Mary E. Gordon

Date of Award


Document Type


Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Speech and Hearing Sciences


Speech Communication

Physical Description

1 online resource (73 p.)


Allied health personnel -- In-service training, Audiology, Older deaf people




At least two studies have been found conducted in the area of audiological in-services and their impact on the people to whom they were presented. In 1981, Dancer and Keiser studied the effects of empathy training on geriatric-care nurses and in 1985, Dampier, Dancer, and Keiser studied changing attitudes of college students toward older persons with hearing loss. Both of the studies investigated the effect of in-service training on empathy, rather than using the traditional academicallyoriented in-service program approach. Both studies found statistical results indicating a significant positive change in the subjects' feelings toward hearing impaired geriatrics. Additionally, Dancer et al. (1981) found a positive significant change in the subjects' perceptions of hearing impaired elderly persons.

This study investigated the effect of an in-service training program on nursing home personnel. The in-service that was developed included both empathy training and factual information. It was hypothesized that both elements are important and the inclusion of both could result in a greater change in people's attitude. The empathy portion of this in-service included a taped interview with a hearing impaired older person, a tape dramatizing interactions between hearing impaired and normal hearing individuals, simulated high frequency hearing loss, an "unfair listening test" and suggestions for interacting with hearing impaired people. The factual information included anatomy and physiology of the ear, types of hearing loss, common characteristics of hearing loss among older people, and the impact of hearing loss on speech understanding.



Persistent Identifier