How Instructional Audio Transforms the Inclusive Classroom with Lightspeed Technologies ~ 1318

David Solomon
The business originally was around microphones, headsets, and a variety of different audio products. The beauty of it—thinking about your focus, Tim, and your audience—is that while it was designed initially for students who had hearing challenges, what we found over time is it benefits all students in the classroom.

Tim Villegas
Hey friends. Welcome back to Think Inclusive: real conversations about building schools where every learner belongs. I’m your host, Tim Villegas. Today’s episode is about something we don’t always think about when we talk about inclusion: the sound of the classroom itself—how the way students hear or don’t hear instruction can shape attention, confidence, and access.

We dig into what it means to create learning spaces where every child can understand what’s being said without strain, and why that matters for behavior, belonging, and equity. Our guest today is David Solomon from Lightspeed Technologies, a company that focuses on instructional audio systems designed for real classrooms that real humans learn in—little humans, usually.

We talk about how better sound changes the way teachers communicate, how it supports learners who may have undetected hearing differences or struggle with focus, and why improving the listening environment can prevent kids from being misidentified or missing out socially. David also shares how these systems can boost student confidence, especially when they use the student mic to let their voices be heard.

And as a fun side note, you’ll hear how David had to learn the art of sharing food after growing up in a very competitive household.

Before we meet our guest, I want to tell you about our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by IXL.

IXL is an all‑in‑one platform for K–12 that helps boost student achievement, empowers teachers, and tracks progress in one place. As students practice, IXL adapts to their individual needs so every learner gets just‑right support and challenge, and each student gets a personalized learning plan to close gaps.

Check it out at ixl.com/inclusive. Again, that’s ixl.com/inclusive. Alright, after a quick break, it’s time to think inclusive with David Solomon. Catch you on the other side.

David Solomon, welcome to the Think Inclusive Podcast. David, let’s start out with you telling us a little bit about your journey with your company, Lightspeed Technologies. What inspired you to focus on instructional audio solutions—and even that term, maybe unpack that for us a little bit.

David Solomon
Well, I’ve been with Lightspeed for 20 years, so this is a very well‑established company. I am not the founder or originator, so it wasn’t me who said, “Let’s do instructional audio,” and I can talk a little bit about what that is. But our founder, Jerry Ramey—his business originally was around microphones, headsets, a variety of different audio products.

He started running into technology people and audiologists and school districts that were trying to put together systems to improve the listening environment for their students. When he saw that, I think he just got the passion. It was like, “Wow. I can do what I do best, and I can do it for something that makes a big difference for students.” And so that’s where it happened.

What we’re talking about is the teacher wearing a small microphone. The microphone is paired with very specific speakers that fill the room with low‑volume, highly intelligible sound so every student can hear every word. On top of that, the teacher can teach in a normal, nurturing voice. You don’t have to use that big teacher voice or shout at anybody.

And the beauty of it—thinking about your focus, Tim, and your audience—is that while it was designed initially for students who had hearing challenges, what we found over time is it benefits all students in the classroom. You’re not singling anybody out, you’re not calling out any differences, and you’re providing a benefit that reaches every child and the teacher for a pretty small investment.

Tim Villegas
What I love about what you just said is when you think about an environment and you design for somebody with a difference—a learning difference or maybe a physical disability—when you design the environment so you can provide access for that particular student, it benefits everyone. We see that parallel over and over again. It doesn’t even matter what the context is anymore.

And so you have this solution that is meant to create access, but really it’s enriching the educational environment for all learners. That is fantastic.

David Solomon
Yeah. This is one of those topics—when you said physical disability, learning differences—there’s so much going on in a classroom of 25 to 30 students. You have students who may have attention deficit disorder, they may have a mild hearing loss that no one has detected, particularly in those younger years where they could have infections or just issues around growth. Things are changing inside your auditory processing.

So who can you say has a problem right now, especially in first, second, or third grade? You don’t know. They could be having a problem and the teacher doesn’t know it. This is a solution that smooths over all those issues.

Tim Villegas
I’m wondering—I know you said you aren’t necessarily the founder, but you’ve been with this organization for a long time. What got you into this role?

David Solomon
I was looking to transition to a different role, a different company. When I met Lightspeed, I have to admit my biggest attraction to it was not the product. My biggest attraction was the attitude of the company.

Tim Villegas
Hmm.

David Solomon
And the values they established—the strong purpose to serve education, and the way they went about doing things. I thought, “This is a company I really want to work for.” At that time it was pretty small and early‑stage. But it gave me the opportunity to help build something special—not just a product, but how you do the work. That was the big attraction.

