The Gozo Association for the Deaf (G.A.D.) said that it has always been very much concerned with educational provisions for deaf students as they face considerable challenges to access the curriculum and consequently achieve.

Listen…….. Learn……. Achieve….. is a project with this goal in mind, especially now that deaf students are further hindered to understand speech by the use of masks in schools, the Association said.

This project is funded by the Small Initiative Support Scheme (SIS) managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS) and through these funds the G.A.D. is promoting the use of a Soundfield System during lessons.

The G.A.D. explained that the system basically consists of a loudspeaker with an array of twelve high-quality speakers that can be paired to a touchscreen microphone worn by the teacher and a pass-around microphone to be used by students.

A multi-media hub also comes with the system, it said. This is paired with the teacher’s microphone and can also be connected to an interactive whiteboard, a computer and other media devices. What is most noteworthy about this equipment is that the sound is crystal clear.

Moreover it constantly adapts to the classroom acoustics and background noise thus eliminating all interfering noise that hinders understanding.

The G.A.D. said that at present three schools in Gozo are participating in this project. It is intended that more schools will be involved following the termination of the project.

Feedback received so far has been extremely positive. “Teachers are very happy with it as they do not need to strain their voice during lesson explanations,” the G.A.D. said.

All students with normal hearing, as well as those with a hearing loss can hear the teacher clearly at the same level no matter where they are seated in the classroom, it said.

The G.A.D. went on to say that the contribution of shy students whose speech is barely audible could be heard by everybody during class discussion. “This made fellow classmates happier too. Another student sitting at the back of the class commented that now he will be paying more attention to the teacher as he could understand everything she said.”

This Soundfield System is “not very expensive,” the Association said. It is portable so it can be shifted from one class to another.

It is hoped that schools would eventually invest in providing this state of the art equipment for the benefit of teachers and all students especially those with a hearing loss.

The project was recently launched at the Centre of the Gozo Association for the Deaf. Minister for Education Justyne Caruana attended this event. “All those present were very much impressed by the high quality of amplification generated by this Soundfield System,” the G.A.D. said.

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