Listening for Orientation and
Mobility: Hearing the Whole Picture,
March 11, 2011
Wendy Scheffers, COMS
Maya Delgado Greenberg, COMS
“Most people take their hearing for granted. I
can’t. My eyes are my handicap, but my ears
are my opportunity. My ears show me what
my eyes can’t. My ears tell me 99 percent of
what I need to know about my world.”
Ray Charles, 1987
For individuals with visual impairments,
hearing becomes the primary compensatory
sensory system for gathering environmental
information beyond an arm’s reach.
What will we be covering today?
• Introduction to listening skills book and O&M
chapter
• Overview of O&M listening skills
• Examples of listening skills and teaching
strategies
• Discussion of Auditory Space Perception (ASP)
and how to teach it
• Wrap up and questions
Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn:
Teaching Listening Skills to Students Who
are Visually Impaired
• A book from American Foundation for the
Blind
• In press, anticipated release in fall 2011
• Liz Barclay, editor
Chapters include listening skills for:
• Infants through high school
• Students with additional disabilities
• Students who are learning English as a second
language
• Students with learning disabilities
• Students who are deaf-blind
• Orientation and Mobility
LISTENING SKILLS FOR ORIENTATION AND
MOBILITY – HEARING THE WHOLE
PICTURE
• Developmental organization of content from
infancy through adults
• Listening skills for each phase of development
in bulleted lists
• Teaching strategies and sample activities
• Vignettes
• Functional assessment of hearing
Brainstorming
• What listening skills are involved in this
vignette?
O&M listening skills include:
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awareness and comparison of sounds
association of objects and their sounds
identification of sounds
sound localization
identification of environments or activities based
on sets of associated sounds
• auditory attention span
• auditory figure-ground
• use of sounds as landmarks and reference points
to establish orientation in a familiar area
And…
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auditory space perception (ASP)
sound tracking
auditory memory and sequencing
ability to listen to verbal information and ask clarifying
questions
• use of sounds to create and update a mental map of
the environment while traveling
• recognition of “danger sounds” and quick response
• use of technology, such as computers with speech
output, to access auditory travel information
Sound localization and tracking
Sound localization:
The ability to detect the direction and distance
of a sound source (and orient and move in
relation to that sound)
Sound tracking:
The ability to track and/or move in relation to a
moving sound source
A young man listens for the sound
of the approaching bus
Sound localization and tracking
Teach skills in order of difficulty
• Child stationary with a stationary sound
source
• Child stationary with a moving sound source
• Child moving in relation to a stationary sound
source
• Child moving in relation to a moving sound
source
Auditory Figure Ground
Figure-ground: the ability to attend to one
sound, the figure, out of a sea of background
sound.
Soundscapes: “acoustic environments that
include both natural and human-made sound”
(Ferrington, 2003, p. 43).
An elementary school age girl uses
listening skills to locate and use a slide
on a playground.
A teenager uses listening skills to
analyze traffic patterns and select a
safe time to cross the street
Auditory Figure Ground Activities
• Go on sound hunts.
• When in a complex soundscape, such as a mall
or party, ask the person to listen to different
sounds.
Identification of environments
or activities based on sets of
associated sounds
Children learn to identify activities and places by
their sounds between the ages of three and four
(Anderson, Boigon, Davis, & deWaard, 2007).
They come to associate a set of sounds with a
particular environment.
A three year old boy reaches out from his seat in a
grocery cart to touch the fruit in the produce section
of the grocery store.
Functional assessment of hearing
There are five items, including the following:
• Does the child have difficulty focusing on a
specific sound source in a noisy environment,
or become easily distracted by environmental
sounds? This could be an indication of an
auditory figure ground problem. Consider
referring to a speech and language pathologist
for further assessment.
Auditory Space Perception
Using acoustic cues to locate silent objects and
detect properties of objects and space, including
the ability to:
• Detect location, size, shape, density, and
distance of silent objects
• Determine characteristics of space, including
size, layout, and types of objects within the
space.
“When our ability to decode spatial attributes is
sufficiently developed using a wide range of
acoustic cues, we can readily visualize objects
and spatial geometry: we can ‘see’ with our
ears.”
(Blesser & Salter, 2007, p.2)
Auditory Space Perception
Three ways that silent objects are detected:
• Echolocation
• Sound shadows
• Low frequency ambient sound waves
Emerging understanding of ASP
through users and research
For example:
• Dan Kish, famous O&M instructor who
teaches use of ASP
• Research about the types of auditory space
perception (Ashmead et al, 1998)
• Recent research about the best type of sound
to use for echolocation (Martinez et al, 2009)
Sound shadow group activity
• Raise your hand when you hear presence of a
sound shadow (something blocking access to
direct sound)
Sound shadow and/or
reflected sound?
Materials to use to illustrate and teach
beginning use of sound shadows or reflected
sound:
• Box
• Cookie sheet
Sample strategies
for teaching echolocation - start:
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Indoors
With large objects or hard wall surfaces
At close distances
With student stationary or walk with human guide
For more information
• Purchase the book: Learning to Listen, Listening
to Learn: Teaching Listening Skills to Students
who are Visually Impaired
o American Foundation for the Blind
o In press, anticipated release in fall 2011
• Or purchase an epublication of our chapter,
Listening Skills for Orientation and Mobility –
Hearing the Whole Picture, at AFB online
bookstore at www.afb.org
Infants and young children learn to attach
meaning to sound. Some of the emerging
listening skills that develop at this age include:
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Notice sound
Listen to a specific sound
Localize the position of the sound source
Compare how sounds are same/similar/different from other sounds
Notice if a sound is loud or soft
Notice if a sound is high or low
Notice if a sound is long or short
Identify common sounds
Associate sounds with objects
Reach toward a sound
Move toward and away from sound
Determine if a sound is near or far
Determine if a space is small or large from reflected and reverberated sound
Identify a familiar location by listening to environmental sounds
Emerging skills for young school-aged children
who are listening to acquire orientation
information include:
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Stay focused on auditory information for several minutes, increasing the number
of minutes over time
Localize sound while moving
Travel to or away from an intermittent source of sound
Hear if a space is big or small
Hear the presence of silent objects
Use hearing to detect features of silent objects, such as size, shape, and density
Identify people, objects, and activities auditorily
Identify familiar and unfamiliar locations by listening to environmental sounds
Use sound sources for orientation and to create a mental map
Listen to a specific sound within a noisy environment
Understand spoken information
Remember verbal directions in the correct order
Listen for car sounds before crossing the street (with adult supervision)
Emerging listening skills for preteens and
teenagers who are applying auditory
information to community travel include:
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Use auditory space perception while traveling in complex environments
Determine the relative speed of moving sound-making objects (i.e. slow or fast).
Align body and line of travel parallel or perpendicular in relation to the sound of
moving vehicles
Update mental map of current location by listening to sounds
Selectively listen to one sound within complex soundscapes
Listen to verbal information and ask clarifying questions
Recall multiple step directions in the correct sequence
Recognize “danger sounds” and respond quickly
Locate correct position to cross the street
Determine if an intersection is a safe place to cross based on sound
Select a safe timing to cross the street based on sound
Monitor traffic sounds during street crossings to ensure it is safe to continue the
crossing
Use technology to access auditory travel information