As part of their deficit reduction plan,
Congress has directed the Federal Communications Commission to auction off
radio spectrum 216-217 MHz, a band that had originally been set aside for
the use of FM listening systems used by deaf and hard of hearing children
and adults. When news of this potential sale spread on the Internet,
parents began to speak out about the value of the FM systems and the
problems this sale can cause.
Daphne Potter, a mother from Rhode Island
wrote powerfully about the impact her son's FM system has had on their
lives. Her sons have a mild-moderately severe bilateral sensorineural
hearing loss. "I wanted to share with you the immense value an FM
system has made in my son's life. Last year he entered nursery school…his
first group learning environment. He was in a classroom of 16 children and
even though he loved school, he immediately started showing behavioral
problems. In his first months in nursery school, when everyone would sing
a song, [he] would hang back watching, never singing, not quite
understanding how to participate. In April, 2000 [he] received his Phonak
Microlink wireless FM system. Behavioral problems at school disappeared.
[He] began singing along with the rest of his class. Not having his FM
would be a tragedy for our family and for all those families like us. It
would cut [him] off from experiences that are normal for the rest of the
hearing world. It would throw away so much of what we have gained through
his early diagnosis and early intervention efforts. It would be a terrible
mistake that surely will cost much more to fix in the long term."
Another mother, Michelle Sarnese, tells
what a difference the FM system made for her daughter. She got her FM
mid-year in kindergarten. "The teacher immediately noticed an
improvement in her listening skills and in her participation in class. She
started raising her hand and answering questions, whereas previously she
would sit quietly. Now she uses her FM not only during school, but during
extra-curricular activities such as dance and gymnastic classes. The FM
raises the dance teacher's voice above the music. The gymnastics center is
extremely noisy, with a lot of background noise due to the number of kids,
poor acoustics and music for floor routines being played non-stop. But
despite this, she understands her instructor perfectly when the FM is
used. The FM has been an extremely useful tool, and she does not function
well without it.
My own family has received significant
benefits from the use of FM systems. I am a hard of hearing mother of a
hard of hearing child. We both have profound, bilateral hearing losses and
wear hearing aids. Without our FM listening systems, we struggle to hear
even in the smallest rooms with few numbers of people. Chairs moving, cars
passing, heat and air conditioning units and more all contribute to
environmental sounds that have little if any effect on people with normal
hearing. But to those of us with hearing loss, these noises can drown out
teachers, lecturers, fellow classmates and others. We are rendered unable
to hear the people around us. Using our FM assistive devices,
environmental noises can be entirely shut out, making the speaker the only
thing we hear and enabling us to learn what we have come to learn about.
My daughter and I use our FM systems on a
regular basis. Without it, I would not have been able to graduate from law school in 1992. Today,
I use my FM system for school meetings, continuing education programs,
conventions and many other important functions. My husband is also hard of
hearing and uses his FM during management meetings at work. My daughter
uses her FM on a daily basis for all of her classes at school, for after-school and
weekend activities, in the car so she can hear without road noise and when
we attend religious functions.
FM listening devices are quite expensive
and are widely used by deaf and hard of hearing children and adults
nationwide in public schools, private schools, special education settings
and public and professional arenas. Our FM listening systems are vital to
us in many aspects of our lives including education, socialization and
employment. The FCC needs to continue to reserve radio spectrum 216-217
MHz for use by these devices. The quality of both our education and our
lives depends on it.
Send your comments and stories about the
impact of FM systems on your child by February 22nd to FCC.
Directions and the link follow.
Directions for submitting comments to the
FCC:
The FCC has established a web page that
allows you to submit comments electronically. The process is reasonably
easy to use. To help you submit your comments we have put together
step-by-step instructions.
1. First, save your comments in a word
processing file. The FCC can accept comments that are in the form of
Microsoft Word, or WordPerfect files.
2. Go to the FCC's Electronic Comment
File Submission page. You may click the link here:
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.hts
3. Sending your comment is a 2-step
process. The first step is to complete and send the coversheet.
4. Type the proceeding number in the
first space. The proceeding number for this proposed sale is: 00-221.
You must type this in exactly this way for the computer to accept your
comments.
5. Unless you are an attorney who is
submitting this comment for client you should click on the Name box on
line 2.
6. Type your name in the space on line 3.
7. Unless you are an attorney who is
submitting these comments for a client you may ignore lines 4 and 5.
8. You may type your email address in
line 6. This is not required, and the computer will accept your comments
without an email address. If you do include the address in this space the
computer will send you an email acknowledging receipt of your comment.
9. Type your street address, city, state,
and zip code in spaces 7-10.
10. Unless you are filing your comments
after February 22, 2001 you should ignore space 11.
11. Line 12 has a pull down menu. The
default choice is "COMMENT". You should leave that in place.
12. Make sure all of the information is
correct, then click on the button labeled: "Send Cover Sheet to the
FCC"
13. Computer will bring you down the page
to the section labeled: "Send Comment Files to FCC
(Attachments)"
The space labeled: "File
Description" should have the word COMMENT in it.
14. Click the Browse button, and find the
file containing your comment on your hard drive. Click on the file, and
then click the open button. The name of your file should appear in the
space labeled "File".
15. There is a pull down menu below in
the space labeled: "Select one of these file types or convert your
file to one of these types:" Select the type of file you have used,
Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, etc.
16. Make sure that you have chosen the
right file, and the right file type then click the button labeled:
"Send Attached File"
17. That's it! You have submitted a
comment to the FCC! An acknowledgment of your comment should appear on
your screen. I recommend that you print this out for your records.
Note: If your comments are very brief, or
if you prefer you may follow steps 2-12 and type your comment directly
into the space labeled: "Send a Brief Comment to FCC (typed-in)"
However, there is no spell checker feature when doing this.
For further information on FM systems and
acoustics, review these resources:
Acoustical Society of America – http://www.acoustics.org/133rd/lay_lang.html
Classroom Acoustics – http://www.classroomacoustics.com
The Noise Pollution Clearinghouse (Quiet
Classrooms) – http://www.nonoise.org/groups/qc/index.htm
Acoustics Standards Update – http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/acoustics.cfm
FM Applications in Pediatrics (video)
1-800-777-7333
Teachers' Guide, "Information for
Teachers About Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids and FM Systems" (brochure)
Cheryl DeConde Johnson, Ed.D, 1-800-777-7333
|
Paula Rosenthal, J.D. is married and a mother
of two young children. She, her husband and daughter are all
hearing impaired. Her sons have normal hearing. Paula is the
founder and publisher of
http://www.HearingExchange.com, an online community of
resources and support for people with hearing loss, parents
of deaf and hard of hearing children and professionals who
work with them. Subscribe to HearingExchange News and any of
the other free newsletters available at
http://lb.bcentral.com/ex/manage/subscriberprefs?customerid=6181 |
|
Copyright © Paula Rosenthal, 2001-2007.
Reproduction of this article requires written permission of the author. Email info@hearingexchange.com
with your request.
This article is one of many
in the
Paula’s Pearls group of syndicated content from HearingExchange. It may be
reproduced under certain conditions. Email Paula at
info@hearingexchange.com
for further information.
Click here for the
full list of Paula’s Pearls articles available for syndication.
Email to a friend
||
Print Version
|
