What deaf and hard of hearing students say makes higher education accessible

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Formal access to an interpreter or captioning service does not by itself describe a student’s experience of using it. Research by Carolina Tannenbaum-Baruchi, Boaz Ahad Ha’am and Revital Harari examines this gap for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Israeli higher education.

What the interviews show

The paper reports interviews with 11 undergraduate students, conducted between January and March 2024. Recruitment used purposive and snowball approaches. A Deaf interviewer offered participants a choice of communication method, and the researchers used thematic analysis.

Students described uneven interpretation, transcription and technological support, alongside the work involved in coordinating access. Some improvised with separate video windows or other arrangements to follow teaching. Their accounts also show different communication preferences and cultural experiences: hearing status alone does not define an appropriate adjustment.

Participants wanted more reliable services and better prepared staff. These recommendations were not evaluated interventions. The small, contextual sample cannot establish how widespread the experiences are in Israel or elsewhere.

A practical review of local provision

An editorial starting point is to ask students to walk through an ordinary teaching week: booking support, joining class, viewing an interpreter, using recordings and participating in group work. Record where responsibility becomes unclear and agree who will resolve each issue.

Check accessibility with the people using the service. A completed booking or available recording should not automatically be treated as evidence that the learning activity was accessible. Track both the reported problem and the student’s experience after a change.

Reference

Carolina Tannenbaum-Baruchi, Boaz Ahad Ha’am and Revital Harari. “Accessibility and support in higher education: a case study of deaf and hard of hearing students’ perceptions.” Higher Education. DOI: 10.1007/s10734-025-01586-x.

Corrected 7 September 2026 after checking the full paper: the previous author names were wrong and have been replaced with the publisher’s byline. Recommendations are now distinguished from tested outcomes.