George Hudson Makuen

1855-1917

George Hudson Makuen was a laryngologist who worked at the Philadelphia’s Polyclinic Hospital around the turn of the 20th century. His interests were broad. He published articles on voice disorders, the impact of hearing loss and lower intelligence on speech, stuttering (he called it stammering), and the effectiveness of different types of speech therapies. His studies ranged from single cases to a large demographic study of speech “defects” in his hospital. He believed that the primary cause of stuttering was psychological but that treatment must aim at correcting the physical habits and drilling in the proper processes of speech. He also subscribed to a theory of brain laterality as causing stuttering and treated people by having them shift from the left to right hand.

Makuen was born in Goshen, New York in 1855. He attended Yale University and received his bachelor’s degree 1884. His medical degree was from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (1889). In 1899, Makuen was one of the first to observe that boys who spoke in a habitual falsetto voice demonstrated a pronounced elevation of the entire larynx during phonation (Luchsinger & Arnold, 1965, p. 195).

He worked at the National School of Elocution and Oratory between 1884-1886, at Jefferson Medical College between 1889 and 1892, was a professor of defects of speech at the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital in 1896, worked as a laryngologist and otologist at Chester Hospital in Philadelphia. He was president of the American Academy of Medicine for the year 1900 and 1901, president of the American Laryngology, Rhinology and Otology Society in 1912, and was president of the American Laryngological Association in 1915.

Makuen made a strong effort in all of his roles to bring together the disciplines of elocution and medicine (1898, The Voice, vol 29, 672-678).

George Makuen married Nancy Baker Dyer on December 20 of 1900.

Writings by G. H. Makuen, arranged chronologically

Makuen, G. H. (1890). The breathing movements in relation to voice production, Education, 11, 211-220

Makuen , G. H. (1896). Speech defects, their causes and treatment. Transactions of Medical Society of Pennsylvania, 27, 149-153. (Reprinted in The Voice, 1897, vol. 19, 28-31)

Makuen, G. H. (1897). Two hundred cases of speech defects in the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital Pennsylvania Medical Journal, 1, 247-250.

Makuen, G. H. (1897-1898). The training of speech as a factor in mental development. Bulletin of the American Academy of Medicine, 3, 501-505.

Makuen, G. H. (1898). Some defects of speech their cause and treatment with exhibition of cases. Journal of American Medical Association, 30, 604-606.

Makuen, G. H. (1899). The value of muscle training in the treatment of vocal defects. Journal of American Medical Association, 33, 888-890.

Makuen, G. H. (1900). Defects of speech. International Clinics, 4: Ser. 9, 282-289.

Makuen, G. H. (1901). How to prevent stammering. Philadelphia. (reprint)

Makuen, G. H. (1901). Speech a factor in the diagnosis and prognosis of backwardness in children. Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct 12, 01. (See comments on this article in Werner’s Journal The Voice, vol 28, 480-490.)

Makuen, G. H. (1901). The diagnosis and treatment of some functional forms of defective speech Philadelphia Medical Journal, 7, 251-255.

Makuen, G. H. (1904). What the laryngologist may do for the correction of some of the more common forms of defects of speech. Laryngoscope, 14, 705-710.

Makuen, G. H. (1905). Report and exhibition of two interesting cases: One a curious laryngeal lesion and the other an unusual form of stammering. Laryngoscope, 15, 457-458.

Makuen, G. H. (1905). Retarded development of speech in young children. Pennsylvania Medical Journal, 8, 579-582.

Makuen, G. H. (1905). Speech as a factor in the diagnosis and prognosis of backwardness in children. Medical-Chirurgical Journal, 6, 22-24.

Makuen, G. H. (1906). The physiology of language and its relation to the treatment of stammering. New York Medical Journal, 84, 1261-1263.

Makuen, G. H. (1907). The oral cavity as a factor in the development of speech. Dental Brief of Philadelphia, 12, 349-359.

