Next year Kurmond Public School will have a total of four hearing-impaired pupils — and a new sound system will ensure they know what’s going on, both indoors and outdoors.
Hawkesbury Bells Line Lions Club donated the sound field system to the school last Thursday.
The system uses frequency modulation (FM). Teachers wear microphones and broadcast directly to pupils’ hearing aid receivers, which each child can adjust to get their own clear reception.
Conventional hearing aids usually do not distinguish between particular sounds and background noise, sometimes making voices inaudible. ‘‘This definitely makes a great difference to hearing-impaired kids and to their teachers,’’ principal Elena Denton said.
‘‘Teachers can speak at a normal level and children with hearing difficulties can focus and concentrate.’’
‘‘Even cochlear implants can sometimes only achieve 65 per cent hearing.’’
She said the school also had special support programs for children with learning disabilities and programs to help gifted and talented children reach their potential.
‘‘As a public school we support the needs of every child,’’ Mrs Denton said. ‘‘The support we provide is so that every child can access learning equal to that of their peers.’’
She said teachers and pupils were already using the sound field system and found it made a difference.
The system was donated by the Lions’ Hearing Dogs program, with funding from Betty and Peter Klugh’s legacy.
Hawkesbury Bells Line Lions’ chair Beryl Payne said hearing dogs are trained to alert deaf people to particular sounds. ‘‘If the kettle’s boiling or the doorbell’s ringing, for instance, the dogs are trained to nudge people in a certain way,’’ Mrs Payne said.
‘‘Hearing dogs are good for adults, but we needed something for kids in school.’’ She said the sound system was portable, so it could be used in classrooms, at school assemblies or outdoors.
‘‘It will make such a difference to the children and their families,’’ Mrs Payne said.
Mrs Denton said the school was enrolling at least two pupils in next year’s kindergarten who had hearing difficulties and, thanks to Lions Hearing Dogs’ gift, the children would have a better chance of fully participating in school life.
‘‘I think you’ll find a lot of these systems will be coming into more schools,’’ Mrs Denton said.
