1. Alison King Principal Audiologist, Paediatric Services Presentation to Audiology Australia National Conference 2010 FM system usage and benefit for children and young adults

2. Child & Young Adult FM Survey – Oct. 2009  Mailed to all clients <21 who had an FM system listed as a current device (n=6248)  1337 respondents (21.4%) – 11 (0.8%) Indigenous  72.2% had FM input to one ear; 27.8% to both ears  FM styles used with hearing aid and/or implant – Ear level (DAI) = 86% – Induction loop = 8.7% 18% of implantees vs 6% of HA users – Body Level 4.8%  87% satisfied or very satisfied with their FM system.

3. Age distribution

4. Hearing Loss Distribution

5. Primary device configuration Chronic Conductive Unilateral Mild

6. Usage Patterns  85.8% used their FM for at least a few lessons per week in an educational setting – 58.6% “almost every lesson” – 38.6% used the FM in other situations.  17% have to listen to >1 teacher during class on most days  16% use in a room with Sound field system most days  14.2% NEVER used their FM system. – Most common reasons: “I don’t think I need it” or “I don’t like to wear it” – Not related to degree hearing loss  14.5% (164) had a transmitter that enabled the user to change microphone settings – 15.9% (30) of these changed setting in different environments.

7. EI teacher Gp. discuss

8. Which factors were related to FM benefit?  Overall benefit score derived from sum of scores across situations  Age – Younger children derived more benefit than older children  Severity of hearing loss – The more severe the hearing loss, the greater the reported benefit  Frequency of technical problems – Less benefit reported if respondent answered “often” or “all the time” for problems with distortion/interference, transmission range or intermittency.

9. Which factors were not related to FM benefit?  Gender  The Hearing Aid/Cochlear implant fitting configuration  Unilateral vs bilateral FM input

10. Summary  FM satisfaction rates were high.  FM systems are most commonly used in educational settings, but deliver significant benefit when used in other situations. – Encourage wider application of FM systems  16-17% of respondents are in educational settings that pose additional complexities (multi-teacher, SFAS) – Challenges for instruction & support

11. Summary  Technical problems affect benefit of FMs – Implications for Parent/teacher/student education Support & follow up by family audiologist, educational audiologist and visiting teachers.

12. Thank you  Ron Oong, Australian Hearing  Mark Seeto, NAL  Harvey Dillon, NAL  Renay Hawkins, Australian Hearing