But I’ll tell you the moment when I said, “I am in the right job.” I went to a conference in New York, and we gave a workshop to talk about our product and what it did. This was the first time I had been to a conference, so I was really early with the company. I said, “Hey, maybe we should give away a system—do a drawing.” So we do a drawing, and this teacher wins it. She comes up to me crying. She gives me a big hug and says, “I have been trying to get a system like this for two years, and we just haven’t had the budget for it. I was afraid I was going to have to quit teaching because of nodules on my vocal cord, and this is a product that saves me and now I can continue teaching.”

I thought right then and there, “I’m done. I’m hooked forever.” If we can do something like that for this teacher, what can we do for everybody who touches our product? That made a big impression on me.

Tim Villegas
What a fantastic story. And I like the flip, because we were just talking about how it benefits students. But in your particular story, it is benefiting students—but the relief that teacher received from being able to use this, because they were struggling with their own voice—it’s just so beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

David Solomon
Yeah.

Tim Villegas
As far as any particular stories of how it’s benefited or impacted children, do you have any examples off the top of your mind of how it has benefited children who are hard of hearing or deaf?

David Solomon
Yeah. The one that comes to mind—we got an email from some parents telling us about their daughter. When she went to first grade, something changed. She became lethargic. She lost interest in all the things she loved like horses and drawing. She wasn’t making friends in first grade. There was a real change in this girl, and the school was starting to direct her down a path of some type of special education. Her parents were like, “That can’t be what happened.”

Well, she gets to second grade, and it’s a totally different story. She’s got energy, she’s making friends, she’s excited about everything. They finally asked her, “What is changing?” And she said, “I can hear the teacher.”

The difference was that when she got to second grade, she had one of our instructional audio systems in the classroom. In first grade she was so exhausted from the stress of trying to hear what was going on in the classroom. Her hearing loss had not been identified because she was functional as a child—it wasn’t noticed. Once she was exposed to a classroom with this system, everything changed for her.

And you can see how it got missed. And you can see how, if they had diagnosed this child and sent her down the wrong path—a path that would not be best for her—it could have been avoided. It was just a matter of improving that listening environment, and it turned everything around for her.

Tim Villegas
Are the clients you have mostly school districts, or are there other applications for your product and service?

David Solomon
There may be other applications, but 95 percent of our sales are into schools. Anything that doesn’t go into schools is opportunistic—somebody called us. We don’t do any marketing or sales outside of schools and education. I think that helps us really focus on product development. It keeps us on purpose. Instead of trying to be many things to many people, we can be one thing to a particular group, and we can focus on that.

Tim Villegas
That makes sense. And then in the example you just gave, there was an instance where a classroom had the system and one class didn’t have the system. Is it usually one or two classrooms per grade level that have a system, or do school districts sometimes incorporate the systems throughout the whole district?

David Solomon
It goes both ways. A lot of it is budget‑driven. What we try to do is paint a picture where, if you want true equity, this is something you want to have in every classroom. It’s also something that fits very well into bond measures, capital campaigns, things like that. That allows you to do long‑term planning. Maybe bond one: we start with the elementary schools. Bond two: the middle schools and high schools. There are a lot of ways to prioritize.

There are other places where an elementary school’s foundation has decided this is an important tool for their school, and every year they put systems in a classroom and try to build it up. So there are lots of ways to go about it. But the most effective way is for an executive‑level decision to put it throughout the whole school district, and then do the training that goes along with it.

Tim Villegas
After the break, David explains how instructional audio actually works in real classrooms. We get into the nuts and bolts—why clarity matters more than loudness, how simple tools can boost student confidence, and what happens when you design a learning environment that truly supports every learner. We also talk about the balance between keeping tech easy to use and still growing it in a smart, meaningful way. But first, a word from our sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Adaptiverse. If you’re a special education teacher, you already know the time‑pressure problem. Every week educators spend 15 to 20 hours manually adapting curriculum—especially for students with complex communication needs. We’re talking about nonspeaking learners, AAC users, students with apraxia, or learning‑based disabilities. Creating personalized materials, building visual supports, designing multiple expressive pathways for the same lesson—it’s critical work, but it’s exhausting, and it pulls teachers away from actually teaching.

Adaptiverse changes that. Teachers simply describe what they’re teaching and who they’re teaching, and the platform generates grade‑level academic lessons personalized to each student’s needs with built‑in scaffolding and multiple ways to demonstrate understanding. And these aren’t watered‑down worksheets. These are rigorous lessons that presume competence and increase engagement through personalization. Adaptiverse is built on 60+ years of combined education experience and is already being used to create more than 2,000 lessons in 35 states, with educators calling it life‑saving and irreplaceable.

