The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community

Hearing technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and bone-anchored devices provide students with hearing loss with far greater access to auditory information (and most importantly, to spoken language) than even a decade ago. However, in a student’s daily life, many situations arise where...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pam Millett
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Education Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/8/761
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description Hearing technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and bone-anchored devices provide students with hearing loss with far greater access to auditory information (and most importantly, to spoken language) than even a decade ago. However, in a student’s daily life, many situations arise where effective communication and participation can be comprised by factors such as distance, noise, reverberation, difficulty hearing peer input, missing or obscured visual information (e.g., due to masks during the COVID-19 pandemic), speakers with accents or poor auditory/visual quality (e.g., on the phone or during online learning). Access technologies such as remote microphone systems, wireless connectivity platforms and captioning can be used to supplement and/or clarify auditory and visual information, so that students can fully participate in all aspects of their lives. This article discusses how access technologies can provide support for students in preschool, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. The importance of universal design for access to public spaces, such as schools and community spaces, to ensure that individuals with hearing loss live in an equitable and inclusive world are also discussed.
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spelling doaj.art-75fd6df47d4545faa6a9373078ebdb062023-11-19T00:51:05ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022023-07-0113876110.3390/educsci13080761The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the CommunityPam Millett0Faculty of Education, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, CanadaHearing technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and bone-anchored devices provide students with hearing loss with far greater access to auditory information (and most importantly, to spoken language) than even a decade ago. However, in a student’s daily life, many situations arise where effective communication and participation can be comprised by factors such as distance, noise, reverberation, difficulty hearing peer input, missing or obscured visual information (e.g., due to masks during the COVID-19 pandemic), speakers with accents or poor auditory/visual quality (e.g., on the phone or during online learning). Access technologies such as remote microphone systems, wireless connectivity platforms and captioning can be used to supplement and/or clarify auditory and visual information, so that students can fully participate in all aspects of their lives. This article discusses how access technologies can provide support for students in preschool, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. The importance of universal design for access to public spaces, such as schools and community spaces, to ensure that individuals with hearing loss live in an equitable and inclusive world are also discussed.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/8/761deaf childrenaccess technologiesremote microphone systemswireless connectivitycaptioning
spellingShingle Pam Millett
The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
Education Sciences
deaf children
access technologies
remote microphone systems
wireless connectivity
captioning
title The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
title_full The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
title_fullStr The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
title_full_unstemmed The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
title_short The Connected Life: Using Access Technology at Home, at School and in the Community
title_sort connected life using access technology at home at school and in the community
topic deaf children
access technologies
remote microphone systems
wireless connectivity
captioning
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/8/761
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