Educational Audiology

Assistive Listening Devices (e.g.Radio Aids and FM)

This article outlines how ‘Educational Audiologists greatly enhance the work of ENTs and clinical audiologists by bridging the gap between clinic, school and home; for babies, children and young people who are deaf. With the advent of integrated radio aid technology into personal hearing instruments and new quality standards for radio aids, along with the ongoing benefits of early identification, this joined-up working is becoming ever more essential.’ (Rosenberg, 2017)

Dr Imran Mulla is Audiology Lead in Education as well as research consultant.  His work with co-researchers (Allen, 2017) on radio aids and preschoolers concluded “Radio aid use can have a positive impact on the well-being of both children and their parents. Successful radio aid use requires timely and good quality information and support to maximise potential benefits for the child and their family. Radio aid equipment can be challenging, but benefits largely outweigh any difficulties.” 

Mulla and McCracken (2014) ‘evaluated the benefits of frequency-modulated (FM) technology with preschool children with hearing aids... Five of the seven families were able to establish regular FM use in a range of environments and settings ... Improvements in listening in noise, auditory only, and distance were identified over time.’