HEARING AND LISTENING IN A TYPICAL CLASSROOM

In the past, many educational audiologists dedicated the majority of t heir time to assessing the hearing status of students and providing li stening solutions to those students with hearing loss. More recently, educational audiologists are positioning themselves (rightfully) as ex perts not only in hearing loss, but also in the acoustical environment for all students. In this role, audiologists are being called on to p rovide solutions for improving the listening environment in average cl assrooms that are full of students with normal hearing and with mild h earing impairment. Although Flexer, Wray, and Ireland (1989) and Crand ell, Smaldino, and Flexer (1995) have recently provided excellent revi ews of classroom listening for the hearing professional, there is a ne ed for a simple description of classroom listening for the educator, a dministrator, and parent. To assist local educational audiologists and classroom teachers in obtaining technology to enhance the classroom l istening environment, the following article has been developed for Use with administrators, school board members, and parents. The style is purposefully ''chatty,'' and some terminology is simplified for the ta rget audience.