If you’re ready to get those hours back and focus on what matters most, visit Adaptiverseapp.com to learn more.

I’d like to focus a little bit more on the actual system and what makes it effective in enhancing classroom communication and learning for students. Can you describe the system and what kinds of features or tools are available to an educator who has this kind of setup?

David Solomon
Well, I’ll preface it by saying it’s really simple. It’s not simple to create or engineer, but it’s very simple in its application. The teacher has a microphone, you put it in a charging station, and the next morning it’s ready and it lasts all day. It is tuned to very specific speakers to create very low‑volume sound—we don’t want to make it loud. We want to focus on intelligibility versus audibility.

Audibility is like when you’re on an airplane and you hear the speakers—it’s loud, but you have no idea what they’re saying. What we want to do is make it as quiet as possible yet highly intelligible so you can really hear every word. That’s the magic compared to something you might piece together with a ceiling speaker and a Bluetooth mic. We really focus on how to get the most out of that sound.

We have many different configurations depending on your classroom. You could have a single speaker that covers the whole room. You could have multiple speakers. We have portable systems you can put on a bookshelf. There are lots of ways to implement it.

One of the things that sometimes disappoints customers is when they ask about professional development. I tell them, “Well, that takes about two minutes.” You put it on, turn it on, and use it.

Tim Villegas
Yeah.

David Solomon
The real professional development is understanding why you use it. Some teachers say, “I have a big teacher voice. I have command in my classroom. Why would I need this?” And the answer is: that yelling isn’t good for the teacher or the students. And louder doesn’t help. What we try to do is focus on that vocal range so you really can hear what the teachers and students are saying.

I think one of the tools that comes with the system—one that has been powerful—is the student mic. I’ve seen this in action: a young child, maybe third grade, the teacher calls on them to speak. They hold the microphone, but it’s like there’s a pin on their chin—they’re mumbling. But once they see their friends hearing them, their confidence rises. They can hear what’s going on. They’re more in control and less shy. That student mic is a powerful tool.

Tim Villegas
That’s a really great point. I can remember being in the classroom myself and having students who don’t have that confidence or don’t have the volume you need. You’re constantly saying, “Can you say that again? I can’t hear you.” And that little boost would provide the confidence that learner needs. That’s a really interesting visual.

There must have been some research and development around why we have this specific vocal range, the number of speakers, and the overall technology. Can you share some of the research and development background—how did this product really come to fruition?

David Solomon
There’s a study called the MARRS Study, and it’s on our website at Lightspeed. That study is really about the benefits of putting this tech in place. I’d say if someone wants to do research, go to our site—there’s a lot of independent research we had nothing to do with that shows this technology makes a difference.

We spend a lot of time in classrooms. Unlike many companies that sell physical products, we do work through distribution and resellers, but we also have our own salespeople all over the country. They work with teachers, they are in classrooms, and we draw a lot of learning from that—what’s going on, what needs to change, what could be added.

We also invest in meeting with superintendents, tech directors, audiologists. We do focus groups where we show what we’re thinking about and get feedback. It’s a never‑ending process—you’re always learning.

Tim Villegas
So you said you have people who sell directly to districts and others who work as resellers, right?

David Solomon
We do business in whatever way a school district wants to do business. A lot of times they have trust in a local reseller, and we’ll absolutely work through them. But yes, we also sell directly to school districts. Our goal isn’t who the district buys from—it’s whether the district truly understands the value we provide, and whether we understand what they need. So it’s really important for us to be there firsthand and have those relationships.

Tim Villegas
I want to ask about conferences. For those listening, I think I’ve wanted to have David on the podcast for months and months, and it’s finally happening. But something we talked about was how this technology can be used in a conference setting for professional learning. Can you tell us whether this technology is used for that?

David Solomon
Yeah, one of the ways we do that—this is probably what we talked about—is that we provide systems for many conferences. We set them up in their workshop rooms so presenters can use them. We show presenters how to put the microphone on, how it works. They usually say they don’t like hearing their own voice. Then they try it and realize they won’t actually hear their voice the way they’re imagining. We go through all that in about 30 seconds and get them up and running.

The audiences really appreciate it. Adults—our hearing starts to fade over time. And conference center rooms are not acoustically perfect. So putting our system in there makes a nice difference.

