Panasonic WX-LAK12 Classroom Sound Field Amplification - Page 1

Sound Field Amplification: An Innovative Educational Intervention for Mainstreamed Learning Disabled Students (Summary) F.E. Glassford, M.S., Helen Ray, Lewis S. Sarff, Ph.D. The Directive Teacher, pp. 18-20 Summer/Fall 1984 Otitis Media (OM) typically causes a conductive hearing loss of 26 dB and may persist from a few days to indefinitely. Students with OM are more academically at risk due to muffled and inconsistent verbal signals in poor acoustically designed classrooms and noisy environments. Due to high classroom noise levels (40 to 50 dB), plural endings, low energy sounds and voiceless consonants are masked. 18 research studies focused on the prevalence of OM in learning disability (LD) students. • OM is reported to be twice as common in learning disability (LD) population. • One in four elementary LD students experience OM. • Medical management helps to negate the detrimental effects of OM • Children with OM may be at risk for delays in auditory, language and academic skills Children with OM suffer from: • Depressed receptive abilities • Omission of low intensity words in conversational speech • Lack of rehearsed phrases • Failure to respond to low intensity sounds • Diffi culty with syntax, auditory processing and abstract reasoning • Poor expressive speech Project MARRS studied the incidence and impact of sound field amplification on students with minimal hearing loss. The study included 1000 students ranging Continued....