This document is designed to help you prepare for the exams and understand the questions and learning outcomes we’re hoping for this quarter. If you can answer every question on this sheet, you’ll be in excellent shape.
The Midterm exam will cover ‘Introduction’, ‘Anatomy’, and ‘Acoustics’, and the Final will be cumulative, but with substantially more content from ‘Physiology’, ‘Psychoacoustics, ’Hearing Disorders’, and ‘Hearing Interventions’.
The format of the exams will be written short answers. To see how this looks, and to view a sample completed exam to get a sense for the (somewhat less common) format, see my sample written answer exam.
Exam policies are at https://savethevowels.org/exam
Go back through and re-read the chapters, making notes of any areas which are unclear
Go back through the slides (posted here), making use of the podcast if you don’t remember the accompanying points made.
Look over this study guide, and make sure you can answer all of these questions and define all of the terms. I may not directly answer every question in the lecture, with some requiring you to stitch things together based on your own understanding, but if you can answer these things, particularly the larger conceptual questions, you’re going to rock this exam.
Answer the questions and define the terms aloud, teaching the information. It’s easy to look at an item and think “Oh, I know that one, I’m good.” But explaining the answer, in detail, as if you were talking to somebody else, can reveal gaps in your knowledge. Seriously, answer the question or define the term aloud to your bestie/cat/plant/fellow bus passengers, and you’ll be much more prepared to do well on the test.
Why can’t sound exist in a vacuum?
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, acoustically, is it likely to make a sound?
What are some of the problematic phrasings and framings commonly used in hearing science which are felt to be objectionable by many in Deaf culture?
How can oralist traditions within hearing science inadvertently lead to language deprivation?
Why do some Deaf people object to surgical hearing interventions like cochlear implants?
What is the benefit of simultaneously teaching deaf children to sign, even as they (or their parents) attempt to restore some sense of sound? Are there downsides?