Everyone's mother has told them, playing that iPod to loud will make you deaf, but what if you turned the volume to its highest level and heard nothing? For 1 in every 1,000 children born in the United States, silence is all that is heard. Now, with a cochlear implant and the iPod touch, many are enjoying a new world of sound. Using the new innovative features of the iPod touch SDK and its ability to plug directly into all major brands of cochlear implants, educators can develop new interactive environments for teaching language acquisition to the deaf.

If you consider that 93 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families, it is easy to understand that the educational performance of those students remain poor. The vast majority of hearing parents instinctively try to teach their children language via the spoken word. This fact is backed up by Gallaudet Research Institute, where they found that 72% of families do not use sign language with their children. (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2002) The break-down of the parent as the primary education could be the reason, according to some research, the average reading comprehension of an 18-year-old deaf student was reported just below the 4th grade level. (Traxler 2000)

With significant advancements in technology, a new world of sound has become available to some members of the deaf community presenting new language acquisition opportunities. Cochlear implants are transforming how language is taught for some deaf children. With proper Auditory Verbal training, an implanted deaf child uses this technology to hear spoken language and environmental sounds.

A cochlear implant is not a cure for deafness. It is nothing more than a tool that allows deaf children to acquire access to sound and results vary based on many different factors.  Learning to use the technology requires a significant amount of work on the part of parents, therapist, educators and the students.

Once a child is implanted, one approach to educational development is an auditory verbal approach. The foundation of this approach is that with the use of hearing aids or cochlear implants, hearing impaired children can learn to listen and understand spoken language in order to communicate through the spoken word. The Auditory-Verbal approach is a parent-oriented approach.  The therapist teach the parents how to teach speech and language to the child via structured lessons and the parents incorporate language lessons into daily life.

Using this convergence of emerging technology, iPod touch and Cochlear implant, a new world of sound is available to the deaf. This will show you how to plug the iPod touch into bilateral implants for the purpose of delivering auditory verbal therapy.

First go to Radio Shack and purchase a Y adapter Model #274-375. The cost is only $4.99. Second, use the audio cables provided with the implants and plug the left and right implants into the splitter. Finally, plug in splitter into the iPod touch. Now there is stereo sound for the implant user.

To use this setup in auditory verbal therapy let's discover music with our good friend, Mickey Mouse. What child does not like Mickey Mouse? To help develop an understanding of music a number of videos are uploaded to the iPod touch and the student is allowed to watch those videos. For this particular picture the student watches the various Disney characters as they dance to the "Hot Dog" song. Another advantage the iPod touch gives the student is tactual response to touch. Check out the below video: