Before continuing on hearing impairment, it is important to understand how the ear works. Then you can appreciate the implication of hearing impairment.
Below is a You Tube video which explains the three main types of hearing loss: Conductive (due to an infection or impacted ear wax), Sensorineural (due to damage to the inner ear is often present at birth or after disease) and Mixed (a combination of Conductive and Sensorineural). The video also give viewers tips on conversing with people with hearing impairment even if you do not know sign language.
There are many different types of Assistive Technology available to support individuals with hearing impairment.
Low Tech AT:
1. Carpeting or foam floor pads - adding carpet to the floor reduces background noise and echoing in large open areas such as classrooms. Background noise can limit the ability to differentiate or focus on specific sounds (Sound Therapy International, 2013). Covering walls with acoustic wall baffling is also a great way to reduce background noise and echoing.
2. Wearable vibrating timers are an inexpensive way to let individuals with hearing impairment know when a change is about to happen or a timed activity is up. It is also a way to discretely get attention in a noisy room. These maybe mounted with a spring clip (for wearing), magnet or stand (Amazon.com, 2013).
Mid Tech AT:
1. Dragon Dictation for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The voice recognition app allows the individual with hearing impairment to record and read what is being said. The speaker's words are instantly translated into text. The text may also be e-mailed and pasted into other apps (Apple Inc., 2013).
High Tech AT:
2. Cochlear Implants - a surgically implanted electronic device that directly stimulates the auditory nerve completely skipping over the damaged hair cells in the cochlea. It is comprised of: up to 22 electrodes which wind around the cochlea, one or more microphones, a receiver and stimulator, a speech processor and a translator. This may not be for everyone because of age, health condition of the auditory nerve fibers, level of profound deafness (only recommended for more severe) and the willingness to work with speech and language therapy.
Below is a You Tube clip of a young girl who has received high tech assistive technology for her hearing impairment. We get to hear a sample of her speaking before and after the device.
Besides video and website testimonials, journal articles have also boasted the benefits of assistive technology for individuals with hearing impairments.
One article comes from Trends in Amplification (June 2007), it is entitled: Evidence for the Use of Hearing Assistive Technology by Adults: The Role of the FM System written by Chisolm, Noe, McArdle and Abrams. The purpose of this research was to explore the lack of use of FM device (high tech assistive technology) by adults.
An FM system works by picking up a speaker's voice via microphone worn near the speaker's mouth. Signals are converted to electrical waveform and transmitted via FM signal to the receiver which is worn by the listener. The benefit of this system is that ambient noise is reduced and allowing the listener to receive a clearer speech signal; it produces a favorable signal-to-noise ratio. In past studies, FM systems were not accepted due to availability and size despite the improved hearing.
Thirty-six men with a mean age of 75 wearing behind the ear (a requirement) hearing aids participated in the study. These participants were asked to choose from 1 to 3 situations. These situations were:
and other situations for which their current hearing aids were not effective in improving communication. Participants indicated improved hearing in all situations using their hearing aid plus the FM system, and at the end of the study had a significant high percentage of satisfaction supporting the use of FM systems.
After six weeks of instruction, coaching and counseling regarding the use of the FM system, all participants elected to continue using the FM device. The authors do acknowledge that not having to pay for the device may have been influential in this decision. They also state a limitation to the study was using veterans only.
A second article also comes from Trends in Amplification (November 2011), it is entitled: Innovative Technology in Hearing Instruments : Matching Needs in the Developing World and was written by McPherson. The purpose of this article was to explore the innovative hearing instrument assistive technologies in the provision of affordable hearing health care services in developing countries.
McPherson (2011) writes that World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that hearing impairment affects 278 million people and that hearing impairment ranks third as a cause of years lived with a disability. More than two thirds of these individuals with hearing impairment live in developing countries where the possibility of receiving diagnosis/treatment, and affording this assistive technology is nearly impossible due to lack of physicians and lack of funds.
However, McPherson has researched several organizations that are doing something about this. These organizations are developing:
Some food for thought, brought to you by our modern stone age family.
Amazon.com. (2013). General tools: TI150 3-in-1 timer for the visually and hearing impaired. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-TI150-Visually-Impaired/dp/B001TOJG7Y/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_text_y/181-0756085-7804539
An FM system works by picking up a speaker's voice via microphone worn near the speaker's mouth. Signals are converted to electrical waveform and transmitted via FM signal to the receiver which is worn by the listener. The benefit of this system is that ambient noise is reduced and allowing the listener to receive a clearer speech signal; it produces a favorable signal-to-noise ratio. In past studies, FM systems were not accepted due to availability and size despite the improved hearing.
