Help Kids Hear – A web site dedicated to helping parents of children that are deaf or hard of hearing. The latest news, resources, articles, and discussions about hearing impaired children!
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A site for parents of hard of hearing & deaf children.
In the News - News articles about hearing impairment, new technologies, and other related materials.
Articles & Commentary - Our editorial section. Articles written by us and by professionals in the field.
Resources & Information - Our largest section. Dedicated to helping you find the information you need. Everything from educational information, sources financial support, mental health support and more!
Facts & Figures - A brief "stat sheet" with information about just how common hearing impairment is, particularly in children.
Discussion Forum - What we hope will be hallmark of our site. An open forum where you can read and post questions about hearing impairment across a wide variety of categories.
For the Kids - Links to and information just for the kids themselves.

Other Assistive Devices

In addition to the primary means of aid, hearing aids and cochlear implants, there are a myriad of other products to assist the deaf and hard of hearing. Their primary purpose is to cut down or eliminate background noise in order to allow the person (or child) to hear better. The teacher's voice is transmitted directly to the hearing aid, thus bypassing any background or ambient noise.

The most common of these devices is an "FM system" - most likely your kids will be wearing one when they go to school.

The teacher wears one half of the system - the transmitter. This is usually a small unit about the size of a cellular phone worn on the waist with a microphone attached.

Typical FM System Transmitter

The other half of the system is the part your child wears. The receiver plug into your child's hearing aid and allow a transmitted signal to broadcast directly to the hearing aid (see pictures below).

A traditional FM receiver. Worn on the waist and plugs directly into the hearing aid.
The newer, very small receivers. These are about 1/5 the size of a BTE hearing aid and plug directly into the bottom of the aid - no wires at all!

Another type of receiving system is one that uses what is called a "loop." The loop is worn around the child's neck and the telecoil in the hearing aids picks up the signal from the transmitter. The hearing aid then passes the signal to the ear.

For more information, check out the links below:

All About FM - From Oticon

Family Guide to Assistive Technology

Guidelines for Fitting and Monitoring FM Systems - American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association

How FM Systems Can Help

The Use of FM Amplification Instruments for Infants and Preschool Children With Hearing Impairment - American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association

FM Systems for the Classroom - Boys Town National Research Hospital

The Captioning Web - Information about closed captioning (subtitles), services that provide closed captioning, and the laws governing them.

Classroom Sound Enhancement - Similar to an FM system but for an entire classroom. The amplifier is set and speakers are positioned to create a positive Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of approximately +15 dB in ALL listening areas of the classroom. Essentially, every child in the classroom gets a "front row seat".

 
 
 
Help Kids Hear is a site dedicated to helping parents of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children. We are parents of hard of hearing kids and simply want to "give back" to the community. We welcome your comments, questions & suggestions. Please drop us a note at info@helpkidshear.org.