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Above the noise

Amplification devices improve listening and understanding

Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 27/02) - Teachers in the Yellowknife Catholic Schools district are taking a page out of Britney Spears' book of accessories.



Ecole St. Joseph teacher, Will Vickers, has been using the FM headset in class for the past three weeks. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo


They're sporting the same type of FM headset the pop star uses on stage. It isn't an effort to look cool; it's to improve student learning.

The devices are used to amplify the teacher's voice over a ceiling-mounted speaker, which not only helps students with auditory difficulties, but all students.

"It improves student attention," said Liz Baile, special needs consultant with the Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

The devices are especially effective with children with auditory processing disorder.

Acting like attention deficit, the disorder disrupts a person ability to block out background noise interference as well as impairs the brain's ability to process auditory information.

"They are not going to be able to have clarity because they can hear the noise in the hall or the rustling of papers. Or, they might not be getting all the words because the brain might not be processing them fast enough," said Baile.

"This FM system is loud enough to knock out background noise. It's easy to listen to so kids find it easy to listen to the teacher they aren't straining to hear. It helps every kid," said Baile.

Currently there are 21 FM systems in classrooms in the Catholic district and plans are to have one in every classroom.

"In Nunavut they have one in every classroom," said Baile.

"We want to be the first school district in the western arctic to have one in every classroom."

The effort isn't an easy one because the systems cost $1,400 each and there is no discount for volume.

"We've decided that we will make a huge investment this year because more and more teachers are asking for them.

Looking at student profiles we realized more and more classrooms need them to support our students.

Because every student benefits, we think it's a good investment," said Baile.

Some getting used to

Will Vickers, Grade 7 teacher at Ecole St. Joseph, has been using the system for about three weeks. "It took some getting used to because it was sort of awkward to wear at first," he said.

Now, he said he wears it all the time and he has noticed a definite improvement in the way students listen.

"Now it's just like picking up a marker to write on the white board. It's another classroom tool," he said. "It kills all the background noise. The shuffling of paper and all these things, it kills all of that. I can tell visually that they focus more to instruction. I would recommend it."

Pop star persona

The FM headsets remind students of their favourite pop artists.

"He (Vickers) looks like Ricky Martin when he puts it on," said Kathleen O'Brien, a Grade 6 student.

Mr. Vickers' class wasn't O'Brien's first experience with the FM headsets.

She was first introduced to them last year.

"Miss Whitford had it, she would pretend to be Britney Spears," she said.

Joking aside O'Brien and her classmates said the system really helps them focus on what the teacher is saying.

"It blocks out all the background noise and I can hear even way in the back of the class," said O'Brien.

Dana Gard, also in Grade 6, only had one complaint about the systems.

"Sometimes when the battery is low it gets annoying," she said.

As well if the teacher isn't careful it makes an excellent eavesdropping device.

"Sometimes when he (Vickers) goes downstairs he leaves it on and we can hear what he is saying," said Grade 6 student, Patrick Beaulieu.

Doctor recommended

Dawn Doig, the audiologist in Yellowknife, is a strong supporter of the FM headsets.

"My vision for the North is to have one in every single classroom," she said.

Doig added that the systems are vital in the North.

"I don't think I've seen so much middle ear stuff as I have seen here," she said.

Explanations for why children seem to have more conductive hearing problems in the North have not been definitive, said Doig.

Currently Yellowknife Catholic schools are the only ones using the systems but there is talk of Yellowknife Education District No.1 beginning to use them as well.

If the budget allows there are plans to retrofit Mildred Hall School with the systems when the school is renovated.