A system that allows deaf students to fully take part in mainstream education is being trialled in a Sydney school. About 10,000 Australian children with hearing loss stand to benefit.

Under the system, the teacher wears a lapel microphone that transmits the audio to a captioner who uses a voice-to-text program to send the words to the student's laptop in under seven seconds.

‘‘It has made us learn more’’ ... says Rabia Muhammad, right, who with Lisa White, is trialling the new voice to text recognition system with teacher Sally Pape at Robert Townson High School. Credit:Lee Besford

Deaf students and disability experts say it could revolutionise how those with hearing loss are taught in secondary and tertiary education. The system Access Innovation Live, was developed over three years by the Sydney company Access Innovation Media.

It is being trialled at Robert Townson High School in Raby in Sydney's south-west, and the company is expanding the pilot scheme nationally.