A Preliminary Study to Enhance Communication on Construction Field Trips

Construction job sites are noisy places. Students who visit construction sites as part of a class field trip often struggle to hear and understand the group leader as they are led around the site. Education research indicates that a student’s ability to hear is a primary driver for understanding of key concepts and interest in the topic discussed. Few, if any, construction programs have explored the use of assistive listening devices on construction visits to improve the student’s ability to hear. Primary barriers to such an approach have been the cost of such systems and the added complication of implementing a portable transmitter/receiver system that can be moved easily from job to job. This preliminary study explores the use of a simple assisted listening device utilizing a single transmitter for the group leader and individual receivers with headsets for the students. Results indicate that the perception of student hearing during field trips improved with the assisted listening device. Students indicated that a system that allowed both the instructor and the field professional to speak through the assisted listening device would improve the system. In addition, minimizing the bulky nature of the device would also improve the overall experience and ease of use.