Hearing impaired students may use an ALD in the classroom to enhance the voice of a speaker. The most common ALD is a personal FM system; the speaker wears a microphone and the student wears a receiving unit. Students may borrow a FM system from DRS.

Some students who are deaf or hearing impaired do not possess sign- language skills or their hearing loss cannot be accommodated by an ALD. In these cases real-time captioning is used. Real- time captioning is a system where a transcriptionist sits next to the student and with specialized equipment word for word transcribes the lecture and all communication in the classroom. The student with a hearing impairment will watch a portable computer display to visually follow the communication. The transcriptionist may also voice classroom responses for the student if they are unable to communicate on their own. Real-time captioning can be requested through DRS in the same manner that sign language interpreters are requested.

An increasing number of educational videotapes as well as television broadcasts are being "closed captioned" for deaf and hearing impaired viewers. Closed captions are similar to subtitles in foreign language films: captions appear at the bottom of the screen so the viewer may follow narration and dialogue. A closed captioning decoder is needed to display the usually hidden captions. Television monitors manufactured after July 1993, have built- in decoders that can be activated through the remote control. Instructors can determine whether or not videos are captioned by looking at the video container, which usually contains a short statement about captioning or carries the initials "CC" or a Q-like symbol. In the event that closed captioning is not available, a sign language interpreter or real-time captionist can interpret the video, as is done during lectures or recitations. To prepare, the interpreter might request from the instructor the opportunity to view the video in advance.