2ears2hear occasionally accepts guest posts by people wanting to write on the topic of hearing loss and deaf education. Nicole Lewis is an editor at PayForEssays, blogger, volunteer who is concerned for social issues.
We are not able to even imagine, how many people with impaired hearing live and work among us. Here are some statistics by US Center for Hearing and Communication:
- 48 million Americans have a significant hearing loss
- 15% of children between the ages of 6-19 have a measurable loss in at least one ear
- A mild loss can cause a pupil (student) to miss as much as 50% of classroom discussion
- Near 3 million children in the USA up to 20 years have a hearing loss
- About 15% of adults in the US (37.5 million) from 18 and over have some trouble hearing
- One in eight people in the US (13 %, or 30 million) from 12 years or older has hearing loss in both ears after standard
It definitely looks like a national problem, especially for young people attending colleges and universities. As we saw above, hearing loss may cause up to 50% missing of the things which are talked about in the classroom. As a result, the students with hearing impairments do suffer serious problems in pursuing their degrees, but nevertheless, those problems may be overcome by joint efforts of the teachers and the students themselves. Moreover, the technologies of the 21st century offer very efficient technical equipment to provide the success in studying for those who have an impaired hearing.
How to recover from hearing loss?
First of all, before joining the college community a young person has to determine the condition. So, to visit a specialist for the thorough examination is quite a necessity. If some problems do have a place, you should know are the changes in hearing recoverable, and if so, what is to be done for that. There are lots of stories told by people who been through such experience, after reading them no precaution seems extreme or overrated.
At a young age this issue is of temporary nature and mostly depends on a constant staying in the noisy environment, excessive sound in the headphones, trivial cold or flue. Such condition is treatable, although there are more serious syndromes associated with a hearing loss, like Down Syndrome, CMV, etc. It always should be remembered that only a specialist is able to determine a kind of treatment and prescribe appropriate medication. Never try to cure such kinds of issues by yourself. And it should be kept in mind – to recover always takes pretty long time.
What to do to succeed as a college student?
1.Before entering a college
- Contact a high school counselor to determine what services for disabled students are available in various colleges, including programs and technical equipment
- Choose a college which provides a financial aid for the students with hearing loss, it will help to cover the cost of any assistive needed devices, such as a TDD/TTY telephone
- Visit a disabilities office and talk to the personnel there to find out how the get an assistance if required
- Carefully plan your budget as you might need some special equipment to be paid for
- During a study process
- Get in touch with your professors before a class starts, they are required to accommodate your disability
- There is a great number of apps for tablets, laptops, and mobile phones to provide more accommodative classes and lectures for students with hearing problems. So, download a few of them and choose the best one to fit your needs just by trial and error.
- Before a class ask for assistive amplification or telephone devices
- Always ask your professor to repeat something you did not understand, or tell him about any your need concerning a lesson, never get afraid to disrupt a classroom
- Find a friend to take notes for you during a lecture
- Contact your college office for students with disabilities as often as you need, there is a lot of resources at their disposal to help you solve the most of the problems
- Bring your TDD/TTY to your dormitory
- Establish a system of signals to let your friends and colleagues know precisely your needs and requests
- Do not hesitate or get confused to use any new gadget which may appear on the market to use it during studying
Overall
As it was said earlier, a succeed of a student with a full or partial hearing loss depends on the joint efforts of professors, students and other college people around. Inform people about your disability and needs connected with it. The professors have lots of effective methods of teaching for such cases, and technical progress does not stop to surprise us with new miracles.
So, if a student has a this kind of a problem but wants to succeed, it is a matter of his desire, hardworking and diligence.
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