asked the Lord President of the Council when the Medical Research Council will report upon the provision of bone-conduction hearing aids.

Tests are being made to see whether one of the existing types of bone-conduction receiver can usefully be combined with the Medresco hearing aid, but I cannot yet say when they will be completed. Any improvement on existing forms of bone-conduction hearing aids is not likely to be possible without more fundamental knowledge, which will take longer to acquire.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is, and has been for many years, a considerable amount of knowledge of bone-conduction? Surely, it must be a simple matter for the Medical Research Council to make bone-conduction apparatus available with the Medresco aid? Nearly all the commercial standards types have bone-conduction available.

May be, but they are not as good as our types. I am told that whilst there is every wish to meet the point and to solve the problem, in fact we have not got as far as to produce instruments sufficiently satisfactory as compared with the ordinary ones.