title: Laryngologist Leon Zamenhof--brother of Dr. Esperanto.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To reconstruct the biography of the Polish otorhinolaryngologist Leon Zamenhof (1875-1934), a brother of Ludwik Zamenhof, who is famous for invention of the international language Esperanto.
  
  
  METHODS
  Biographical information was collected from pre-World War II resources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Zamenhof developed several important new forms of treatment to help the hearing impaired. Zamenhof was especially interested in the education of deaf children and the therapy necessary to facilitate their integration into society. His significant achievements were a phonetic method of therapy for the hearing impaired and an automatic device for ear insufflation that was considered indispensable in the management of pyorrhea. In addition, Zamenhof initiated various forms of social support among physicians within the medical community of Warsaw, Poland; made health care available to children with hearing impairments; and organized a Jewish school for deaf children. Zamenhof tried to change public attitudes toward deafness, working to promote the integration of the deaf into wider society. He also translated Polish literature into Esperanto.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With similar aims to his brother Ludwik, Leon Zamenhof strived to enhance and broaden communication among people who could not hear and to persuade people to change their attitudes about deafness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, Waszyngtona 13, 15-269 Bialystok, Poland. andwinc@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wincewicz
authors.forename: Mariola
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sulkowska
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Musiatowicz
authors.forename: Stanislaw
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sulkowski
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003638:Deafness / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics / Q000266:history*; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000266:history*; D011044:Poland