Steven Church, an english professor at California State University in Fresno and multi-award winning author, is also the author of an essay titled “Auscultation” about the importance of rhythm sensing technology. Church uses a personal story of his as well as two horrific events of trapped miners to convey his point. The essay begins with an event in which an earthquake traps six miners under 1,500 feet of dirt and rescue teams attempt to listen for the sound of thumping, but are unable to hear anything and ultimately give up the search, assuming the miners are dead. The essay continues to talk about how another doctors device is what allowed Church to first hear his child’s heartbeat, the first sign and sound of life. The essay ends with another tragic story of trapped miners, but this time they are able to hear the thumping of hammers, locate the earthed prisoners, and ultimately rescue them. Metaphors, imagery, or any other common rhetorical devices are not evidently used in “Auscultation”. Instead, Church relies on raw emotion. From a tragic story of six innocent deaths, to his heartfelt recount of hearing his child’s first heartbeat, and finally ending on a happy note of persistence and salvation, “Auscultation” successfully conveys the importance of sound detecting devices by showing the detriments of a world without them, as well as the benefits of a world with them. These potentially life saving devices range from the human ear to the doctor’s stethoscope and Church insists that neither be underestimated in their importance. Again, by rhetorically using raw emotion evoked by a personal anecdote and two very similar real stories with dramatically different endings, Steven Church accomplishes his purpose of communicating the importance of sound detecting devices to those who may not appreciate them, or take them for granted.
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| Laennec examining with a stethoscope. Painting by Robert Thom |
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