Sound Field System
An assistive device that improves listening in noisy or reverberant environments like classrooms. Like a mini loud-speaker system, a sound field system amplifies the decibel level of a teacher's voice. Small speakers in the classroom bring the enhanced loudness to all students. Teachers enjoy using the sound field system because it saves wear and tear on their voice.
FM System
An assistive device that improves listening in noisy environments like classrooms. The teacher’s voice is transmitted by a microphone worn on the lapel via radio waves to the student, who receives the sound through a receiver that connects to the child's hearing aids or cochlear implant. For most children in the mainstream, an FM system is an important supplement to hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Captioned Videos
Most videos are not captioned, and it is very difficult for anyone with a significant hearing loss to follow an uncaptioned video. Teachers need to check that videos have caption lines, similar to printed English subtitles. Captioned videos can be played on any TV manufactured after 1993, or with older sets using a separate device called a closed caption decoder.
C-Print Captioning
C-Print is a speech-to-print system in which a hearing captioner (transcriber) types the words of the teacher and other students as they are being spoken into a lap-top computer. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing can read these real-time exchanges on a second lap-top computer or TV monitor. Additionally, the text file is stored and can be edited, printed and distributed to students after class. C-Print is designed to replace both interpreters and notetakers in the classroom.
Real-Time Captioning
"Real-time" (instant) transcription of speech by a trained real-time captioner who uses courtroom stenographer equipment. The real-time captioner enters the lecture or classroom dialogue into a computer which shows up on a video screen or laptop computer, which the student reads on a TV screen and receives a printout after class. Currently, the cost of classroom transcription is high; however, a number of parents have been successful in obtaining its use in the classroom.
Remote real-time captioning delivers live captioning from a remote site, and requires that the captioner have either a speakerphone or microphone connected to a phone line and a laptop connected to the Internet.