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Research Minute - Professor Pam Millett on Maximizing classroom hearing technologies for deaf and hard of hearing students

How can we maximize the use of technology (specifically assistive devices such as FM systems and captioning) in classrooms to ensure that students who are deaf or hard of hearing have the best access to learning?

The vast majority of students with hearing loss today using hearing technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants or bone anchored hearing aids; use spoken language for communication and are educated in schools alongside their hearing peers.  However, these technologies rarely provide full access to sound, especially in demanding listening environments with poor acoustics.  My research investigates the best ways to use assistive technologies such as FM systems, sound field amplification, captioning, and devices integrated through Bluetooth, in classrooms from JK to post secondary, to ensure that students with hearing loss are able to hear clearly and participate fully.