Experiences and expectations of hard of hearing students who use hearing aids

Abstract

Studies on hard of hearing students who use hearing aids as a medium of learning in post-secondary education is scarcely investigated in the global south. Most of the studies on the use of hearing aids and the experiences its users have focused on the elderly population in the global north, hence outside the educational settings. An empirical study in the global south context is needed to serve as a framework for hard of hearing students, colleagues, instructors and all educational activists in post-secondary education. The dynamics of the learning environment, societal attitudes and institutional policies for hard of hearing students in the global south is very critical for the inclusivity of these students. This study used phenomenological design to investigate the experiences and expectations of hard of hearing students who use hearing aids as a medium of learning in post-secondary education. Four hard of hearing students who use hearing aids at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana was interviewed to find out their learning experiences. Their responses centered on perceived benefits and perceived challenges such as communication, quality of life, cost of hearing aids and how people perceived hearing aid users. The study concludes that hard of hearing students who use hearing aids’ expectations in post-secondary education are not met due to the community’s understanding of disability issues, institutional policies which are far from practice and the learning environment. education.

Keywords

• Hard of hearing
• hearing aids
• global south
• Communication Technology
• Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
• Higher Education