Future Telemarketers?

Audio enhancements seem to be a trend of late in schools and the reading field. My classroom is located in the audio enhancement section of the building, and I have witnessed the effectiveness that enhanced audio can bring to a lesson. So, it should come as no surprise that devices like Whisper Phone and Toobaloo are –ehem- making noise in the reading world these days.
                These devices are really low-tech but deliver what they promise. (They’re also wonderfully cheap, and can be cloned using PVC.) Made from simple plastics, each item is used by students when reading aloud. These audio tools help in several ways.

• students are able to sub-vocalize their reading, yet hear it themselves as if they were speaking fairly loudly
• classroom “noise” during activities like rereading a rough draft are nearly eliminated
• student focus is improved as typical background sounds lose out to the reader’s voice
• finally, and best, the chance for student understanding rises significantly as their reading is ported accurately into their ear canals. 

                I had the opportunity to test these tools this week and found myself smiling at how simple and effective they are. The Toobaloo claims to amplify a sub-vocalized voice as much as 10 times. Having no way to measure this, I’ll buy it. The Toobaloo was indeed the more effective of the two tools for enhancing my voice. The drawback is that it has to be held, like one would hold a phone. The Whisper Phone is hands free, which was great when I needed to hold a book open to read. It was, however, not as loud as the Toobaloo. This often led to me reading a little louder than I might have wished. It also seemed to have a seashell effect. It allowed a steady tone similar to when we put a seashell to our ears to occur. It wasn’t terrible, but something I did notice. Still, it’s hard to not want to have the hands-free set for longer reading.       
                I’m going to work on purchasing a few of these in the coming months to pilot them with my students during certain activities. Unable to decide which device is the best, I’m simply going to buy both. So, if you walk by the room and see kids wearing these then the answer to your likely question is “No, I am not training our youth of today to become tomorrow’s telemarketers!”

If you decide to purchase one of these for home use, I would highly recommend that you have your child place the device up to his/her right ear. Sounds entering the right ear canal access the left side of the brain, which is where much of a child’s understanding of language is developed. This does beg a question, for me at least: If a child is using these devices to review the steps of a math problem, should they wear it over the left ear? Anyone?