Deaf intermarriage has limited effect on the prevalence of recessive deafness and no effect on underlying allelic frequency.

ABSTRACT: The idea that deaf intermarriage increases the prevalence of deafness was forcefully pushed in the late 19th century by Alexander Graham Bell, in proceedings published by the National Academy of Science. Bell's hypothesis was not supported by a 19th century study by Edward Allen Fay, which was funded by Bell's own organization, the Volta Bureau. The Fay study showed through an analysis of 4,471 deaf marriages that the chances of having deaf children did not increase significantly when both parents were deaf. In light of an apparent increase in non-complementary pairings when a modern dataset of Gallaudet alumni was compared with the 19th century Fay dataset, Bell's argument has been resurrected. This hypothesis is that residential schools for the deaf, which concentrate signing deaf indivi

SUBMITTER: Braun DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7641374 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature