What did you say?: visually impaired students using bonephones in math class

Abstract

Bone-conduction headphones were deployed along with audio splitters for use with an auditory graphing software program in a classroom for the visually impaired. In this paper, we give an overview of the impact of introducing this technology into the classroom. We discuss our observations on the bonephone and audio splitter usage, and present data gathered from focus group discussions with the students and teacher relating to the introduction and reception of this technology. A majority of students and the teacher prefer using bone-conduction headphones over air-conduction headphones. Further, providing audio splitters changes how quickly the teacher can assess problems a student is having with lessons given on a computer, and the frequency in which students are paired together to work on a problem.