A LOCAL audiologist has helped the quality of education for the deaf and hearing impaired children at Sherwood Children's Centre.
Kara Hoffman, an audiologist at Thompson and Hoffman Audiology Inc. based at Parklands Hospital and co-ordinator of the Durban Cochlear Implant Programme, assisted in assessing Birdwood School’s needs for improved acoustics in the classrooms, and drove a campaign to obtain the funding for a project to instal FM systems appropriately in the school. This will no doubt enhance the school’s ability to further meet the academic needs and challenges that children based at Birdwood
would experience.
Birdwood School, which provides a learning opportunity for children with developmental delays and learning disabilities, currently has four classes with a capacity for 54 learners. There are currently six hearing impaired children at the school, where the academic and linguistic aims include eventual mainstreaming of the children, and the development of spoken language.
“In order to accommodate hearing impaired children in a noisy classroom, the use of FM systems is strongly recommended. FM technology refers to a type of wireless system that helps children better understand speech in noisy situations. FM systems commonly work together with a child’s hearing aids or cochlear implants, although systems are also available for those with otherwise normal hearing, such as children who suffer from APD and ADHD,” said Kara.
The teacher wears or holds a transmitter microphone, using harmless radio waves, and the FM system sends speech signal(s) to the listener, who wears a tiny FM receiver behind the ear.
Due to financial constraints, the funding for such a system is very difficult to obtain, and the Durban Cochlear Implant Programme generously donated R140 000
toward the project of installing an FM system in each class at Birdwood School.
“This will allow children with hearing loss, as well as those who battle to hear in noisy environments such as ADD, ADHD and auditory processing difficulties, to have improved access to their teacher’s voice, and thereby eliminating the harmful or negative effects that noise has on the ability to concentrate in class,” said Kara.
