NCHAM WEBINAR: USING REMOTE MICROPHONE SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE LISTENING AND LEARNING FOR YOUNG CHILDREN WHO ARE HARD OF HEARING

On Thursday, June 20th, NCHAM will be hosting the webinar: "Using Remote Microphone Systems to Improve Listening and Learning for Young Children Who Are Hard of Hearing" presented by Merry Spratford.
During this webinar, we will discuss 1) why it is important for early intervention providers, parents, and audiologists to be aware of the acoustical learning environment of young children who are hard of hearing and 2) emerging evidence showing the impact of receiving remote microphone systems on children's language development.
In most cases, hearing aids are the primary approach to improving auditory access of speech for children who are hard of hearing. However, hearing aids are unable to provide good audibility of speech in environments where noise and reverberation are present or when talkers are speaking from a distance. Personal remote microphone systems have been shown to improve speech recognition by reducing the negative effects of noisy, reverberant room acoustics and distance between speakers and listeners. While most of the research examining benefits of remote microphone systems has been focused on academic settings and school-age children, we will review new evidence indicating a benefit for language development when children receive a personal remote microphone system at a young age.

Learning objectives
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Describe limitations of hearing aids in providing optimal audibility of speech in complex, acoustic environments.
2. Find smartphone applications to measure sound levels within home and daycare settings.
3. Compare language outcomes of children who received remote microphone systems to children who did not receive remote microphone systems.

Presenter bio
Bio: Merry Spratford, AuD, is a research audiologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She has been involved in the Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss research studies (PIs: Mary Pat Moeller, Bruce Tomblin, and Ryan McCreery) since 2008. Merry currently manages the Audibility, Perception, and Cognition Laboratory (PI Ryan McCreery), which examines how children's language and cognitive skills influence their ability to understand speech in complex listening environments.

When: Thursday, June 20, 2019
Webinar start times (by time zone)
• 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PT
• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm MT
• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CT
• 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm ET
Where: Adobe Connect - to register click: https://usu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bfryhd351GcLxit
Download the AdobeConnect app.
     For Windows: http://www.adobe.com/go/Connectsetup
      For Mac: http://www.adobe.com/go/ConnectSetupMac
   More download information is found at: https://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/connect-downloads-updates.html&nb…;
Live captioning will also be provided; a link will be available for captioning upon logging into the webinar.
This webinar will be recorded and posted online at www.infanthearing.org about a week after the webinar.