Hearing Assistive and Access Technology
This book, written by three well-known audiologists with proven clinical experience in the fi eld, provides both fundamental and current information on a range of assistive and emerging technologies for individuals with hearing loss. It is laid out in four sections. In the fi rst section a review of acoustic issues is presented, including classroom acoustics. This is followed by basic information on hearing aids and implantable devices, with the recent technologies adopted in order to improve the S/N ratio, particularly directional microphones and digital noise reduction. Finally, this section discusses the assessment of individual need for assistive technologies. Section 2 deals with frequency-modulated systems, induction loop systems and infrared systems. New uses of these long proven technologies are presented clearly and in suffi cient detail. Moreover, an exhaustive explanation is given of the various shortrange wireless device communications permitted by the most recently developed technologies in these fi elds, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and near fi eld communication (NFC). Section 3 describes access to telecommunications such as the different forms of telephone, text-based technologies, speech-to-text translation and closed captioning. This section also contains materials about various alerting and signalling devices available that allow access to environmental sounds and improve personal safety. The three fi nal chapters include, respectively, seven clinical cases, the special needs of health care professionals with hearing loss, and novel or upcoming technologies. Numerous illustrations, product images and a glossary of terms further facilitate the reading of the text. In conclusion, we strongly recommend this book, which will be appreciated by audiologists, speechlanguage pathologists, special educators, school administrators, consumers, family members and all those who interact with people with hearing loss. A well organized overview of these themes was lacking and the authors have fully satisfi ed the need. This text should be recommended to students preparing themselves to become audiologists or speech pathologists.