Hearing Impairment Awareness Activities for Kids

Background Noise

• Many are familiar with the game of telephone, where a message is given at the start of a chain of people, then the message is passed on from one person to another. When the message reaches the last person, it has sometimes been altered in a surprising way. A variation on this game is to play it as usual, but with something loud -- music, a TV or radio -- playing in the background. This condition approximates how a hard-of-hearing person, especially one with a hearing aid, struggles to make sense of speech that is mixed with other sounds. Children might find the message at the end of the chain is much different, and they might find the message can't reach the end of the chain at all.

Lipreading

• Hollywood has portrayed lipreading as something done with relative ease and understanding. The reality is that even people with many years of oral training seldom attain more than 25 percent of comprehension from lipreading alone, and that much only under ideal circumstances. To illustrate this, have someone at the head of a group say something silently and normally, with no exaggeration of lip movement. If possible, have someone with a thick mustache or beard do the same. Finally, have someone say something silently while the audience has only a profile view of the person as their head is turned to the side. Have each child write down what they can understand in each situation. Compare notes afterward. This experience can also be illustrated with a brief segment of a movie or television containing dialogue with the sound turned off. Multiple speakers moving as they speak is ideal.

Deaf Gain

• The usual perspective when the subject of deafness arises is on deficit -- hearing ̶0;loss̶1; and ̶0;impairment.̶1; However, circumstances exist where a knowledge of ASL and being deaf can be a clear advantage. To illustrate this, have two children attempt a voice conversation through a closed window, while two other children have a ̶0;sign language̶1; conversation through a window by writing out questions and answers on paper, or by using simple gestures to convey meaning. A similar demonstration can be conducted in a noisy environment -- one historical real-world example is the printing rooms of major city newspapers -- where discussion by voice is next to impossible, but problem-free by ASL. The lesson here is that barriers to communication for both hearing and deaf people are environment-dependent.

Baby Signs

• Baby signs have become popular in hearing families as a way to make an early start on language and communication at home. This can be an especially exciting activity for children with infant siblings. From a baby signs resource, have each child see and learn the top ten starter signs. If additional video examples are available, let each child choose additional vocabulary words they find interesting. This exercise introduces easy starter words in ASL and creates a foundation for learning more.