Helos Hearing-Loss Simulator
The HELOS hearing loss simulator has become an essential part of education and training in universities, hospitals, and rehabilitation centres worldwide. HELOS is used in Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, South Africa, and Taiwan.
Norman P. Erber, PhD - Director, Helosonics
Dr. Erber has a background in ergonomics/engineering, experimental psychology, education of hearing-impaired children, and rehabilitative audiology. He was a Research Associate at Central Institute for the Deaf (St. Louis, MO, USA) between 1970-1981, where he created many assessment and rehabilitation procedures for children with impaired hearing.
In Australia since 1981, Dr. Erber was employed as a Research Fellow in Special Education at the University of Melbourne and later as an Associate Professor in Communication Sciences at La Trobe University. He taught speech acoustics and hearing rehabilitation, and supervised clinics in aged-care facilities. He has been a consultant to Taralye pre-school, the HEAR Service, Freemasons Homes for the Aged, and Vision Australia. He is affiliated with the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (Sydney) as a Conjoint Associate Professor at the Renwick Centre / University of Newcastle.
Dr. Erber has published over 80 research articles and 7 textbooks. His research interests include: (1) effects of hearing loss and vision loss on communication; (2) adaptive assessment of speech perception by hearing-impaired children; (3) applications of hearing loss/vision loss simulation in training communication partners; (4) intelligiblity of television programs to children with sensory loss; (5) use and non-use of hearing aids by older people.
History
I created the first HELOS hearing-loss simulator in the late 1970s, while at Central Institute for the Deaf (St. Louis, USA). The first HELOS filled a large equipment rack. We used it mainly for studying the effect of impaired hearing on perception of speech.
In the early 1980s, I produced a much smaller version. In 1984, I used this HELOS in a communication-training course for mothers of young hearing-impaired children at Taralye pre-school (Melbourne, AUS). This was the first time I combined hearing-loss simulation, role-play, and live interactive practice for training communication partners. Between 1985 and 1990, I presented many HELOS demonstrations and training workshops to teachers of hearing-impaired children, nurses, doctors, and aged-care staff.
Between 1986 and 2000, I taught hearing rehabilitation at La Trobe University (Melbourne, AUS). About 800 speech-language pathology students received communication practice with HELOS. HELOS training procedures became more sophisticated, incorporating two-way video, eye-gaze correction, and measures of conversational fluency. Students learned to produce clear speech, simple language, and appropriate strategies (Erber, 1996, 2002, 2008).
In 2006-2007, Sim IJskes (QCG, Leiderdorp, NL) created a software version of HELOS that could be installed on a laptop computer.
Norm Erber (Melbourne, Australia: 2 February, 2010)
Erber Publications
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