How close should a student with unilateral hearing loss stay to a teacher in a noisy classroom?

To determine the optimal seating position in a noisy classroom for students with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) without any auditory rehabilitation as compared to normal-hearing adults and student peers.

Speech discrimination scores (SDS) for babble noise at distances of 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 m from a speaker were measured in a simulated classroom measuring 300 m3 (reverberation time = 0.43 s).

Students with UHL (n = 25, 10-19 years old), normal-hearing students (n = 25), and normal-hearing adults (n = 25).

The SDS for the normal-hearing adults at the 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 m distances were 90.0±6.4%, 84.7±7.9%, 80.6±10.0%, 75.5±12.6%, and 68.8±13.0%, respectively. Those for the normal-hearing students were 90.1±6.2%, 78.1±9.4%, 66.4±10.7%, 61.8±11.2%, and 60.8±10.9%. Those for the UHL group were 81.7±9.0%, 70.2±12.4%, 62.1±17.2%, 52.4±17.1%, and 48.9±17.9%. The UHL group needed a seating position of 4.35 m to achieve an equivalent mean SDS as those for normal-hearing adults seated at 10 m. Likewise, the UHL group needed to be seated at 6.27 m to have an equivalent SDS as the normal-hearing students seated at 10 m.

Students with UHL in noisy classrooms require seating ranging from 4.35 m to no further than 6.27 m away from a teacher to obtain a SDS comparable to normal hearing adults and student peers.