Panasonic WX-LA20 The Impact of Sound

The Impact of Sound-Field Amplification

(Summa

ry)

Dillon, Harvey and Robyn Massie

Australian J of Education, 50(1):62-77

2006

Introduction

The goal of classroom instruction is comprehension. In order for speech to be

comprehended, the individual must be able to hear well enough to discriminate

the word-sound distinctions of individual phonemes. Poor comprehension in the

classroom is not, however, limited to those with hearing loss. Young listeners

perform more poorly in noisy situations than do adults and the ability to listen in

noise is not fully developed until adolescence. A child’s auditory brain is not like

an adult’s until about the age of 15; therefore, children cannot rely on years of

language and learning experiences to fill in the gaps of missed information.

National Acoustic Standards in the United States require classrooms to meet the

following acoustical standards:

Noise Level:

35 dBA

Reverberation Time:

< 0.6 seconds (medium-size rooms) < 0.7 seconds (large-

size rooms)

Signal to Noise Ratio:

+15 dB.

Studies have shown that actual classroom

conditions range from 41 to 69 dBA which lead to unfavorable Signal to Noise

ratios and reverberation times.

Communication in Cross-Cultural Classrooms

Individuals for whom English is a second language (ESL) experience greater

speech perception difficulties. ESL students performance has shown to be poorer

across most classroom listening conditions. Understanding spoken English in

noise is related to the individual’s proficiency with the English language.

Sound-field Amplification

Sound-field amplification is an exciting educational tool that allows control of the

acoustic environment in a classroom allowing acoustic accessibility to teacher

instruction for all children in the room.

Originally designed as an assistive

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