User:Phersh/draft classroom amplification article

Classroom Amplification (also known as Sound field Amplification) is a Universal Design for Learning initiative that can help make classrooms more conducive to hearing and listening, regardless of seating position. Through a combination of a teacher microphone, student microphone, receiver, amplifier and speakers placed strategically throughout the classroom, both teacher and student voices are clearly heard during classroom instructions, lessons, and student presentations.

The ability to hear, listen and process auditory information effectively is crucial to learning for all students, and particularly challenging for students with hearing loss. Additionally, even students with normal hearing can have difficulty listening effectively in noisy classrooms. Internal and external classroom noise levels are often high: classrooms with many hard, reflective surfaces (like concrete block walls) and few soft, noise-absorbing surfaces (like carpet) cause this noise to be reflected and amplified. While technologies such as hearing aids and cochlear implants are useful for students with hearing loss, addressing the problem of poor classroom acoustics benefits not only these students, but also their classmates and teachers.

Manufacturers of such classroom sound systems include FrontRow, LightSpeed, Panasonic, SMART Audio, Supportive Hearing, Audio Enhancement, Cetacea Sound, Phonakand many others.

Uses for Classroom Amplification systems include:


 * Clarifying and evenly distributing sound throughout the classroom, despite a student's seating position


 * Helping to facilitate student achievement through phonological awareness


 * Reducing teacher vocal fatigue and stress


 * Increasing English as a second language learning development


 * Integrating other classroom technology with sound, including an interactive whiteboard


 * Podcasting lessons and curriculum content without being tethered to a computer


 * Enhancing overall student engagement and participation

CONTENTS

General Operation

A classroom amplification system clarifies and evenly distributes sound – the voices of the teacher and students – giving every student equal access to the lesson. The teacher simply wears a microphone either around his/her neck or as a head piece, speaks in a normal conversational tone voice, and the sound is broadcasted throughout the classroom, reducing vocal stress. A student pass-around microphone supports presentation skills and confidence, and can also be thought of as a "talking-stick" where every student respectfully waits their turn to speak when holding the stick.

A receiver combines teacher, student, computer and video system audio before sending to speakers. The speakers evenly spread sound throughout the classroom, so all students have equal access to auditory learning.

Classroom uses

Facilitating Student Achievement through Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness of the sound structure, or phonological structure, of a spoken word. It includes the ability to distinguish units of speech, such as the word's syllables and a syllable's individual phonemes. The ability to segment and blend phonemes is critical for the development of decoding skills, reading fluency and spelling.

By ensuring the teacher's voice is intelligible to all students, classroom amplification systems may make it easier to listen. As a result, attentiveness, understanding and behavior have been shown to improve: Massie & Dillon (2006) reported statistically significant improvement in ratings of attention, communication and classroom behavior in amplified vs. unamplified classrooms, and noted that teachers considered that "sound field amplification facilitated peer interaction, increased verbal involvement in classroom discussion, and promoted a more proactive and confident role in classroom discussion."

Reducing Teacher Vocal Fatigue and Stress

Teachers are at increased risk for vocal problems compared to individuals in other professions. In fact, vocal fatigue and throat infections account for 11-16% of teacher absenteeismundefined. Because teachers need to project their voice to the back of the classroom, this requires having to speak well above a natural and healthy level for their vocal chords, resulting in higher than average throat/vocal problems.

Vocal attrition, a gradual decline in vocal capabilities over time, was reported as one of the major concerns amongst teachers. According to Sapir, Keidar and Mathers-Schmidt (1993), more than one third of teachers who reported vocal attrition admitted that their effectiveness at work was adversely affected by voice problems, and one third reported absence from work due to voice problems.

With the use of classroom amplification systems, teachers are able to speak at a normal conversation level but still be heard more effectively by their students. Teachers using them report more energy and greater teaching satisfaction. In addition, schools using these systems report significantly lower teacher absenteeism (8% to 13% lower) due to voice and throat problemsundefined.

In a survey of 56 Dubuque (Iowa) public school teachers, researchers compared sick days due to voice or throat problems before and after using a sound system. Teachers using the sound system reported a decline from an average of .93 sick days per year to .34 sick days per year – a reduction of 63%undefined.

In Canada, the Worker's Compensation Board statistics show that the incidence of voice dysfunction among teachers is on the rise. Teachers are five times more likely than the general population to have voice problems. According to Dr. Linda Rammage, program director, half the patients at the Provincial Voice Care Resource Program at Vancouver General Hospital are teachers. Voice problems among teachers represent a rising cause of teacher illness, use of sick leave, stress and WCB claims. In extreme cases, teachers have been forced to cut short their careers.undefined

Teaching is a high-risk occupation for voice disorders, and this occupation-related health problem contributes to significant job-related consequences. Over 38% of teachers studied complained that teaching had an adverse effect on their voice, and 39% of those teachers had to reduce teaching activities as a result. These voice symptoms likely affect teachers' effectiveness in the classroom and contribute to considerable economic burdens for the teacher and school system, because of costs related to sick leave, voice therapy or surgical management.undefined

Increasing English as a Second Language Learning Development

ESL (English as a second language) refers to the use or study of English by speakers with a different native language. This term is most commonly used in relation to teaching and learning English, but it may also be used in relation to demographic information.undefined

Non-native English students have difficulty understanding their teacher under ideal classroom listening conditions. Background noise and sitting far from the teacher – unavoidable conditions in many classrooms – make it even harder.

