Assistive Technology and the Classroom 4

Captioning

Captioning displays text transcription of auditory information on a screen (such as a television screen or LCD). Captioning allows hearing-impaired viewers to follow spoken dialogue or narration by reading text.  Captioning would be helpful in the regular classroom and it would also help students at home.  It enables students to see text whether it is on TV, computers or through an LCD projection.  Closed captioning is now available for more and more programs.

Assistive Technology for Classroom Use 3

Hearing Loop

"A Hearing Loop is a coil of wire that amplifies sound and reduces background noise. Users of hearing aids with a loop can set their aids to a certain setting to receive the transmission. Hearing loops can be permanently installed or portable," http://www.nsnet.org/start/deaf.pdf.  The permanent system is best for AV rooms or larger room settings in the school.  The portable system can be used in rooms from 30-450 square feet, so this type of loop can go with the student from smaller classroom to classroom.

 

Assistive Technology for Classroom Use 2

As stated by National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, "A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations. However, only about one out of five people who would benefit from a hearing aid actually uses one.”

“A hearing aid has three basic parts: a microphone, amplifier, and speaker. The hearing aid receives sound through a microphone, which converts the sound waves to electrical signals and sends them to an amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of the signals and then sends them to the ear through a speaker.”

This piece of assistive technology could help a student in all settings.  It would be most useful in a classroom setting to ensure that students are able to hear the lesson and instruction.  This would be especially true in the English Language Arts classroom where students are expected to be able to demonstrate a number of specific listening outcomes.  As I am learning from my research, students with hearing impairment often struggle in school and have a higher rate of being retained. 

Assistive Technology for Classroom Use 1

 Assistive Listening System

This system allows teachers to speak into a microphone that transmits the speech to the hearing impaired student.  This cuts down on the background noises that a hearing aid cannot filter out, thus allowing the student to be better able to hear and pay attention the teacher.  This device would be helpful in any school setting where background noise is a problem, although it may be cumbersome in the gym depending on the activity.

Understanding Hearing Impairments

Hearing Loss Basic Facts

This video shares some basic facts about hearing loss.  It warns about the dangers of submitting our ears to loud noises from things like loud music, personal entertainment devices and equipment like lawn mowers.  This is a great video to raise awareness about hearing impairment.

Key Facts!

As quoted from the World Health Organization website, here are some key facts about hearing loss:

• In 2004, over 275 million people globally had moderate-to-profound hearing impairment, 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries.
• Infectious diseases such as meningitis, measles, mumps and chronic ear infections can lead to hearing impairment. Other common causes include exposure to excessive noise, head and ear injury, ageing and the use of ototoxic drugs.
• Half of all cases of deafness and hearing impairment are avoidable through primary prevention.
• A large percentage can be treated through early diagnosis and suitable management.
• Depending on the cause of hearing loss, it may be treated medically, surgically or through devices such as hearing aids and Cochlear Implants.
• Production of hearing aids meets less than 10% of global need. In developing countries, fewer than 1 out of 40 people who need a hearing aid have one.

Here's the link to the WHO website!