Analysis of the Acoustic Environment at School &

Childs Auditory Skill Assessment: Observation and Scoring

Maxine Lynch
Mentor Teacher Project, January 2014
The acoustic environment of Allegra* was assessed using the Phonic Ear
Listening Environmental Profile. The environmental conditions of a classroom can
greatly impact how a student performs. Allegras classroom scored 26 points
which places her classroom in the category of borderline listening environment.
The Listening Environmental Profile looks at aspects of the teacher, teaching
style, and physical classroom. Most of the problematic noise in the classroom was
generated from the physical settings and design of the classroom. This classroom
had many hard surfaces, which causes reverberation and leads to poor classroom
acoustics (Acoustical Society of America, 2010). The large classroom windows
covered one wall, and had flimsy fabric drapes offering no sound absorption.
Other hard surfaces in the classroom included: walls lined with whiteboards; and
regular ceiling tiles. Reverberation can be decreased by increasing sound
absorption in a classroom (Acoustical Society of America, 2010) through adding
soft materials. Changing the drapes to be a heavy fabric would increase sound
absorption. Another modification could be adding in acoustical ceiling tiles. In
many classrooms, the addition of acoustic ceiling tiles greatly improves the entire
acoustic environment (Acoustical Society of America, 2010). Ms. B* is Allegras
teacher, and there are 24 children in Allegras third grade class. Ms. B will not talk
over any noise, and her students are quiet and attentive to their teacher. Ms. B
teaching style is teacher-focused and often, her voice is the only one that
students need to hear. Ms. B consistently wears the FM for Allegra, and re-iterates
student responses. Ms. Bs teaching style was ideal for a child with a hearing loss,
because of the lack of student noise, and the teacher-focused environment.
Allegras auditory skills were assessed using the Functional Auditory
Performance Indicator (FAPI).
Functional Auditory Goals:
1. Increase Allegras ability to discriminate familiar words in imperfect acoustical
environments. Unless Allegra is in an ideal acoustic environment, she has not
acquired the skills to be able to discriminate between similar sounding words.

Category: Auditory Discrimination

Skill: Familiar words based on vowel differences (cat/cut, pat/pet,
dig/dog)
Conditions: Emerging skills when the conditions are: noise, far,
open set, outside

*= Name has been changed

2. Increase Allegras ability to recall short-term auditory information. Allegra

is often unable to recall sequences of information which have been given
to her through only auditory means.
Category: Short-Term Auditory Memory
Skill: Auditory recall of 3 -4 digits
Conditions: Skills are not present when conditions are: auditory
only, far, noise.
3. Increase Allegras auditory comprehension, in regards to auditory
conversations. Currently, Allegra has not fully acquired the skills to
participate in auditory conversations, even in ideal acoustic
environments.
Category: Linguistic Auditory Processing
Skill: Auditory Comprehension in auditory conversations
Conditions: Skills are in process with the following conditions:
with visual cues, in quiet, familiar vocabulary, single activity.
The FAPI and Listening Acoustic Environment tools can both be used to
assess how Allegras listening skills and learning environment are
contributing to her social and academic performances in school. Since
Allegras classroom has been assessed to be a borderline acoustic
environment, it could impact Allegra negatively. The constant reverberation
in the classroom creates background noise, even though students are quiet.
When Allegra is working with peers for group work, she may miss out on
what each student is saying. The constant noise form the playground could
also negatively impact Allegras ability to hear her peers and her teacher.
The biggest challenge that the acoustical environment presents for Allegra is
her ability to hear conversations that her classmates are having during group
discussions.
The FAPI has identified several areas that Allegra needs to continue to
improve for optimal auditory performance. Currently, Allegra is emerging in
many of the skills in the auditory discrimination category. If Allegra is unable
to correctly discriminate between words when she in an borderline acoustic
environment, it could lead to confusion and misunderstandings, with her
social skills suffering. Allegras short-term auditory information recall needs
to be a goal. Currently, Allegra can recall limited information provided she
is given visual clues, or is in a good acoustical environment. This is a skill
that will directly impact Allegras academic ability as she gets older,
teachers and the academic environment will demand that Allegra is able to
recall information that is given only orally. The final area that the FAPI
highlighted as a skill Allegra should work on is her ability to participate in
auditory conversations. Even in an ideal acoustic environment, Allegra has
not acquired the skills that she needs to participate in conversations. When

Analysis of the Acoustic Environment at School &

Childs Auditory Skill Assessment: Observation and Scoring
Allegras peers are having a conversation, she may not want to participate.
This is an essential skill that people need to acquire, especially for their
social development, and interactions. The Listening Acoustic Profile and FAPI
both have an impact on Allegras performance in school, and with her social
interactions.

References:
Acoustical Society of America, (2010). Acoustical performance criteria,
design requirements, and guidelines for schools. Melville, NY
Stredler-Brown, A. (2010). Development of listening and language skills in
children who are deaf or hard of hearing (pp. 137-161). In R. Hull (Ed.),
Introduction To Aural Rehabilitation: Serving Children and Adults With
Impaired Hearing. San Diego: Plural Publishing

*= Name has been changed