“The Effects of Classroom Amplification Systems on Early Elementary Students’

Academic Achievement, Attending Behavior, and Their Ability to Hear Their

Teacher”

Faith Loven University of Minnesota DuluthNancy Anderson Hermantown Elementary SchoolKelly J. Fisk Cedar Mt. SchoolsSheila J. Johnson Children’s Hospitals and Clinics

Background Information

Importance of audition in the classroom45% of a child’s school day is spent

engaged in listening (Berg, 1987)

Schools are terrible auditory environmentsNoisyReverberant

An audio example of the auditory environment of a typical classroom

Speech Understanding

Poor acoustics and speech understandingLoven & Collins (1987)

Children with Hearing Loss

in the ClassroomUnidentified hearing lossFluctuating hearing thresholds

Otitis media

On any given day, 30% of children in a regular education placement are struggling with an educationally significant hearing loss, known or unknown (Nelson & Schmidt, 1993)

Loss of important linguistic cues and contextual information

FM Amplification Systems

Improves the acoustics of the classroomA pictureA demonstration

Sound Field Amplification Systems

Address the problems of personal FM systems

Benefit ALL children

Not so much an amplifying system as it is an equalizing system

Efficacy of Sound Field FM Amplification Systems

Mainstream Amplification Resource Room Study (MAARS) in 1980Hearing impaired children in regular classroom

settings made greater academic improvement than similar children in a resource room placement

Other studiesImprovement in

Academic achievement (Sarff, Ray, & Bagwell, 1981)Test taking performance (Burgener & Deichmann,1982)Vocabulary growth (Lovass, 1986)Identification of vowels and environmental sounds (Lovass, 1986)Speech discrimination ability (Jones, Berg, & Viehweg, 1989)Language development (Gilman, 1989)

The Research Questions

What are the effects of classroom amplification on “normal” hearing students in primary grade classrooms in terms of the following dimensions?Academic achievement in three core areas

ReadingMathematicsSpelling

Objective attending behaviorStudents’ subjective judgments of the listening

environment

Methods

Subjects

48 second grade boys and girls in two separate classrooms in a northern Minnesota K-3 elementary school

Predominantly CaucasianAges ranged from 7-9 years24 students were in each classroomNo known impairments that would affect learning

The Amplified Classroom

Classroom “A”Deluxe Classroom Amplification System

manufactured by Audio Enhancement4 ceiling-mounted speakersCordless microphone and transmitter

Used during instructional time Gain adjusted to provide a 65 dBA

presentation level

Sound Level Measurements of the Classrooms

Classroom “B” (non-amplified)Average signal-to-noise ratio was +5 dB

Occupied teacher quiet vs occupied teacher talking

Classroom “A” (amplified)Average signal-to-noise ratio was +14 dB

Occupied teacher quiet vs occupied teacher talking

Measures of Academic Achievement

Core area curriculum used in both classroomsMath in My World (McGraw Hill, 1998)Collections from Young Scholars (Open Court Publications,

1999)Dolch Sight Word Lists (University of Illinois Press 1974)

Unit tests in reading, mathematics, and spellingScores recorded by the classroom teacher

# items correct/# items possible

Data periodsPeriod 1: November-December. Pre-amplificationPeriod 2: January-March: First comparisonPeriod 3: April-May: second comparison

Measures of Attending Behavior

Six students (3 boys/3 girls) randomly selected in each classroom

Observation recording formAttending behaviors:

Eye contact w/teacherEye contact w/another student

called upon by the teacherEye contact w/materials currently

in use by the class

20 random observationsObservations made during

period 1 and the end of period 3

Measures of Listening Judgments

Student survey form

Filled out by every student in Classroom A and B and two first grade classrooms and two third grade classrooms during period 1 and at the end of period 3

144 students surveyed

Results for Academic Achievement

Each curricular area analyzed separately

Figure shows the average reading test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms

T-test determined a significant (p<.05) difference between the two classrooms during period 3

Results for Academic Achievement

Figure shows the average spelling test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms

T-test determined a significant (p<.05) difference between the two classrooms during period 3

Results for Academic Achievement

Figure shows the average mathematic test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms

T-test determined no significant (p<.05) differences between the two classrooms any of the three observation periods

Summary of Results for Academic Achievement

Significantly better performance was demonstrated in the amplified classroom, compared to the non-amplified classroom, after some period of exposure to the system in the areas of reading and spelling. No differences were evident between the two classrooms for math.

Results for Classroom Attending Behaviors

Two-way factorial analysis of variance Procedure (ANOVA)

ANOVA summary suggests a significant (p<.05) interaction between classroom and observation period

Results for Classroom Attending Behaviors

Figure plotting the average number of positive attending behaviors recorded as a function of classroom and observation period

Tukey Test for Honestly Significant Differences

Significant (p<.05) differences involve the May time period between the amplified and non-amplified classroom

Summary of Results for Classroom Attending Behavior

Observations of attending classroom behaviors increased significantly in the classroom with the FM sound field amplifier, after installation of the unit

Results for Listening Judgments

Tables show the averaged responses to each survey item across all classrooms

The last item shows a difference between the average %-change across the two classrooms

Summary and Conclusions

Classroom amplification systems, used in classrooms with normally hearing, normally developing second graders, lead to significant gains in academic achievement

The benefit of amplification is not immediate

Objective measures of classroom listening behavior increases in an amplified classroomMay be related to the childrens’ perception of a quieter

classroom in the amplified classroom