Frequency Modulation System and speech perception in the classroom: a systematic literature review

Abstract

PURPOSE: This review aimed at presenting the benefits regarding the speech perception in noise shown by children who wear hearing aid devices and/or cochlear implants with the Frequency Modulation (FM) System at school. RESEARCH STRATEGY: A bibliographic survey was conducted in an electronic database with standardized search until the year 2012, and a manual search was performed by using specific keywords. SELECTION CRITERIA: For the selection and evaluation of the scientific studies chosen in the search, criteria were established covering the following aspects: type of study, participants, adopted intervention, and evaluation of results. DATA ANALYSIS: The FM system was verified to improve speech perception and speech threshold in noise in all studies. RESULTS: Regarding the performance as to type, the best results were obtained when children used the personal FM system, followed by the table and the sound field systems. CONCLUSION: After extensive review of national and international literature, it was concluded that the studies indicate the need for further research concerning mainly the impact of the FM system on the school performance of children who have sensory devices coupled to the FM system. Findings in the literature with relation to the publications focused on speech perception in noise did not relate educational and auditory aspects.

Relação entre o conhecimento dos professores sobre grau de perda auditiva, dispositivos tecnológicos e estratégias de comunicação

“…At school, the child is confronted with several factors that impact his academic performance, such as noise in the school environment, the distance between the teacher and the student with HI (speaker-listener), the reverberation in the classroom and the excess of pupils in the same classroom, with little or no acoustic treatment. The literature also shows that the guidelines to teachers, regarding the use of technological devices, are scarce (11) . In addition, the communication strategies used by the teacher may make it easier or more difficult to understand on the part of the student with hearing loss.…”

O uso de Sistema de Frequência Modulada por crianças com perda auditiva: benefício segundo a perspectiva do familiar

“…All that can cause learning loss, since the student may partially understand the lesson or even receive the message distortedly (12) . Using the FM coupled with their hearing devices, such unfavorable listening situations in the school environment would occur less often and would also stimulate the child's participation in school activities (15,(18)(19)(20) . A significant difference was also observed in performance, as can be seen in the situational analysis in Table 3.…”

“…As can be seen in Table 4, parents and guardians stated that, with FM, the child can understand speech better, either at home, school or therapy, consequently the speaker needs to repeat less often and the child understands the message. The primary benefit of using a wireless communication system, such as FM, is the improvement in the understanding of the teacher's speech in a noisy environment such as the classroom, thus creating conditions favorable to learning acquisition and consolidation for children and/or young people with hearing loss (15,(18)(19)(20) . Another relevant factor of the FM system, as observed in the data analysis in terms of behavior, was that children's level of attention increased.…”

“…The national and international literature provides evidence that the use of FM is beneficial in the school environment (15) . Evaluating such benefits is essential to determine its effectiveness prior to recommending or prescribing hearing-aid devices with this technology.…”

Perfil dos usuários do sistema de frequência modulada de um serviço de atenção à saúde auditiva

“…The use of this resource started offering better learning conditions in the academic life of these people. According to this regulatory law, the requirements for the FM system to be provided are: having from mild to profound sensorineural hearing loss; being a HA and/or CI user; presenting performance in the assessment of recognition skills of speech in silence; having thorough knowledge of oral language, or being in the process of developing it; being a student enrolled in Elementary, Middle or Secondary School; and, being between 5 and 17 years old (13) .…”