Equipment issues
Tom (40 years old)
•Film and TV production Course
•Hearing aid user
•Says he can lip-read perfectly
•Uses speech
•Acquired Hearing loss through illness 6 years ago. Lost his job shortly after.
If assistive listening equipment is of use:
Lectures, etc – existing induction loop or IR in the HEI?
– student’s hearing aid has telecoil activated?
Access to media – audio-visual teaching materials, TV, DVD at home
Recommendations: fm system – how discrete does the equipment need to be to be acceptable?
Accessories to the fm system to ‘connect to’ media equipment
If not wanting or able to use an fm system – headphones useful?– need noise cancelling? In-ear or on-ear (only if wants to remove hearing aids), over-ear? Bilateral loss or one-sided – any problems with stereo input or need to convert stereo to mono?
If can hear reasonably with assistive listening – would a digital recorder + mic + audio-notetaker work for Tom? (but not if relies on lipreading back up)
If assistive listening/amplificationnot really useful for speech – can speech be made more visible?
-Subtitling of film media
-Lecture notes in advance
-Best conditions for lipreading (lighting, positioning, deaf awareness)
-Software for analysing and displaying soundtrack/speech/music
Other issues and questions we need to ask ourselves:
Unclear what residual hearing he has, so whether ‘assistive listening equipment’ any use to cut out background noise or amplify sound.
Trying to ‘pass’ (how discrete must equipment be, or will he accept any?
Any issues around self-esteem? social isolation?
Particular career interest eg sound vs filming vs directing?
Awareness of teaching staff will be key – eg repeating other students’ comments
Lei (18)
•Sports Science Course
•Severely deaf
•Oral from birth
•Bilateral
•Chinese first language
What has her education been like, ie her identity, understanding of the impact of her deafness, and experience of assistive listening equipment?
Lectures etc – may well be familiar with fm systems. Is likely to have a definite attitude in favour or against using these (although this may change over the 1st year).
If she is prepared to continue using fm – does she want familiar system or prepared to try different model?
Assuming she has practical sessions and personal interest in participating in sport – what works well outside/at a distance/in the rain?
If literacy issues (resulting from early hearing loss) - software eg mind-mapping, TextHelp?
Note-taking – high level literacy – STTR if needs live access, handwritten notes if not
Lower level of literacy – Elect NT (= software, laptop, memory stick), or typing up later.
Other issues and questions we need to ask ourselves:
Is she using hearing aids?
When did she learn English – ie how well does she lipread it?
‘oral from birth’ implies deaf from birth- What has been the impact on her literacy development?
Was her deafness recognised early (and so support put in), or was any delay assumed to be due to education in a 2nd or additional language?
Is she a ‘home’ student with DSA funding, or international?
Rose (25)
•Social Work Course (heavy timetable)
•Deaf at 15
•Cochlear implant
Probably keen to use her hearing, ie may benefit from fm system with appropriate accessories and input.
Still likely to miss a lot of information – so needs note-taking. Will have good English skills to utilise
- speech to text reporting (no additional equipment needed) or
- electronic note-taking (what does HEI use? – need laptop + software?)
- or remote service (laptop, internet/landline)
- how best to deliver on placement?
Telecommunications when on placement – funding for smartphone? (email and text communication with office and university)
Managing time & energy for study – software support for reading/writing?
If has hearing usable for speech – and is sound-focussed – any mileage in text to speech applications to listen and read at same time to aid concentration when tired?
Other issues and questions we need to ask ourselves:
Will be exhausted at end of the day – does she need support (study skills tutor or software) for reading/writing tasks?
Likely not to know any sign language.
May still be adjusting to hearing loss (fatigue, identity)
High cost from full-time note-taking support
Junaid (19)
•Computer Gaming Course
•Profoundly Deaf BSL user
•Deaf from birth (congenital)
•Attended deaf school until 18
May be using hearing aids but not to help hear speech – is He interested in accessing sound components?
If so, by amplification/listening equipmentOR by making these visual (eg software)
Note-taking – notes need to be electronic note-taking (‘near live’) or typed up?
HEI practice is interpreter OR Elect note-taking? (eg interpreter plus handwritten notes typed up later)
Equipment issues for HEI? – displaying tutor’s machine (screen and/or keyboard) for all students to see – on main screen or transmitted to student’s own monitors
Audiovisual material
– needs subtitles or other access – but is student’s literacy strong enough?
-Multimedia – how to make this accessible – student may not be able to access all components simultaneously
Other issues and questions we need to ask ourselves:
Assumptions to check
-literacy skills affected by early deafness? (will need language/study skills tutor)
-can he easily read handwritten information?
-May not be confident with hearing peers (risk of over-reliance on interpreters/note-takers)
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Importance of tutor awareness in practical/computer-based classes – dual attention issue