Hearing Loss

As a person who lives with hearing loss, and as the child of a mother who migrated from hard of hearing to complete deafness, David is commited to supporting and giving voice to the 48 million Americans who are invisibly challenged by hearing loss.

A Quiet World: Living With Hearing Loss (Yale University Press, 2000) is a journal of his experiences with hearing loss, interspersed with information about the psychology of hearing and new hearing technologies.

Hearing Loop Assistive Listening

David’s avocation is advocating “hearing aid compatible assistive listening”—assistive listening that broadcasts PA system, TV, and telephone sound directly to hearing aids, thus doubling their functionality. (His own community, Holland, Michigan is a national model of such, with most of its churches and public facilities now offering this affordable technology, affordable technology. Thanks to the efforts of many other people and the Hearing Loss Association of America (see here) additional new installations are spreading the country, ranging from small venues (488 New York City subway information booths) to large (the 12,200 fixed seats of Michigan State University’s Breslin Center arena). To this end he has

Getting people with hearing loss in the loop. (2019). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14, 29-33.

A Technological Godsend to Counter Hearing Loss
The ‘hearing loop’ is a remarkable advance, but all too hard to find in the U.S.
From the Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2015

An example: Hope College hearing loops (pdf)