Enhancing Listening, Literacy, and Learning for All Children
By Flexer, Carol; Hearing Loss Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 10-14Publication Date: September/October 2004
Article presents an overview of issues related to children with hearing disabilities and methods for presenting spoken instruction in classroom settings. Two major factors affect classroom auditory learning: (1) the child’s hearing, and (2) the classroom equipment. Additional variables include the instructor’s speech and the pupils, as well as their positions in the classroom. These factors are discussed in terms of children’s listening limitation, speech-to-noise ratio, sound-field systems, the concept of Universal Design, and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Sound-field technology allows control of the acoustic environment by facilitating acoustic accessibility of the teacher’s instructions. A sound-field system appears to be much like a wireless public address system, yet is specifically designed to ensure that the entire speech signal, including the weak high frequency consonants reaches every student in the room. By using this technology, an entire classroom can be amplified through the use of one, two, three, or four wall or ceiling-mounted speakers. The necessity of teacher training programs for additional education on how to utilize such systems is discussed.
Published by: Hearing Loss Association of America (formerly Self Help for Hard of Hearing People) (Website:http://www.hearingloss.org)
