Educate Teachers

Hearing loss can prevent children from participating in the classroom and inhibit learning. On top of that, many young people listen to loud music through headphones and earbuds, putting them at risk for developing hearing loss later in life.

Educating teachers about hearing loss can help them assist hearing impaired students in the classroom and encourage all students to make good hearing health decisions.

Provide educators at your school with information on how hearing loss adversely affects speech and language development and how to identify characteristics of hearing loss. Providing teachers with hearing loss demonstrations kits and information about the dangers of loud music (for example) could inspire teachers to bring the topic of sound in the classroom. To obtain educational materials, you could reach out to local hearing clinics or nonprofit organizations.

Teachers at your school might find these resources from Engage Education on supporting children with hearing loss helpful.

The UK's National Deaf Children's Society also has several resources for teachers, such as this pupil survey on good listening conditions in the classroom, this guide to deaf-friendly teaching, and this resource on supporting pupils with mild hearing loss.

In 2021, University College London launched an online deaf awareness course specifically for teachers. It's free and can be accessed here.

Educating teachers about the effects and signs of hearing loss can help ensure that no student's education is jeopardized due to an unrecognized hearing loss.

Greater awareness among teachers can help contribute to better partnerships between educators, educational audiologists and speech-language therapists.

In addition, teachers can become ambassadors for hearing health. Lessons on the science of sound and hearing can both be a lot of fun while helping young people understand the dangers of loud noises and unsafe listening behavior.