FEATURE

Universal Design for Hearing

Pam Millett, PhD, Reg. CASLPO

Universal design is a concept that started in the field of architecture, but is now being talked about enthusiastically in education. Universal

design in architecture means designing buildings, products, and spaces that are as usable as possible by as many people as possible,
regardless of age, ability or situation (for example, putting volume controls on public telephones in noisy lobbies is helpful for
those with hearing loss, but most people without hearing loss appreciate and use those volume controls too). In education, we talk about
universal design in creating classrooms and learning spaces that work for all students and include meeting a wide variety of learning needs.

The problem that we encounter in classrooms is that learning in school involves a large part of the day spent in listening, yet we also
know that young children have immature listening skills and that many classrooms have poor acoustics. Research shows:
• Up to 75% of the school day is spent in listening

• Because children have less ability to listen in noise, researchers recommend that a teacher’s voice needs to be at least 15 decibels
louder than the background noise, yet typical classrooms have noise levels equal to or only slightly lower than the levels of the teacher’s voice

• Up to 20% of young children will have temporary, mild hearing loss due to middle ear fluid at any given point during the school year

• Children’s listening and processing skills take a long time to develop. While we used to believe that children’s listening skills were mature by age 12, more recent research shows that children’s brains and auditory systems are continuing to mature and develop well into adolescence.

Dr. Karen Anderson calls this “learning to listen in a sea of noise,” and there is ample evidence that many of today’s classrooms represent
difficult places to listen. A simple search of the literature turned up over 100 research articles documenting the problems with acoustics in classrooms, speech perception difficulties experienced by students, vocal fatigue problems experienced by teachers, and the benefits of addressing poor listening environments (such as installation of sound field amplification systems).

Providing mild amplification of a teacher’s voice using a sound field system is one way to improve the listening environments. Some of the benefits of sound field systems found in research studies include the following:
• Improvements in speech perception scores

• Improvements in academic achievement, including reading and math scores

• Improvements in student attention and behaviour

• Decrease in teacher vocal fatigue problems and sick time

• More teaching time available due to better classroom management, less time spent repeating instructions and better student attention

Ideally, of course, classrooms should be designed and built with the goal of ensuring the best possible listening environment so that we

don’t need to try and find solutions after the fact; in fact, appropriate acoustical treatment of classrooms represents only a small percentage

of the total cost of construction. Because good acoustical design does not always happen, improving classroom acoustics for all children has become a commitment by administrators, principals, teachers, and parents by funding and installing as many sound field systems as possible in existing schools. Some school districts in the United States, and a few in Canada, have implemented plans to equip every new classroom
in the district with sound field amplification systems at the design stage. Installing sound field systems when new buildings are being built and

wired is certainly far easier and far less expensive than finding money to purchase, install, and maintain systems for existing classrooms. While sound field systems are available for individual students, there are no funds available for schools to purchase these systems to improve the listening
environment for everyone.

An excellent resource for more information about classroom acoustics, including recent Canadian research, acoustical standards, and advocacy for better listening environments can be found at the website for the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists at this link, including a sample petition letter for lobbying government on this issue: www.caslpa.ca/ english/resources/noise_in_classroom.asp#m
aterials.

Pam Millett, PhD, Reg. CASLPO, is an Assistant Professor, Deaf/Hard of Hearing Programme, Faculty of Education, York University