Is there technology available to assist deaf and hard of hearing students?
Some students may sit at the front of the class in order to hear the lecture, while others may use an amplification system or radio-microphone that is directly connected to a hearing aid. Transcription services are also available to deaf and hard-of-hearing students but would most likely be utilized by a student who has recently or temporarily lost their hearing and is therefore not fluent in sign language. Some schools that have more extensive programs for deaf students offer real time speech to text transcription services by utilizing voice recognition software, like Dragon Naturally Speaking. Depending on the needs of a student, a specially trained captionist will use a voice recognition program to create a real time transcription of the class, much the way a court stenographer transcribes courtroom proceedings. However, instead of typing, the captionist dictates into a special “mask microphone” that muffles the voice to minimize any distraction to the class. What should I do if a d
