Vicdeaf - Hearing Loss Management Case Study

Case Studies

Lisa - the teacher with hearing aids

Lisa has had a hearing loss from birth and wears her hearing aids daily. She is a graduate primary school teacher and has just completed her work placement. Since securing a position in a local school, Lisa finds she is struggling in the classroom environment, but believes there is little chance for improvement given that she already has hearing aids.

After describing her concerns to the year level coordinator, Lisa was made aware of the Vicdeaf Rehabilitation and Information Team and made an appointment for a hearing loss rehabilitation session with one of their Speech Pathologists. During her consultation, Lisa was given a number of practical strategies, which would allow her to feel more confident when encountering challenging communication situations in the classroom.

Lisa’s Speech Pathologist informed her of strategies to maximise communication:

  • Speech reading
  •  Conversational strategies such as using context to predict the parts of the sentence that she did not hear
  •  Environmental modification:
    • Rearranging the class room furniture
    • Altering lighting (to improve her ability to speech read)
    • Closing doors and windows (to reduce interference from environmental noise) 
    • Placing children who are more difficult to understand further forward in the room
    • Improving room acoustics

The Speech Pathologist referred Lisa to one of the hearservice Audiologists, to discuss further hearing aid options, in particular the inclusion of a specific program in the hearing aid to help reduce the effects of background noise.

Finally, the Speech Pathologist was invited to give a talk to Lisa’s students. In a fun and interactive presentation, her students listened to a ‘hearing loss simulation’ CD, which helped them to understand what living with a hearing loss might be like.

Lisa no longer struggles in the classroom and is much more relaxed. The additional program in Lisa’s hearing aids, combined with practical communication strategies, have significantly improved Lisa’s life both personally and professionally.

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