Makuen, G. H. (1908). Defects of speech and voice. American Physical Education Review, 13, 32-37.

Makuen, G. H. (1908). The essentials of voice production. New York Medical Journal, 88, 440-443.

Makuen, G. H. (1908). Do we hear ourselves as others hear us? Laryngoscope, 18, 263-265.

Makuen, G. H. (1909). A brief history of the treatment of stammering with some suggestions as to modern methods. Medical Record, 76, 1015-1017 and Philadelphia Medical Journal, 13, 191-197.

Makuen, G. H. (1909). On the relation of the faulty of hearing to the faculty of speech Laryngoscope, 19, 1-3.

Makuen, G. H. (1909). The action of the respiratory muscles in the production of voice. Laryngoscope, 19, 671-679.

Makuen, G. H. (1909) A brief history of the treatment of stammering with some suggestions as to modern methods. Medical Record, 76, 1015-1017.

Makuen, G. H. (1910). Stammering and its treatment. Philadelphia. (reprint)

Makuen, G. H. (1910). Suggestions as to modern methods. Scientific American Supplement, 69, 86.

Makuen, G. H. (1910). Nomenclature of defects of speech. Laryngoscope, 20, 1070-1073.

Makuen, G. H. (1910). The physiology and psychology of hearing with special reference to development of speech/ Laryngoscope, 20, 612-617 and American Annals of the Deaf, 44, 325-332. (A paper setting forth the details of the Helmholz resonance theory.)

Makuen, G. H. (1912). The teaching of speech and the correction of speech defects in deaf and hearing children. Volta Review, 14, 408-414.

Makuen, G. H. (1913). Defects of speech. Laryngoscope, 23, 234-236.

Makuen, G. H. (1913). A report of three unusual cases of stammering. NY. (reprint).

Makuen, G. H. (1913-14). Demonstration of defects of speech. Pennsylvania Medical Journal, 17, 275-277.

Makuen, G. H. (1913). The early home treatment of the deaf child. Laryngoscope, 23, 116-120.

Makuen, G. H. (1914). A study of 1,000 cases of stammering with special reference to the etiology and treatment of the affection. Therapeutic Gazette, 38, 385-390 and Volta Review, 1915, 17, 268-273.

Makuen, G. H. (1914). Hypertrophied tonsils interfering with the action of the palate and causing defective speech. Laryngoscope, 24, 22-24.

Makuen, G. H. (1914). Surgery of the faucial tonsil as it relates to the functions of the tongue and soft palate in the production of voice. Laryngoscope, 24, 508-519.

Makuen, G. H. (1915). Psychology of stammering. New York Medical Journal, 102, 117-119.

Makuen, G. H. (1915). Training of speech after cleft-palate operation. In Brophy’s Oral Surgery. Philadelphia. P. Blakiston’s Son & Co. p. 726.

Makuen, G. H. (1915). The voice. The relation of the lymphoid tissue in the upper respiratory tract to the voice. Laryngoscope, 24, 46-48.

Makuen, G. H. (1916). Psychology of stammering. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 43, 68-72.

Makuen, G. H. (1916). Some recent theories on the causation and treatment of stammering. Laryngoscope, 24, 4.

Makuen, G. H. (1916). The surgical anatomy of the so-called capsule of the faucial tonsil. Laryngoscope, 25, 685-691.

Makuen, G. H. (1917). Medico-educational problems in the treatment of atypical children. Report from the New York Medical Journal, 510, p. 8.

Makuen, G. H. (1941). Psychology of stammering. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 43, 68-72.

Writings about George Hudson Makuen

Luchsinger, R. & Arnold, G. (1965). Voice, speech, language; clinical communicology; its physiology and pathology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Steel, Mary Summers (1931). How Dr. G. Hudson Makuen treated stammering. Proceedings of the American Speech Correction Association, 1, 20-26.