Cochlear implants (CIs) are complex electronic devices surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear. These devices utilize electrodes placed in the inner ear (the cochlea) to stimulate the auditory nerve of individuals with significant permanent hearing loss. Cochlear implants may not be suitable for everyone. They are designed to provide…

This version of "Serving Deaf Students Who Have Cochlear Implants. PEPNet Tipsheet," written in Spanish, describes how cochlear implants (CIs) work. CIs are complex electronic devices surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear. These devices utilize electrodes placed in the inner ear (the cochlea) to stimulate the auditory nerve of…

Hearing, or auditory processing, involves the use of many hearing skills in a single or combined fashion. The sounds that humans hear can be characterized by their intensity (loudness), frequency (pitch), and timing. Impairment of any of the auditory structures from the visible ear to the central auditory nervous system within the brain can have a…

Telecoils, now available on both hearing aids and cochlear implants, can make a vast difference in the quality of sound for an individual with hearing loss. Hearing aids and cochlear implants may be very effective alone, but when noise is introduced, the hearing device by itself may not be able to adequately compensate. This is why assistive…

The mission of the Student Access Center (SAC) in a postsecondary institution is to create a comprehensively accessible environment for students with disabilities through determination of eligibility, adherence to legal mandates, and offering a variety of accommodations. An estimated 400,000+ students who are hard of hearing or late-deafened…

While many institutions provide communications access for hard-of-hearing students in the classroom, few have made a similar effort outside the classroom. Providing complete access for students with hearing loss begins with the commitment of a university's administration. Some students may require accommodations in several communications…

To provide quality services to the hard of hearing student population, vocational rehabilitation (VR) and postsecondary staff must understand the diverse and significant needs of these consumers and assist them in making appropriate "informed choices" to become successfully employed in careers commensurate with their capabilities and interests.…

Completion of postsecondary education frequently builds upon a student's successful academic and personal experience during high school. For students with hearing loss, healthy adjustment to hearing loss is a key lifelong developmental process. The vast majority (94%) of approximately 1.1 million K-12 students with hearing loss are educated in…

If a campus has students who are deaf or hard of hearing, its Public Safety department needs to become aware of some basic information about deafness in order to serve those students well. Public Safety officers may interact with deaf students in a variety of situations: (1) Reporting a theft; (2) Emergency medical situations; (3) Reporting items…

Distance learning is the separation of teacher and student by time and space. Rapid advances in communications technology have allowed distance learning to become one of the fastest-growing trends in higher education. College courses are being delivered across a highway that is global in scope. Today, two thirds of the 4,000 accredited colleges…

When a student who has both a vision and a hearing loss registers to take a course, each component of the course will need to be reviewed to determine if the student requires accommodations, e.g. syllabus, handouts, overheads or other AV materials, exams, and paper assignments. There is not a formula for addressing these needs because students who…

When Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, it included Section 504 which forbade discrimination against persons with disabilities by programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, which included virtually every institution of higher education, except the U.S. military academies and a few small religious schools. This was…

C-Print[TM] is a computer-aided speech-to-print transcription system developed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) as a support service option for some deaf and hard-of-hearing students in mainstream educational environments. It was developed by NTID researchers eager to improve the classroom experience for students at both the…

Captioning--a visual representation of the audio portion of videotape material--enables deaf learners to have full access to materials used in the classroom. With an ever-expanding pool of captioning agencies providing a wider array of options, including modem technology, and because of the greater availability of other low-cost captioning…

Communication Access Realtime Translation--(CART)--is the instant translation of the spoken word into English text performed by a CART reporter using a stenotype machine, notebook computer and realtime software. The text is then displayed on a computer monitor or other display device for the student who is deaf or hard of hearing to read. This…