum to come up in Mysore. A three-storied museum for speech and hearing, which is reckoned to the first of its kind in the world, is coming up in Mysore. It will be in the shape of a human face. The Mysore-based All-India Institute of Speech and Hearing Institute (AIISH), a premier institute in the field of speech and hearing under the government of India, has proposed setting up a “disabled-friendly” “barrier-free” museum on its premises. The building will come up next to the knowledge park. Conceptualised on a ‘touch, feel and learn’ approach, the museum offers innovative ways of understanding the functioning of organs such as the brain, ears, nose, tongue, and vocal chords. A visitor can experience how we speak and hear after touring the museum, according to AIISH. Karnataka Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader on Friday launched the concept for the museum. It is estimated to cost Rs. 6 crore. The museum comes with two sections - basic and advanced sections – catering to the general public and professionals. Ajeesh Abraham from the Electronics Department at AIISH said: “This is the world’s first museum for speech and hearing. There is a hearing aid museum at the Kent State University and History of Hearing Museum at Springfield. But, the proposed museum in Mysore covers both hearing and speech fields.” In the basement of the museum, models explaining respiratory mechanism would be displayed. In the ground floor, the mechanism of larynx and disorders connected with it would be elucidated. The first floor will have information on speech and hearing and physiological disorders. Brain disorders would be explained in the second floor. A visitor will learn about the functioning of the brain’s left and right hemisphere while touring the third floor. There would be related displays in the mezzanine floors of the ground and second floors, according to Prof Abraham. Incidentally, the architecture for the museum had been designed by S.R. Savithri, director, AIISH. A spiral-shaped staircase runs through the floors. The human-face shaped structure is equipped with a lift. The functioning of organs will be reconstructed using modern technological tools to explain the functions of voice in simple ways for the visitors, according to Prof. Savithri.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 06:25:34 +0000