There are schools that use it for similar purposes—boardrooms and spaces like that where we can install systems. Physical education is another place where they really need it, and we have systems specifically designed for that.

Tim Villegas
Oh yeah. I remember taking my students into the gym. Gyms are notorious for having awful sound and awful acoustics.

David Solomon
Yep.

Tim Villegas
Yes. And usually what ends up happening is that the teacher turns it up so loud that it ends up echoing. It’s just so bad.

David Solomon
That’s it.

Tim Villegas
Oh my goodness. What kind of feedback do you get from educators when they use the system? Are you constantly trying to improve it? How do future iterations of this technology evolve?

David Solomon
Yeah, we absolutely listen. We’re always trying to refine—how do we make it better? But we also look at balancing capabilities people might want versus making it too complex. We want to stay focused on the main purpose: delivering great audio and creating a good listening environment.

We’ve also done some things that expand capability beyond today’s topic. For example, we designed our microphone with an emergency button. The teacher is the most valuable piece of real estate in the school—they’re mobile, they’re everywhere. If there’s a problem, you want that teacher to communicate directly with the office.

So we started with an emergency button. But then we thought: okay, now we know there’s an emergency, but we don’t know what the emergency is. So the next step was adding the ability to open a two‑way conversation. Now the teacher can both notify the office and immediately describe what’s happening through the same microphone.

That adds capability without taking away from its instructional purpose. It just adds more value for the whole school.

Tim Villegas
Yeah, I can definitely see really great applications for that.

David Solomon
I think there’s another area that’s important—English language learners. A principal once talked to me about what he called “the cone of silence.” When students enter an English‑speaking classroom for the first time, many do everything they can to disappear. They don’t want to be seen or called on. He called it “the year of silence.” How do you get them out of that?

Part of it is making sure they hear everything the teacher is saying. Our system absolutely improves that. There’s research showing that English language learners progress much faster with these systems in the classroom. That’s another area where I’m proud of the difference we make.

Tim Villegas
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And the comfort of having a system like this for an English language learner—that’s huge. I appreciate that example.

I did not realize this, but y’all have a podcast.

David Solomon
Yes, we do.

Tim Villegas
Can you tell us a little about that?

David Solomon
Yeah—the Active Listener Podcast. Dominique is our host. She’s fantastic. It’s been fun because so much of our marketing is about promoting our message, but the podcast is different. We’re interested in talking with anyone who has something worth sharing about education.

We cover a wide range of topics. Certainly we talk about audio, but we’ve also covered learning spaces, active learning environments, innovation, culture, leadership. There are so many smart, interesting people in education. This podcast lets us meet exceptional people who have something valuable to share.

Tim Villegas
I love it. I’m always excited to know about new podcasts—or new‑to‑me podcasts anyway—and we love podcasters around here. Thank you for sharing about that.

As we wrap up our conversation, any advice for educators or school administrators who are looking into implementing instructional audio tech to foster an inclusive environment?

David Solomon
Yeah. For decision makers, one of the things they’re always faced with—and it never stops—is budget pressure. “What do I do, and what do I not do?” They’re often forced to let something go. They’ll say, “Well, I’ve got to have laptops. I’ve got to have a projector or a screen.” There are certain things they think they have to have.

Instructional audio is one of those things that fits into that category. It is probably the most researched technology for education in terms of benefits. It is low cost—you make a one‑time investment and get years of value across many, many students. Sometimes when they look across all the technology, they think, “Well, it’s the least sexy thing. Maybe we can do without it. We haven’t had it for decades.”

And I say: “Yes, and your students have been suffering for decades.” This is something you can bring in and prioritize. It’s going to have an immediate impact without any professional development, and you’ll see the difference by the end of the year in your performance. It’s high impact.

Tim Villegas
As we wrap up this conversation, we’ve talked about how clear sound can change a classroom—from helping students focus, to giving quieter kids the confidence to speak up, and even making things easier for teachers. Now we’re switching gears with the mystery question that takes us somewhere a little more personal and a lot more fun.

Fantastic. David, I really appreciate you taking time to speak with me. Can you stay on a little bit longer for a mystery question?

David Solomon
Of course.

Tim Villegas
Okay, so a mystery question. If you don’t know, I end each conversation with a mystery question. I have a stack of cards here of random prompts, and I will pick a card and then we’ll both answer the question.

David Solomon
Okay.

Tim Villegas
Alright, here we go. I just have a few left. Here it is: What is something you don’t mind sharing with other people? We can take it however we want. It could be a part of your life story, or it could be something like a piece of cake.

