Research Memo

Hearing Loss Hypothesis

            Given the proper technology, deaf or hard of hearing children can attend public schools with their hearing peers. School has been a challenge for me my whole life. Since I was diagnosed with hearing loss when I was five, I was given extra help listening to instructions by teachers and hearing devices such as an FM System. I know that other children in public schools within South Carolina are not as fortunate as I am. Other children with hearing loss, struggle to hear their teachers and their peers. How do children that are audibly impaired adjust to public schools and what do public schools do the aid these children? Using my research, I plan to answer this question. The audibly impaired children within public schools will adjust to living conditions with hearing people. I believe my research will show that public schools are trying their best to give what is best for these children with hearing loss.

Context

School is difficult enough for hearing students. Imagine how hard it is if you cannot hear what teachers and instructors are telling you to do. My target audience was adults who were either in school or had contact with those in school. I chose these people to be my target audience because they have contact working in schools. They might have had contact with a student with hearing loss. My results are valid because I noticed similar trends throughout my results and summary of my data. I did not have to change my questions or my target audience in the middle of the survey. I did not change them because while people were taking my survey, they did not ask for clarification on any of the questions.  The results from these surveys will provide me with the answers about how hard public schools are working to provide the extra care that hearing impaired students need. Some questions that I asked in my survey that provide me with the information that I need were “What are some devices that you know of that can help a deaf person live on their own?” and “Should a hard of hearing student have an interpreter attend class with them?” The results from these questions provide me with the information needed.

Data Analysis

            Almost everyone knows someone who is deaf or hard of hearing but few people know how to communicate with them. Ninety six percent of people surveyed know someone who is hard of hearing. Nearly half of the people surveyed knew someone who has a cochlear implant, but only 8% of the people surveyed said that they know how to sign fluently. Only 40% only know little sign language and would not be able to carry a conversation with a person who signs fluently. This is a problem because so many people know someone who has hearing loss but has no idea how to communicate with them.

            While at school, audibly disabled children are going to need extra help. Eighty four percent of those who took my survey feel that teachers are heavily responsible for these children and should help these children in school with their work if necessary. Ninety six percent of people who took my survey believe that if a child needs the assistance from an interpreter during classes, they should have one. Those who took my survey believe that if a child has an interpreter, this person should also help children who need assistance at school.

Being hearing impaired, living on your own is quite a challenge. Hearing impaired people are put at risks every day. Audibly impaired children have to be taught strategies to live on their own. Ninety six percent of who took my survey believes that the families of the hearing impaired child should teach him/her how to live by themselves. Living on your own while having hearing loss can become easier and easier after practice.

            Everyone who took my survey is aware that hearing-impaired people are facing troubles every day due to safety. Everyone agreed that if there is a fire, deaf or hard of hearing people need to be aware of it. Also, hearing impaired parents can often not hear their children crying which puts the children in danger also. Since hearing impaired people are put at risks everyday when they are alone, there are special devices made for these situations. According to my surveys most hearing people do not know all of these devices that can help audibly impaired people because they do not need them. Even though hearing people do not need them, they are aware of some of these products that can help. Most people are aware of notification systems. These systems can make your lights blink if there is someone at your door, if the phone is ringing, if there is a fire, and if there is a burglar. On televisions, there are optional captions to turn on while watching television. Everyone surveyed agreed that these devices can protect the hearing impaired and allow them to continue with their everyday activities.

 Conclusion

From the results of my surveys, I have received a great deal of data that tie back to my hypothesis. These results helped me determine whether I thought public schools within South Carolina were doing enough to help the audibly impaired students. The results have shown me that public schools in South Carolina are trying their best to help the audibly disabled children. Teachers that took my survey states that public schools allow those who need an interpreter to have one.  They are helping these children by providing them with what they need to be successful in school. My data is accurate because I gave my surveys to those in public school and those that have worked with public schools. Public schools in South Carolina are aiming to give their best to the audibly impaired students to make sure that these children will become victorious and successful.

Follow Up

After passing out surveys and receiving helpful data to support my hypothesis, I plan on carrying out my research and finding more. According to the results from my surveys, over half who took my survey believe that it is a challenge to communicate with people with hearing loss. Since over fifty percent of people who took my survey believe that it is difficult to communicate with hard of hearing and deaf people, I wish to educate people locally about how communicating with people with hearing loss is not difficult. I also wish to educate these people ways to efficiently communicate with people with hearing loss. To figure out the new questions that these results have led to, I plan on researching online to find out the answers. I plan on researching for educational articles written by those who are experts in the field. I also plan on searching for documentaries that explain the variety of hearing loss and teach those without hearing loss, how to understand those with hearing loss. After I complete researching my topic, I hope to understand why some people treat those who have hearing loss in a negative way.