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Hearing Assistance: The 1990 Disabilities Act
An important bill effective January 26, 1992 was signed into law by President Bush. The bill is called the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA S.933). It guarantees individuals with disabilities equal opportunity in employment, plus access to public accommodations, transportation and local and state government services. The bill also addresses communication such as vision or hearing impairments. Has your school efficiently dealt with the communication aspects of the ADA? Here are some tips . . . What is required? First let's look at the ADA requirements. The bill states: "No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal employment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations of any place of public accommodation." Discrimination includes: (1) Failure to provide auxiliary aids and services unless the entity can demonstrate that such a provision would fundamentally alter the nature of the program or cause undue hardship. (2) Failure to remove architectural and communication barriers in existing facilities unless the entity can demonstrate that the change is not readily achievable. Who is required to comply? Almost every business or facility to which the public has access is affected by this bill. That includes virtually all privately owned businesses with 15 or more employees. It also includes nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate private and public schools. Even day care centers are included. Students who have difficulty hearing benefit from proper hearing assistance systems in nearly every area of school. For instance, the auditorium or lecture hall should have a personal PA system that is connected to the main sound system. With this system, the students who have difficulty hearing could sit with their friends and enjoy concerts or plays. During a lecture, students would be able to hear every word clearly instead of reading lips and guessing at what's taught. 
Photo courtesy of Williams Sound Corp. Options Available Three main types of equipment are used to provide this type of assistance. They are the FM radio system, the infrared system, and the inductive loop system. Each system has its pros and cons. Many factors determine the best system for your needs. The following is a brief description of each type of system. The FM radio system uses radio waves as the link between the sound system and the student. A small FM radio transmitter is connected to the sound system. The student carries a small battery-operated receiver with a small earphone or neck loop. The earphone is placed in the ear. The volume control can be adjusted on the receiver. If the student has a hearing aid with a T-switch, they could use a neck loop instead of the earphone. Then, the student could keep their own aid and turn on the T-switch to enable the student to hear the sound system. Since this is a radio system, the system's coverage is not contained to a single room. The system may have a range of several hundred feet depending on the building materials. Lecture halls which are side by side would require FM radio systems to be on different channels. That would mean a different receiver would be needed in each room. Or, the receivers could be tunable so the student could select a different channel for each lecture hall. Another method to provide hearing assistance is with an infrared system. This system has the same basic components as the radio system. There is a transmitter which connects to the sound system. The student wears a special receiver. The main difference is how the sound system signal is transmitted. The infrared system uses infrared light as the wireless link. The advantage to the in-frared system is that the room walls define the coverage area. Lecture halls that are side by side will cause no interference, and the student will not have to change receivers or change the channel on a multichannel receiver. Unfortunately, the infrared system is often more costly than the FM radio system. The last system is the inductive loop system. This system also has a transmitter and a receiver for the individual. The method of operation is quite different for this system. The induction system requires a loop of wire to be installed around the circumference of the area that should be covered. How-ever, it is often very difficult to install this type of system because of the loop of wire. Which system will fit your unique needs? That can be a difficult question to answer. We would like to help you. Please feel free to call us. We will be glad to help you find the right answer for your school. by Ron Huisinga © 1996 Internet Sound Institute (www.soundinstitute.com). This article is for personal use only. Any commercial reproduction is not permitted without permission. To obtain permission, contact ISI at hopi@soundinstitute.com
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