Assistive Technology for students with hearing loss”

a.       Paragraph 1: Discuss the disability you chose and describe how it limits learning. Explain the types of struggles students with this disability might have. 

Some children are born deaf or with hearing disabilities and some develop them later in life. There are three categories: 1) Hearing-Impaired 2) Hard-of-Hearing 3) Deaf/Deafness.  Hearing-Impaired - the ability to perceive sound, it could be, for example, ringing in your ear or total deafness. Hard-of-Hearing -is hearing that is impaired, for example, as you age you have hearing loss that requires hearing aids to amplify the sound. Finally, Deaf, no sound at all including speech. Most children/people with hearing disabilities do not consider themselves as people with a disability’s. There is a deaf culture/society that share a sense of connection and a shared understanding of what it means to be a deaf person.

Deaf students face many types of struggles, for instance, self-confidence in the classroom with their peers, academically, and speech development.

 b.       Paragraphs 2 & 3: Discuss at least TWO specific types of AT designed to help students with

      The first type of AT assistive technology that I have researched is: FM systems use radio signals        to transmit amplified sounds, the second is Personal amplifiers are hand held devices that                    amplifies sound.

       FM systems are commonly used in the classroom. The teacher wears a microphone which is              connected to the transformer and the student wears the receiver that is tuned into a certain radio          frequency, like a radio transmitter. Students who wear a hearing aid or cochlear implant have a          wire connected to pick up the radio frequency.

       Personal amplifiers are useful wear FM systems are not, for example, being outside, a concert,            watching TV they can reduce background sounds. They use directional speakers and the user              may use earbuds for listening.

       c. Paragraph 4: discuss the future directions of AT for the specific disability you

         chose. You can research what the most current advances are for that particular

        AT, but if you can’t find anything, you can make projections based on what you

        think would be a viable direction for advancement for that AT based on what

        you’; ve learned from your research.

       Technology is changing rapidly so change and improvement is always on the horizon and new             types of devices are invented. Both the above systems: FM systems and personal amplifiers use          wires There is new technology in the making that is wireless. I believe in the next ten years we            will see dramatic changes with new technology that will allow some disabilities become things of        the past.

      

Here are a few links that will give you more detail:

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/assistive-devices.aspx http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/hearing-aids