Panasonic WX-LA20 The Impact of Sound - Page 1

The Impact of Sound-Field Amplification (Summary) 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 (largesize 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 Continued...