David Solomon
While you’re thinking about that, I’ll tell you what I have learned to share—which I grew up not wanting to share. Being in business and socializing and entertaining, you’ve had to learn. I don’t like sharing my food. I grew up with two brothers and a sister all pretty close in age, and food was precious. You didn’t share.

And there are so many people that, when you go out to dinner, they want to share. I’ve had to learn that sharing my food is part of the overall entertainment experience.

Tim Villegas
That is really funny. Yes. I get that. And I’m thinking of when we’ve gone out as a team—there are particular members who want to try everything.

David Solomon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Tim Villegas
Which is fine. Absolutely.

David Solomon
You’ve got to roll with it.

Tim Villegas
Yeah, exactly. I would say—I’m going to go with food as well. I like to cook. I’m the main cook in the family. I really enjoy sharing cooking with guests. I make this chicken mole dish around the holidays. I think I make it once a year. It’s a lot of work, lots of ingredients, and I’ve refined it over the years. But it’s one of my favorite things to do.

We have everyone over, and I’m cooking for three or four hours, and when I’m done I get to share it with everyone. It’s so fulfilling to have people eat your food and enjoy it.

David Solomon
Oh, I love it. That’s a really good one. I’m thinking about the question—things you don’t mind sharing. Those are things I love sharing.

Tim Villegas
Okay.

David Solomon
Something I don’t mind sharing—and I actually get some satisfaction out of it—is my clothes. I have two adult sons, 30 and 28. As they became men and their tastes changed, suddenly they got interested in my clothes. They borrow jackets, ties, whatever. I don’t mind sharing that with them. I actually enjoy it because for so many years they shunned anything Dad liked.

Tim Villegas
Yeah, I get that. That’s great. Awesome. Thank you for enjoying the mystery question with me. Really appreciate it. Okay, I’m going to sign us off, but don’t go anywhere.

David Solomon
Okay. Thank you, Tim.

Tim Villegas
David Solomon, thank you so much for being on the Think Inclusive Podcast. I appreciate your time, your stories, and the wonderful technology you bring to education.

David Solomon
Thank you. I really appreciate it, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Tim Villegas
That was David Solomon. Here’s what I’m taking away from our conversation: inclusion is also about sound. When every student can easily hear and be heard, attention goes up, stress goes down, and belonging grows. I also loved how a simple student mic can bring quiet voices into the community, and how protecting teacher voices matters too.

This is the kind of proactive design MCIE is all about—remove barriers upfront, plan for learner variability, and make access the norm in general education, not just an add‑on for a few.

Here’s a practical step for educators: do a 10‑minute listening walkthrough in a classroom. Sit in a couple of student seats and jot down what you can and can’t hear. Then make one change tomorrow to improve clarity—face the class when speaking, repeat student comments, or try a pass‑around mic.

Share this episode with a colleague who’s building inclusive schools. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and follow Think Inclusive wherever you get your podcasts.

Shout out to everyone facing the massive winter storm that’s happening this weekend. Whenever you listen or watch this episode, I hope you are safe, warm, dry, and doing something very cozy. Do you have a favorite cozy winter activity? I’d love to know about it. You can always email me at tvillegas@mcie.org.

Now, let’s roll the credits.

Think Inclusive is created by me, Tim Villegas. I write, edit, mix, and master the show. I basically wear all the podcast hats and the baseball caps. We’re a proud production of the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, with scheduling and extra production help from Jill Wagoner. Original music by Miles Kredich with extra vibes from Melod.ie.

Big thanks to our sponsors, IXL and Adaptiverse. Visit ixl.com/inclusive and adaptiverseapp.com.

Fun fact: for a long time, helping students hear better mostly meant simple moves like speaking up or shifting someone closer to the front. But once wearable mics and classroom sound systems started to show up, the whole idea of good listening changed. Early FM systems in the seventies sent a teacher’s voice straight to a student’s hearing aid, and today that has evolved into the kind of sound‑field speakers that David talked about—tools that make the whole room easier to hear, not just for students with hearing differences, but for everyone.

Have you used any of the technology we mentioned in this episode? Email me at tvillegas@mcie.org. I read every single message.

And if you made it this far, you’re officially part of the Think Inclusive Inclusion Crew.

Want to help us keep moving the needle forward for inclusion? Head to mcie.org and click the donate button. Give five, ten, twenty dollars—it helps us keep partnering with schools and districts to move inclusive practices forward and support educators doing the work.

Find us on the socials almost everywhere at Think Inclusive.

Thanks for hanging out, and remember: inclusion always works.