Technology keeps students in loop
by Rebecca Gill
Going
to university can be an overwhelming process. But for the 111 UniSA
students who are hearing impaired, it can be even more daunting.
With the recent addition of new hearing systems to the service desks at Campus Central offices, UniSA is leading the way in creating a more equitable learning experience.
Campus Central is the first point of administrative contact for all study-related issues, and the offices are constantly bustling with students. For students who are hearing impaired, this background noise can often hinder the understanding of the advice they’re getting.
UniSA’s new service enables hearing impaired students to converse with staff via an audio loop. The system has already proved popular with many Australian organisations in the service industry, but UniSA is the first tertiary association in South Australia to take it on.
The new hearing service can help people with a hearing aid by using an audio loop that can be heard by turning on the hearing aid’s “T” switch (Telecoil). Campus Central staff talk into a microphone and the sound is changed into an electric current and amplified. The hearing aid then converts this current back into a clear directional sound that reduces background noise. Students who don’t wear a hearing aid, but still experience hearing loss, can pick up the telephone handset on the counter and have a clear and private conversation with a desk assistant.
Stephen Manson, disability liaison officer at Magill Learning Connection, set the wheels in motion by getting Campus Central in contact with Deaf SA’s Rod McInnes.
“UniSA already provides various support services for hearing impaired students, like note-taking, interpreters and audio loops in lecture theatres. But this is just taking it one step further,” Manson said.
McInnes said one of the biggest difficulties for hearing impaired people
is dealing with formal administrative environments.
“A small miscommunication, like hearing one word wrong, can sometimes create
a huge misunderstanding. In South Australia alone, approximately 200,000
people suffer from hearing loss. In the past the issue was largely ignored
because of the stigma surrounding it,” he said.
UniSA student Anita Dubč suffers from partial hearing loss and said the
new service was very helpful.
“It also reflects a public awareness for the deaf community and a
willingness to advocate for us,” she said.