Sound Field Systems on the Rise in Schools

Improved Test Scores Cited as Benefit

June 2006

Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland may soon join a growing number of schools to amplify general education classrooms with sound field systems. Sound field systems amplify a teacher's voice evenly throughout the classroom so every student can hear every word all of the time. If the school board approves the proposed budget, a large-scale $400,000 pilot study may put the systems in up to 25 classrooms in eight elementary schools.But schools in the district didn't wait for the pilot project to begin. In at least three new schools in the county, forward-thinking principals added sound field systems during construction.  Full Story

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FM Made Friendly

August 2006

Fortunately, classroom FM systems are very effective in managing these same factors (background noise, distance and reverberation) and FM systems can facilitate dramatic improvements with respect to speech recognition in noise (Chisolm, McArdle, Abrams and Noe, 2004). This article will present an overview of the rationale for FM systems, expected outcomes and challenges of classroom FM for children with hearing loss and a brief description of new FM products. Full Story

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Kids Learn Better When Classroom is Wired for Sound

November 2006

Bassett has joined the growing ranks of schools embracing a deceptively simple technology at a time when federal No Child Left Behind accountability standards are compelling districts to find new ways to boost academic performance. Although amplification systems have long been used to help hearing-impaired students, recent research has shown that enhanced audio benefits all students by helping a teacher's voice get through loud and clear, even at the back of the classroom.  Full Story

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Handbook for Educating HOH College Kids Debuts!

July 2007

I've been involved for a couple of years in an effort to develop a handbook of best practices for educating hard of hearing post-secondary students. The project was coordinated by the folks at the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet), and involved a host of knowledgeable experts from throughout the country. The official name of the document is  "Hard of Hearing Students in Postsecondary Education: A Guide for Service Providers." It's been a long time coming, but it's finally finished, and I think anyone interested in providing services to people who are hard of hearing, late-deafened, or oral deaf will find it an invaluable resource. You can read it or download your very own copy at http://tinyurl.com/2h4cpe - and please share it with anyone you think might be interested.

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Classrooms need good acoustics

October 2007

During a press conference on Parliament Hill, the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) alerted parents that a noisy classroom can affect a child's ability to learn. With children back in school for a new year, audiologists and speech-language pathologists advise parents to be aware of the noise conditions in their children's classrooms. Children, who primarily learn through listening, need a learning environment in which they can fully hear and understand the teacher's instructions. A newly released study found that many classrooms had poor quality acoustics and that children were often working in below standard classroom listening conditions (Rubin, Flagg- Williams and Aquino Russell, August 2007). Results from a Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network study show that one in six words is not understood by the average Grade 1 student due to excessive background noise and poor acoustics in Canadian classrooms.   Full Story

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Gallaudet Learning System Includes Captions

November 2007

Students at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf and hard of hearing, are benefiting from lecture capture software that includes closed captioning. That lets students view videos of lectures on demand, complete with text captions along the bottom of the screen. The content is created with capture software called Apreso Classroom, from Anystream. Students can go online to watch Gallaudet professors lecture in American Sign Language, while viewing slides, Web sites, or other content on the computer screen itself, along with any markups the instructor makes. At the same time, running captions display across the bottom of the video screen. Full Story

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Voice amplification system enhances students' education

January 2008

It's time to say goodbye to one longtime classroom complaint.  "'I didn't hear you' - I don't hear that anymore," Glenwood Elementary School kindergarten teacher Peggy Kenaga said. That's due to the small silver microphone, decorated with purple and clear rhinestones, hanging around her neck. The microphone is part of a new classroom amplification system called LightSPEED, and now, thanks to a preventative special education grant, every Enid Public Schools kindergarten through sixth grade classroom has one. Pre-kindergarten classrooms don't have the system because their class sizes are smaller and their work is more group-centered, said Amber Graham Fitzgerald, school and community relations director.  It's been a big hit with both teachers and students.  "It's like Surround Sound in the classroom," said Marilyn Mitchell, Glenwood third-grade teacher. Mitchell especially likes the fact her students can use the second microphone that came with the system. She uses it in daily class activities, like reading lessons. The student answering a question gets to speak into the mike, amplifying his or her voice so the entire class can hear.  Full Story