Carl Crandell and other researchers at the University of Florida tested the word perception of 20 native Spanish speaking students in classrooms with and without a classroom amplification system. The result: ESL students in amplified classrooms were understanding up to 60% better than children in the non-amplified classrooms. According to Crandell, "amplification significantly improved the perceptual abilities of ESL children."undefined

The benefits of sound field amplification have been well documented in a Canadian New Brunswick research study for students learning a second language. Since students in the early years of French Immersion do not have a great deal of experience with French, they must be able to clearly hear the sounds being spoken by the teacher to fully understand the message. When amplification was used by the teacher, students initiated fewer distracting interactions while the teacher was speaking to the class. Students focused and attended better when they could hear the teacher more clearly.undefined

Integration of classroom technology with sound

Today's classrooms are equipped with DVD players, computers, interactive whiteboards, mp3 players, and more. Many materials viewed by students – streaming video, news clips, etc – have an audio component, as well as a visual one. Projectors and computer speakers may not be up to the task of amplifying the whole classroom.

With selected classroom amplification systems, all devices in the classroom that require sound can be run through this one device, allowing every student in the class to have equal access to audio content. By distributing sound and multimedia, this technology can improve comprehension, literacy growth, spelling, attention and behavior.

Podcasting lessons and curriculum content

Podcasting is a way to allow students to share their work and experiences with an audience. It is simply an audio file that you record and make available on the Internet. What makes a podcast different from any other file uploaded to the Internet is the ability of students/teachers to subscribe to your podcast "show". As new "episodes" are uploaded, they will be delivered to your subscriber's inbox.

By connecting a computer to a classroom amplification system, classroom podcasts are easily captured and with certain manufacturer's microphones, teachers aren't tethered to their computer – they can continue to teach normally while continuously recording their podcast. With a student pass around microphone, students may ask questions and provide comments to also be a part of the podcast. Audio from other classroom technologies may be captured in the recording.

Enhancing overall student engagement and participation

Teachers are more than likely aware that increased engagement is the key to a happier and more successful learning environment. Children are more likely to raise their hand, become more involved in classroom discussions, and ultimately score better grades.

Having your classroom outfitted with ceiling speakers, sensors and both student and teacher microphones, every student may feel close to the front of the room, and any background distractions that could steer a student's attention away from classroom activities may be reduced.

In a New Brunswick study, teachers stated that students were more attentive and engaged in the classroom lessons. Many students said they were more focused because they could hear better. This improvement in concentration was seen to have a direct impact on student learning. With the increase in involvement and engagement, students are not only listening and understanding the teacher at all times, but feel as if they are immense contributors to the lesson, making for a productive classroom experience.undefined

Research into classroom amplification

Experts are urging Canada to adopt national sound standards for new schools and to improve listening environments for existing schools. An average empty classroom's background noise measures about 50 decibals (dB). It comes from sources such as outside traffic and schoolyard activities, hallways and neighbouring rooms, equipment like computers and projectors, and lighting, ventilation, and heating systems. Add another approximately 10dB from typical student activity and the total background noise is 60dB. That effectively covers up the teacher's voice, since conversational speech is about 60dB. "Often in classrooms, with all the background noise, to be heard the teacher has to raise her voice and that results in voice problems," said Maureen Clarke representing the Canadian Association of Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.undefined

Research by John Bradley of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network found that "in a typical grade 1 classroom, the average student will not understand one in six simple, familiar, and clearly spoken words. However, "in quieter conditions they can understand almost all of these words." The 2005 research also reported that less than 10% of Canadian grade 1 classrooms had the ideal conditions for students to hear all of their teacher's words. Sound field amplification is listed as one possible solution for improving acoustics in existing classrooms, noted Linda Walsh, president of the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.undefined

Ms. Walsh and Ms. Clarke are spokespersons for the Concerned about Classrooms Coalition, consisting of 18 national and provincial organizations working to enhance children's learning environments and teachers' vocal health. The coalition is recommending Canada follow a model already developed in the US by the Acoustical Society of America that established specific criteria for maximum background noise and reverberation times for classrooms depending on their size. Reverberation times measure how long it takes for sound to be absorbed.undefined

Criticisms

The Acoustical Society of America does not support amplification in all classrooms. The Society's suggestion is to reduce noise in the classroom by having better classroom designs. undefined

Although sound field amplification systems appear to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, others believe that it fails to address the central issue of poor room acoustics, and does not improve the listening environment for students. If students were to experience a system like this from early on in their schooling, they may have the development of essential listening skills hindered, as the amplification system removes the need for really 'attending' to the speaker. As well, students who change schools or classes from one fitted with a system to one which is not may also experience serious disruption at critical periods of their education.undefined

Older amplification units were bulky, picked up signals from other rooms, and were manually turned on and off. Today, the systems use infrared technology that eliminates any interference and automatically disconnects when the teacher leaves the classroom. Students do not pick up conversations teachers may have in the hallway, office or bathroom. The microphone is small and hangs on either a lanyard or necklace leaving the teacher free to teach. A mute button is available for private conversations within the classroom. Teachers must remember to recharge over night.

Students seem to enjoy amplification stating that when the mics are not on it seems like the teachers are whispering. These systems are especially beneficial to students with ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, language difficulties or hearing problems. It would be difficult to find a classroom without the just mentioned challenges.undefined

References