Hearing+Impaired

=Background Information on Hearing Impaired Students =

Although counts vary, it is estimated that there are approximately one million K-12 Hearing Impaired (HI) students in the United States.

Hearing loss in any particular student may be minor to severe, affect one or both ears, and (in situations where the hearing loss is not total) require a certain sound pitch or volume level in order to hear. Instructors in traditional classes should identify HI students and understand their specific condition, in order to place the student in a location (up front, near or away from walls, etc.) that promotes learning success and best supports the educational delivery capabilities of the iPad2.

=Instructor Use of iPad2 =

The iPad2 comes with a couple of built in features that promote learning for hearing impaired students:

> A review of this feature can be seen here: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1vhwpnyYgg
 * **__Video Mirroring __****__:__** With an optional digital video adaptor, an instructor can display their iPad screen on any large high definition source (TV, video monitor or projection screen), for rich multimedia instruction.

The iPad2 also supports open and closed captioning, which are on-screen text descriptions that display a video's dialogue and describe other relevant sounds and information that are otherwise inaccessible to people who are hearing impaired. (Open Captioning always displays, while Closed Captioning can be turned on or off.)


 * **__Facetime__**: This application is a video calling application that allows people to see and talk to the other. Using processes such as Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), instructors can have their lectures and other audio interpreted through a third person providing American Sign Language to hearing impaired students. Demo video: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e463w0tDvro

There is a total of over 140,000 available software applications for the iPad2, and there is a separate section devoted to education for any grade level. **//Keynote//** is a visual presentation software, and one of many that is supported by Apple’s iCloud service (where 5 GB of free storage on the Internet is available to create, save and access your instructional data from anywhere a wireless Internet connection is available). Many free Educational software titles are offered, and the rest are available for a nominal fee (usually less than $10 each). For an example of Apple’s featured titles, click here: @http://www.apple.com/education/apps/ or visit the iEAR site for reviews of Educational Apps.
 * __Available iPad Software__ **

=Hearing Impaired Students Use of iPad2 =

A speaker jack on the iPad2 supports a variety of headsets (including noise reduction), and there is a built in “Mono Audio” function which plays both right and left sound channels to both ears. It also has separate adjustable volume controls for each ear, if different loudness levels are needed.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The iPad2 now has two built in cameras (one on each side of the unit) and the rear camera records video in High Definition, with sound. HI students can record their instructor’s class sessions, and save them to their iPad2 or their iCloud site, and replay them again in a setting that allows them to better hear (or someone interpret) the audio portion of each lesson.

====<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Visual notifications can be set up on the iPad to alert a hearing-impaired person when they have received an email, FaceTime calls, calendar reminders, and other notifications.====

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The iPad 2's ten hour battery charge mostly eliminates the need for a student to be located near a electrical outlet in class, or to have to recharge during the school day.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Summary =

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The available software for the iPad2 make this a desirable assistive technology for learning, especially in 1:1 situations where instructors and students (with or without hearing impairments) interact with their own iPad2. Its built in features provide alternative audio and visual experiences that are adaptable by hearing impaired students, and the large (ever-growing) number of educational titles provide a large catalog for instructors to select from.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This last link features an excellent blog site by a hearing impaired instructor, who teaches hearing impaired students. Her class received iPads this year: Teacher Instructing Students Using iPad2

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">American Sign Languages images copyright of Dr. William Vicars @ Lifeprint.com. (For more American Sign Language (ASL) resources check out Lifeprint.com)