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Summer Academy in Computing for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

January 2008

The University of Washington and the Department of Computer Science & Engineering is please to announce the 2008 Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing, now in its second summer. The Summer Academy is designed to introduce computing to deaf and hard of hearing students considering computer science, computer engineering, information science, information systems or information technology as a career, either in industry or academia. This is a challenging academic program from which participants will receive college credit. The Summer Academy is looking for the top 10 deaf and hard of hearing students, 18 and over, who excel in and enjoy math, science and/or computing (students 16 and 17 years of age who have exhibited exceptional scholastic achievement in math, science and/or computing may be considered for admission under specific conditions). Admission is very competitive, based on an assessment of ability in computing and enthusiasm to participate in an intensive learning experience in all things computing. The Summer Academy is fully funded by the National Science Foundation; tuition, room & board and transportation will be provided at no cost to selected applicants. This is truly an exciting opportunity!

Please view our website at www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/dhh/academy which includes program information, a brochure and an online application form. The deadline is February 29, 2008, however applications received after that date will be considered on a space available basis.

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Amplification in the classroom:

New technologies, new challenges

March 2008

A technological revolution has been under way in the classroom for the last decade, but you'd have to look hard to find it. In some cases, it's a tiny audio pieceattached to a student's hearing aid or a hand-held transmitter for a teacher that looks like an iPod. In other classrooms, it's a flat-panel speaker strategically placed high above the teacher pointing out to the students ahead. Amplification in the classroom takes on many forms for students with hearing aids and cochlear implants. And newer sound field systems are getting wider exposure as more school districts are convinced that boosting the teacher's voice above the ambient noise will benefit everyone in the classroom, not just those with hearing loss. More and more hearing-impaired students are benefiting from the latest technologies in FM systems and other devices that can be integrated into their hearing aids andcochlear implants. Manufacturers are working to make FM systems that are smaller and more advanced than the current generation, with new products hitting the market about every 2 years.  Full Story

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Sound Field Systems Improve Educational Outcomes

March 2008

Rene Slater used to give herself laryngitis trying to talk over the incessant hum of the ventilation unit in her classroom here at Wyoming Elementary School, and her second-grade students still complained they could not hear. Now Mrs. Slater's voice resonates over the drone of the ventilator through four speakers mounted on the classroom walls, thanks to the wireless microphone, resembling a half-moon pendant, that hangs around her neck. "It's a more personal connection, because it sounds like I'm next to each child," said Mrs. Slater, 54, who takes off the microphone only when leaving school and no longer loses her voice. "They can all hear my voice equally as well." This school year, Wyoming Elementary has equipped every kindergarten through third-grade classroom with the amplification system, technology that was once reserved for large lecture halls or to aid students with hearing or learning disabilities. In an era of chronic ear infections, widespread iPod use and rampant attention-deficit disorders, school officials have embraced the microphones for mainstream classrooms, pointing to research suggesting that all children learn better when they hear instruction loud and clear.  Full Story

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University of Arkansas Reports Transcriber Shortage

March 2008

A trained transcriber sits in class with a student and uses a laptop computer with specialized abbreviation software to transcribe - type the meaning of - what is being said in lectures and discussions, Jannarone said.   A hearing-impaired student then is able to read the transcript in real time from a second computer, type questions and comments to the transcriber to be voiced and take notes in the software program on the second computer, she said.   The shortage of transcribers is most commonly because of the hiring process.   "The hiring and retention piece of this issue is a bit more complicated than it may appear on the surface," Jannarone said.  Full Story

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Free online computer training and MORE!

May 2008

Learning to use a computer or a new computer program in a standard class is very difficult for people with hearing loss, because the instructor is typically demonstrating how to do something at the same time that he's talking about it. The person with hearing loss has to choose whether to watch the instructor so she can lipread, or watch what is being demonstrated without understanding what the instructor is saying. So an online class that allows the student to work at her own pace is just the ticket. And here's an organization that offers exactly that. And the classes are FREE!