The Sound of Learning: Why Self-Amplication Matters is a tour of the myriad ways people use sound to learn. Learn about all the applications for the versatile WhisperPhone® in school, home, and therapy settings. This 144-page field guide takes the reader through the science, then provides practical suggestions for real-world use of the WhisperPhone®. The last half of the book consists of short, fun exercises to improve literacy using the WhisperPhone® in the school and home.
REVIEW
A great guide to self-amplification and the WhisperPhone The Sound of Learning is directed at three audiences: teachers, parents, and speech-language pathologists. Two professors and an expert in speech-language pathology wrote this book, and the book reflects that depth of knowledge. Self-amplification is a powerful literacy tool, and you will learn a lot from this book.
The book starts by explaining how sound is connected to literacy and learning. Before this book, I did not understand how sound is important to learning. For example, I never knew why babies babble in a quiet room, but now I know they are actually teaching themselves how to speak. When children start to read and write, sound becomes even more important.
After the investigation of how sound is connected to learning, much of the book is about improving literacy. Almost all children will learn to read by sounding out the letters in words. That's pretty obvious, but if one thought about the situation, it's equally obvious that matching letters to the correct sounds is important. Unfortunately, many children learn to read in noisy environments in which they cannot clearly hear either themselves or their teachers. Lots of children overcome this obstacle on their own (at least, to some extent), but slow readers often do not. The closest comparable situation is if you had to memorize the names for new colors, but every time you saw a color it looked different because different colored lights were shining on it. That's the difficulty when learning to read: a clear voice signal helps children read because it helps them recognize the word-letter match.
The book also contains suggestions for using the self-amplifier in other learning activities. For example, remember when you sang in chorus with other children, but couldn't hear your own voice above the din? With a self-amplifier, children can sing in groups but still hear their own voices. This is similar to how musicians have speakers pointing the sound of their own instruments back at them. They can play together with the group while also perfecting their own work.
The middle of the book contains information for speech-language pathologists. First, the authors explain how self-amplification is used in therapy with the auditory and T-P-K feedback loops, then they detail practical ideas to improve results using portable self-amplification. Many common speech-language applications are presented along with suggestions on using the unique characteristics of the WhisperPhone to attain therapeutic success.
The last half of the book contains a variety of activities, and each activity is presented in teacher and parent versions. These easy-to-understand activities require a self-amplifier (such as a WhisperPhone), index cards and pencils. Each activity is designed to be completed in 5-15 minutes.
This book is designed to be used with a self-amplifier such as the WhisperPhone. The WhisperPhone is a device that takes the sound from a person's mouth and transmits it directly to the ear. It's also battery-free and hands-free, which makes it unique among self-amplifiers. (You can see a WhisperPhone in the pictures at the top.) Once you use a WhisperPhone, it's easy to understand why it's so effective: Your voice is amazingly clear.
If you want to know more, google "whisperphone" to find a few good websites. Amazon.com also sells WhisperPhones, so you can check them out if you want.