Thirty-six men with a mean age of 75 wearing behind the ear (a requirement) hearing aids participated in the study. These participants were asked to choose from 1 to 3 situations. These situations were:
- conversation with 1 or 2 persons in quiet,
- conversation with 1 or 2 persons in noise,
- conversation with a group of people in quiet,
- conversation with a group of people in noise,
- listening to the television and/or radio at a normal volume,
- talking to a familiar speaker on the telephone,
- talking to an unfamiliar speaker on the telephone,
- hearing the telephone ring from another room,
- hearing the front doorbell or a knock on the door,
- hearing traffic,
- increased social contact,
- feeling embarrassed or stupid, feeling left out, feeling upset or angry, listening at a church or meeting,
and other situations for which their current hearing aids were not effective in improving communication. Participants indicated improved hearing in all situations using their hearing aid plus the FM system, and at the end of the study had a significant high percentage of satisfaction supporting the use of FM systems.
After six weeks of instruction, coaching and counseling regarding the use of the FM system, all participants elected to continue using the FM device. The authors do acknowledge that not having to pay for the device may have been influential in this decision. They also state a limitation to the study was using veterans only.
A second article also comes from Trends in Amplification (November 2011), it is entitled: Innovative Technology in Hearing Instruments : Matching Needs in the Developing World and was written by McPherson. The purpose of this article was to explore the innovative hearing instrument assistive technologies in the provision of affordable hearing health care services in developing countries.
McPherson (2011) writes that World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that hearing impairment affects 278 million people and that hearing impairment ranks third as a cause of years lived with a disability. More than two thirds of these individuals with hearing impairment live in developing countries where the possibility of receiving diagnosis/treatment, and affording this assistive technology is nearly impossible due to lack of physicians and lack of funds.
However, McPherson has researched several organizations that are doing something about this. These organizations are developing:
- low-cost analog and digital programmable hearing instruments (digital are most favorable because they offer better wide range dynamic compression and many noise reduction algorithms),
- developing relatively low-cost solar battery charging systems that enable rechargeable nickel–metal hydride or lithium-ion hearing aid cells to be reused many times,
- self-adjustable and trainable hearing aids (since there is a genuine lack of health care professionals). These hearing aids learn the wearer's preferred gain and frequency response patterns reducing the number of professional visits.
- and because so many of the developing countries are also tropical, nano coatings are being applied successfully creating hearing instruments that are water, oil and wax resistant.
Some food for thought, brought to you by our modern stone age family.
Amazon.com. (2013). General tools: TI150 3-in-1 timer for the visually and hearing impaired. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-TI150-Visually-Impaired/dp/B001TOJG7Y/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_text_y/181-0756085-7804539
Apple Inc. (2013). iTunes preview: Dragon dictation. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8
Chisolm, T.H., Noe, C. M., McArdle, R. & Abrams, H. (2007). Evidence for the use of hearing assistive technology by adults: The role of the FM system. Trends in Amplification Vol.11(2), p. 73-89
Industry Canada. (2008). Definition: Hearing impaired. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from http://www.apt.gc.ca/wat/wb14200e.asp?did=5
McPherson, B. (2011). Innovative technology in hearing instruments : Matching needs in the developing world. Trends in Amplification Vol 15(4), p. 209-214
Sound Therapy International. (2013). Background noise: Background noise problem or cocktail party syndrome. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from http://www.soundtherapyinternational.com/v3/improve-your-ear/background-noise.html
The key word all educators need to keep in mind when dealing with LD students is “Patience.” I currently have a hearing impaired student in my French class. I constantly have to remind myself of facing her when talking to the class. In some cases, I just help her out. I sometime do have a hard time understanding what she is saying, but I have learnt to block out all the noise around me. I do not want her to feel that what she has to say does not matter. Today’s schools are so loud that I often wonder why K refuses to let teacher use the FM system. Maybe she read lips when possible. She is also not carrying an iPad or flash cards to help improve communication between students and teachers.
ReplyDeleteGreat work Melanie (especially for doing it on your own)! I found your videos very interesting, especially the one on how the ear actually works. I'm glad they are coming out with smaller hearing aids because through experience of having hearing impaired students in my classroom, they hate wearing their hearing aids since they feel it makes them look "uncool". This has then led to them "forgetting" them at home and missing a lot of information in the classroom. It's also great to see they are coming out with more and more apps for these students. As a classroom teacher, I feel these apps need to be more recognized and used in the classroom on a regular bases, to make both the student and teacher's classroom experience easier.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, my grandparents were both deaf and I had learned basic sign language at a young age. However, over the years I lost a lot of it and would like to check out some of your apps to see if I can teach myself again. Thanks Melanie!
A very comprehensive and extensive Blog Melanie- way to go! Your variety of strategies (low/mid./high tech), visuals and videos made it engaging and fun to read. I really enojoyed the variety of videos and learning about the emerging technologies. With technology advancing rapidly in many areas of our life, if is great to be updated on an area I may not have come into contact with (until I taught a student with an hearing inpairment). As was mentioned in a pervious comment, there are a variety of apps to assist teachers and students, I wish there was a way to get updates on apps.so I could know all the new apps that were coming out. Knowing that a tone of apps are produced daily, it would be difficult to sort through apps that would be of benefit to me... although someone must be able to make an app to help me with that!
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