Assistive Technology

In the modern technology era, assistive technology has become more and more crucial in Deaf education. This being the case, I believe that assistive technology deserves its own blog post. Assistive technology can be anything that helps someone with hearing loss/speech/communication disorder etc have the ability to communicate with those around them. Hard of hearing and deaf individuals can use assistive technology along with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Some forms of assistive technology are hearing loops, FM systems, TV connectors, bluetooth technology and many other personal devices available to maximize hearing. Hearing loops are available in public areas and allow people’s personal receivers to directly pick up sound making it much easier for those with hearing loss to hear in a large public setting. My hearing aids have a telecoil receiver in them that can pick up sound from hearing loops. I have used this feature at Broadway shows before making way easier to follow along with the production. FM systems are widely used in the classroom allowing the teachers’ voices to be picked up directly by a students hearing aid or cochlear. FM systems enable teachers to walk around the room without making it harder for the deaf or hard of hearing student to hear the lesson. TV connectors and bluetooth technology are great advancements as well. My current hearing aids are compatible with both of these and allow me to hear the television, phone calls and stream sound from my mobile device like never before. Before these options, I really struggled with movies and TV shows without captions and loud volume. Some other examples of personal devices that are useful are the Phonak Roger select and Phonak Roger Pen. Roger technology has created great devices to use along with hearing aids. The Roger select and Roger Pen are portable, wireless options that allow sound to be streamed directly to hearing aids. 

Technology is ever changing and the possibilities are endless. I believe these assistive technologies can be used with a combination of deaf education methods to create a great learning environment. I know I will be including assistive technology in my future classroom, what about you? Stay tuned for my next blog post. Thank you for visiting alookintodeafeducation.org.