Classroom Design Concepts for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Place area rugs or carpet squares on the floor to minimize background noises.
- Place rubber cushions, washers, tennis balls on the feet of chairs and desks.
- Hang anything soft on the walls: fabric, beach towels, decorative rugs, etc.
- Square cardboard egg crates or cork boards ca be placed on walls.
- Cover bulletin boards with felt or cork squares.
- Insulate walls around cafeteria or gym…classrooms used for speech should be as far away from these areas as possible.
- Put rubber, weather stripping type seal around the door to help keep out hallway noise.
- Remember that sources of noise come from things such as fish tanks, small animal cages, fans, open windows, radios, A/C cents and windows facing busy streets. Try to consider ways of reducing these background noises for children who are hearing impaired.
- Cover tables in activity centers with felt in order to reduce noise.
- Acoustic treatments, such as professional acoustic panels may be obtained. Local service clubs, church groups and parent groups may be able to raise funds for a classroom in need.
- Anything you do to reduce the amount of hard, flat surfaces (i.e. blackboards, windows, walls) in the classroom will help make the room quieter by absorbing sound and minimizing echoes that do not bother normally hearing people, but make speech comprehension very difficult for the students who is hearing impaired.
- The use of FM technology, such as a sound filed system (or personal fm system), in the classroom will improve speech intelligibility for the hearing impaired student.
Information provided by Soundworks for Children, 2000
