This Classroom Has Balls

Did you ever really listen to the sound that dozens of screeching metal chair legs make when a classroom full of kids change classes?  For most folks, this is just ambient noise that can be easily filtered out and disregarded.  For those kids who wear hearing aids, however, this sound becomes an awful high pitched roar.  This was just the experience of a 1st grade friend of ours who came home one day after school complaining to her parents about the ‘terrible noise that went right into her brain’.   It turns out that  hearing aids which are usually a huge help, are not very good at handling such a high frequency sound.

To fix this problem her Dad (and Mom too) gathered up some old tennis-balls, cut an ‘x’ in them using a sharp knife, and installed them on all of the chairs in the classroom.  Just like that, their daughter (not to mention the rest of the kids in the class)  had a quieted classroom.  And the teacher was thrilled too!

This is a great low-tech, low-cost solution to a common problem.  You can easily make your own tennis-ball chair leg covers or you can purchase them on line at a few places including here.