Neosensory Buzz helps people all over the world expand their senses — no matter their age, location or reason to use Buzz. Karen X Wang shares with us how Buzz is helping kids who can’t afford expensive hearing aids or cochlear implants in Beijing, China.
In a suburb of Beijing, China, over a hundred deaf and hard-of-hearing children gather for school at the Beijing Tianyuan Hearing and Speech Training Center every day. Most of these children are between six and 15 years old and come from socially and economically disadvantaged families. The center’s goal is to support these children to thrive in mainstream society by providing them with language and life skill training.
Neosensory Buzz has opened up a new avenue to reach this goal.
An alternative to expensive surgeries and hearing aids
The founder, Ms. Quan, has worked with children with hearing impairments for over 30 years. She was very excited when she heard about Neosensory Buzz, the sound-sensing wearable wristband, and how it works. Ms. Quan immediately saw that this technology could be life changing for the many children who have some type of hearing loss – especially those from low-income families who can’t afford expensive hearing aids and cochlear implants.
A cochlear implant costs around $30,000 in China. Many of the children who receive training at Tianyuan are the ones who cannot afford such surgery, or those who received the implementation but without success. After learning about Buzz, Ms. Quan quickly realized how the wristband is a much safer and affordable alternative for these children.
Ms. Quan was given two Buzz wristbands (one small and one large) in late 2020 by a friend. She began to utilize Buzz during her classes, enabling the children to experience and differentiate sounds using this new technology. The wristbands are shared among the students, who are all very eager for their turn to try – especially the younger ones.
A new way to teach and learn
Examples of Buzz’s obvious impact among the students is clear. One adolescent, who originally came to the center because his cochlear implant failed, wore Buzz for the full school day. Shortly after first putting on Buzz, his teachers noticed he was picking up sounds he didn’t detect with his other hearing devices. For example, he looked towards the door when someone opened it and walked in.
After just a couple of days, he began to recognize and differentiate simple words like “one,” “two,” and “three.” Gradually he picked up more complex daily phrases such as “thank you”, “please” and “I want.”
The teachers at the center are working with the Neosensory app and continuing to explore the benefits of Buzz’s features for the students. They are now creating a curriculum to support the children to differentiate more sounds with the aid of Buzz.
Interested in learning more about using Buzz with students or in your classroom? Do you have a story to share about how Buzz has impacted your students? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at edu@neosensory.com.