SPEECH-PERCEPTION OF HEARING-IMPAIRED CHILDREN IN MAINSTREAM ACOUSTICENVIRONMENTS - AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY

The detrimental effects of noise and reverberation on speech perceptio n have been well-documented. For hearing-impaired listeners the effect s can be particularly marked. Past studies of classroom acoustics sugg est less than optimal listening environments, yet class sizes are grow ing and more hearing-impaired children are spending more of their time in mainstream classes. There is a need to update information on class room acoustics and furthermore to assess students' speech perception i n real, rather than simulated environments. This modest pilot study ex amines the speech perception ability of BKB Sentences of four primary age hearing-impaired school children in their mainstream classrooms an d in their usual withdrawal area. Reverberation times were calculated and S:N ratios measured for both sets of rooms. Speech perception scor es were obtained with combinations of hearing aids, FM systems and lip reading. In all rooms, acoustic conditions were less than optimal. The results show the importance of spreading combined with FM use in help ing to counteract the poor acoustics. Examination of each child's indi vidual performance was valuable for planning habilitative strategies.