User guide

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Soundfield Systems
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Auriol Junior School provides mainstream primary
education for 390 pupils at KS2 ‒ Years 3-6. Hearing
impaired children are integrated across the year groups
alongside a number of pupils who have other special
needs including language and communication
disorders, attention deficit disorders (e.g. ADHD) and
behavioural difficulties.
Soundfield systems were installed in the school hall, the ICT
Suite and three classrooms in September 2006; they have
proved so successful that Auriol has now installed Soundfield
systems throughout the school.
All the hearing impaired children wear hearing aids or cochlear
processors supported by fmGenie radio aid systems, which
work in conjunction with Soundfield systems to provide the
best listening experience and quality of sound for the student.
The children at Auriol like their soundfield system and enjoy
their lessons more when it is in use. Fae and Mae, twins, age 10
who both wear cochlear implant processors with fmGenies,
said, “I can hear better as the teacher’s voice is louder and can
concentrate better without the distraction of other noises
around” and “If the Soundfield system is on and I have my
radio aid on, I can hear the teacher above all the noise.”
Meryl Hunt ‒ Inclusion Manager and Teacher in Charge of
Hearing Support ‒ has a 70% hearing loss and thinks
Soundfield is great! She said “I used to strain my voice on the
days when I taught in classrooms without a Soundfield system.
Now that all our classrooms have Soundfield installed I never
have to raise my voice to be heard, even by pupils sitting at
the back. Soundfield is really valuable when the class is
involved in group discussions. If I want to attract one child’s
attention I just have to say their name and I have their
attention immediately. If all the children are engrossed in their
own activities I speak through the Soundfield, get an
immediate response and can engage the whole class again.
My ideal world would be Soundfield systems in all classrooms,
in all schools and all teachers enthusiastically using them.”
Student Participation: Year 6 pupils, including Mae, responding enthusiastically
during a lesson using the IR Classmate.
Case Study: Auriol Junior School, Epsom, Surrey
Patricia Fincham
reveals the benefits felt
in a small rural school
with the introduction of
a Soundfield system.
“I teach in a Reception
class of 14 pupils, in a small
rural Norfolk school. In
September last year one of
my pupils was a little boy
who was profoundly deaf
and had bilateral cochlear
implants. His Teacher of
the Deaf suggested that
we should have a
Soundfield system installed
in the classroom.
The initial worry was the cost, although as his teacher I kept my
head down and left it to the headteacher to organise! The
decision was made that it would be in the child’s best interests
to install a Soundfield system in his classroom, and, in
deference to the cost, this would be a type which would easily
be dismantled and reinstalled in his new classroom each year.
The Connevans Swift Soundfield system was given to the
school and paid for by the Schools Access Initiative ‒ the
government fund which enables schools to comply with the
Disability Discrimination Act.
Upon installation ‒ which took about an hour before school
started, so was hardly disruptive ‒ I was issued with a mobile
microphone and head-mounted microphone. The children
took great delight in using the mobile microphone and, once
they got over the novelty of being allowed to use a ‘real’
microphone ‘like a pop star’, they settled to using it very well.
They now find that when we have an open questioning time
in class, they can speak as quietly as they like, but still be heard.
This has increased the confidence of the child who does not
particularly enjoy talking out loud and enabled all children to
remain focused.
My head-mounted microphone was not as successful as I had
hoped and after discussion with Connevans I was issued with a
pendant microphone. This is much better and despite being a
rather mobile teacher, as most Reception teachers are, I am
now heard by everyone all of the time. The effect this has had
on my teaching has been very noticeable. When trying to
attract the attention of an individual child over the hubbub of
14 other children, it is so pleasant to be able simply to call their
name in a normal voice and have them hear and respond. So
often, when working with young children, a raised voice can
be alarming to them, but with the Soundfield system, my voice
can stay light and reassuring.
The school has been lucky enough to have parents who have
been keen to raise further money to enable us to fit an
additional Soundfield system in the hall. This has become
invaluable during assemblies, lunchtimes and even PE lessons,
and it is used when others have the hall for various functions,
so the whole community benefits.
This September I start with a new group of children, and no
longer have the
advantage of
the Soundfield
system in my
classroom, as it
moves with the
child ‒ I have a
feeling that
only now will I
begin to realise
fully the benefit
I have had over
the past year by
having one!”
Patricia Fincham
Alburgh with Denton VC Primary School
Case Study: Alburgh with Denton VC Primary School, Norfolk