Technology and Music Education for the Deaf A Retired Teacher Looks Back - Maureen Butler

Maureen Butler NJMEA Special Learners Chair maureenbutlermusic@gmail.com

At the time I’m writing this, a new school year is halfway over, and for the first time in 25 years I have not been actively teaching. I retired in June of 2020, and as I look back, I think about how much has changed in those years in the fields of technology, education, and hearing loss. As it has improved so many areas of our lives, technology has transformed vital communication for the deaf and hard of hearing population - access to sound through improved hearing aids and cochlear implants, access to media through subtitles and captions, and improved access to family and friends and the world at large through the internet and video and text. That’s before we even needed to consider virtual learning as a viable format for instruction in our schools. Technology (regrettably, not available for all yet) has helped us continue to provide music education during a time of global pandemic.

Today, you may have deaf or hard of hearing students in your music classes who have benefited from this technological growth. Indeed, twenty-five years ago, many of them would not have been included in your music class because of the limitations of technology. When I first began teaching at the Lake Drive School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Mountain Lakes in 1995, our large student body came from all over northern New Jersey. Students and staff utilized sign language, most students wore analog hearing aids, and a mere handful wore cochlear implants. Today, many families choose to send their children, aided by cochlear implants or digital hearing aids, to their own school districts. Much has changed in the span of twenty-five years, including an increased focus on an auditory/oral approach that capitalizes on improved access to sound. Let’s take a look at the some of these improvements and see how we can better include students with hearing loss in our music classes in hybrid, virtual, or in-person settings. Hearing aids and cochlear implants

The newest digital hearing aids have come a long way from analog hearing aids that amplified all sounds equally. The latest models use directional microphones to recognize the location of the primary signal, as well as timing differences to distinguish primary sound from background noise. Additionally, better technology analyzes sound to determine which sounds to filter out. In my work with hearing-aid users, I’ve noticed significant difference in what they are now able to hear, distinguish, and appreciate in the music room. For example, students seem to be better able to perceive differences in pitch and in melodic direction, although much depends on the severity of the hearing loss and other factors that may impact their perception and interpretation of sound. Getting to know your students with hearing loss will help you understand what skills are available to them, and how to modify your expectations of their abilities.

The development of the cochlear implant has had a huge impact on deaf education. These devices consist of internal and external components, and, like hearing aids, have become increasingly smaller and sophisticated. You may have noticed some of your students wearing a speech processor behind or above the ear, which receives sound and converts it to FM radio signals. These signals are transmitted to the implant embedded under the skin, and then travel to an electrode array that has been inserted in the cochlea. The auditory nerve fibers are stimulated and send the sound information to the brain. Results are seen after dedicated time and practice, as the brain begins to make sense of the auditory input it receives. In 1995, the criteria for children to have this surgical procedure was quite restrictive and precluded the availability of it for most children. Today a large percentage of children with

Now more than ever, music education is critical for all students. One significant impact is how it helps students with social emotional learning. This brochure includes key talking points for music education advocates to use as they communicate with decision-makers about the place of music education in any school setting. It answers:

• How are music educators well-suited to help students develop socially and emotionally? • What does research tell us? • How can public policy support music education and Social Emotional Learning?

Download your brochure at bit.ly/MusicEduSEL Questions? Email advocacy@nafme.org

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a hearing loss are candidates for the procedure, and many parents choose this option.

The strides that children make who are surgically implanted with these devices are impressive, and as the technology improved, I saw better and better results in terms of what they were able to appreciate and achieve in music class. I believe that the wide variety of sound sources typically found in our music rooms helps their brains learn and process input. It is important to note, however, that this device was designed for speech perception, and not music. Although advances continue to be made, your students may not have access to the wide range of frequencies that comprise music. They may be limited in their ability to distinguish melodies and timbres of different instruments, and to match pitch. However, this amazing technology has helped to make music accessible and enjoyable for students with hearing loss, and many have had successful experiences playing instruments, singing, and listening to music.

Media in music class

We have become so accustomed to the plethora of resources available to us that it’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have them. Yet twenty-five years ago the music room looked quite different. To help students with a hearing loss understand the world of music, I relied a great deal on movement activities, including scarves, ribbon sticks, and dances. Their understanding of tempo, dynamics and genres was based on how we moved, rather than on what they heard. When I taught about instruments of the orchestra, I relied on photographs and recordings (think vinyls and cassette tapes!). When the internet finally arrived, there were music sites with pictures of instruments and short audio clips of dubious quality. When I showed videos, there were no subtitles or captions, so I stood in front and interpreted the content into sign language.

Last spring, when virtual school replaced in-person learning, there was an array of online resources to choose from, including music sites with games, lessons, interactive activities, and worksheets as well as video clips of musical instruments, orchestras, bands, and musicians. I found that although some would not be understood by my students who relied on sign language, I found a lot that worked for many of them. I also used Loom to record myself signing lessons and activities. Since I had access to two laptops, I was able to record lessons demonstrating how to use activities on other websites. One laptop was open to a web-based activity, and the other recorded myself demonstrating and using sign language to explain the activity.

If you are looking for activities for your students with hearing loss, remember that they rely on lipreading and facial expression, so choose videos that make it easy to do so. If you are teaching virtually and using a screen share mode to explain how to do an activity, make sure you are in the video or find an alternate way to communicate your voiced instructions - with written instructions, or through a one-on-one meeting. Videos of animated characters will be impossible to lipread, although depending on your students’ reading level, subtitles may help. Moreover, although most videos are subtitled, there are still some that aren’t, so be sure to use only captioned media. It may help to analyze your activities by asking yourself these questions: “Would I be able to understand this with limited or no sound?” “Will this be a successful and meaningful activity for all my students?”

Two examples of sites that worked well with my students with a hearing loss are Chrome Music Lab and Incredibox. Both of these sites enable children to experiment with sounds by manipulating visual elements. Students can manipulate sounds and experiment with rhythm, pitch, beat, and voices, and the visual representations help them to understand musical elements as they manipulate them.

My work with deaf and hard of hearing students was both challenging and rewarding, and I was thrilled to incorporate newer technology when it arose. Whatever you choose to utilize, I hope that your work with these children will be as rewarding for you, as you find new ways to develop and enhance their understanding of music.

Created through the Teaching with Primary Sources program of the Library of Congress Focused on helping educators connect to the Library of Congress’s digitized archives, and helping teachers learn how to incorporate primary sources into the classroom, NAfME has created curriculum units connected to the Library’s vast resources in music, including audio, video, still images, and sheet music files. • Band: middle and high school • Orchestra: middle and high school • Chorus: middle and high school • Music Theory and Composition: high school • General Music: K, 2, 5, and 8

The Band, Orchestra, and Chorus units are arranged by each level in the Performing Ensembles standards—Novice, Intermediate, Proficient, Accomplished, Advanced. The Music Theory/Composition units are arranged by each level in their standards—Proficient, Accomplished, and Advanced. The General Music units are available at the Kindergarten, 2nd, 5th, and 8th grade levels.

Download the newest curriculum units at bit.ly/LOCcurriculum.

Orchestra Responding Unit, Advanced Level A Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States (LOC) Teaching with Primary Sources Band Responding Unit, Proficient Level

A Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States Teaching with Primary Sources

Composition/Theory Responding Unit, Proficient Level A Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States Teaching with Primary Sources

General Music Responding Unit, Kindergarten Level A Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States Teaching with Primary Sources

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