Page 47 - January 2009

%20stds%2011-1-05.pdf) describing a new policy for distri- bution of ANSI standards for educational purposes. The pol- icy, initiated by then-President William A. Yost, was intend- ed to encourage classroom use of standards by making the standards readily available at a nominal fee. Instructors who are members of the ASA can request a watermarked, down- loaded copy of an ANSI standard at a cost of $5/student enrolled in the class.
This new distribution program is the perfect mechanism for providing one or more entire ANSI standards to students at a minimal cost. I have been using this program since fall, 2006, with a high level of success. Arrangements for obtain- ing educational use of the standard are made through e-mail contact with Susan Blaeser, ASA Standards Manager, (sblaeser@aip.org). The instructor or academic department completes a site license agreement and pays the fee for a spec- ified number of students enrolled in the course. Within 24 hours, a watermarked version of the standard is sent to the instructor as an e-mail attachment in pdf format. I have dis- tributed the standard to students by uploading it onto my course website maintained by Blackboard. Hence, the mate- rial on this website is available exclusively to students enrolled in the course.
Student access to the entire standard has short-term and long-term advantages. In the short-term, students can learn more about the development of the standard and all of the detailed information included in the standard, to supplement information covered during class lectures. They have ready access to all of the definitions in the standard and cross-ref- erencing of other standards that are pertinent to ANSI S3.6. More importantly, they develop an appreciation for the com- prehensive nature of the standard and its use in clinical pro- cedures. In the long-term, students have a resource that will be used in their professional practice. Whether they conduct calibration on their own or hire a contractor to perform this function, audiologists must know the essential elements of calibration and how to determine if an audiometer fails cali- bration requirements. They also must be cognizant of the need to update the standard as new versions are published,
and how to determine changes in the standard over time. All of these objectives are met by placing the standards in the hands of students early in their educational career.
Another, less tangible, advantage of using the ASA edu- cational distribution program is to model an ethical standard for professionalism. Faculty members are required to follow fair use agreements regarding distribution of copyrighted material for classroom use. This includes reproducing book chapters, journal articles, and other published material in course packets. One function of faculty members is to serve as role models for students to emulate. By informing students of the ASA program to distribute legitimate copies of the ASA standard, the faculty member demonstrates that he or she is conforming to ethical and legal standards in academia.
Students appreciate the opportunity to obtain the ANSI standard during their professional training. They recognize that they will be using ANSI standards throughout their career to ensure precision in stimulus presentation, hearing measure- ment, and hearing aids. One first-year student commented, “I now understand the importance of having these standards and how calibration can affect daily practice and research” (H. Plevinsky), while a second-year student (K. James) noted that having access to the ANSI standards has been useful because she can consult them whenever she has a question or concern regarding calibration and/or tolerances.
In summary, the ASA educational distribution program for ANSI standards is an invaluable resource in audiology graduate programs. It provides students with the primary source in its entirety, which serves as a reference for the stu- dent during individual courses as well as throughout the stu- dent’s educational career. Ready access to the standards familiarizes students with their importance and promotes their use of essential standards during their professional practice. Use of legitimate copies of the standards in the class- room encourages students to follow ethical principles by obtaining legal copies when they are practicing audiologists. Yes, ANSI standards are alive and well in the audiology cur- riculum because they teach students to conform to the high- est principles of professional practice.AT
Sandra Gordon-Salant is a Professor and Director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Audiology in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has taught a course entitled, Basic Hearing Measurement, for over two decades to first-year graduate students in Audiology. She is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and has served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Disability Determination for Individuals with Hearing Impairments. She directs an NIH-sup- ported research program on the effects of aging and hearing loss on auditory processes and speech perception.
46 Acoustics Today, January 2009