Monitor on Psychology - December 2011 - (Page 59)

psychologIst proFIle In the loop (hearing) Bestselling psychology textbook author David Myers is teaching his largest audience yet, through a national campaign to provide cutting-edge technology to people with hearing loss. B Y C HRIS TOPHE R M U NSEY Monitor staff I n 1999, as David Myers, PhD, stood in the stone sanctuary of an 800-year-old Scottish abbey, he struggled to hear the words of a religious service. All he got through his hearing aid was a wash of indecipherable noise, as the pastor’s amplified voice reverberated in the ancient vaulted space. Just as Myers was about to give up, his wife noticed a blue sign with a white ear, a slash mark and a “T” in the bottom right corner — indicating that the church offered a “hearing loop.” Common in the United Kingdom, hearing loops directly broadcast amplified sound to hearing aids. Myers pressed a button on his own hearing aid and stood amazed as the person’s words became instantly clear. “It was like going from a rough gravel road to fresh asphalt, cognitively,” he says. From that moment on, Myers, a psychology professor at Hope College in Holland, Mich., began advocating for hearing loops in the United States so that more of the 36 million adults in the United States experiencing some degree of hearing loss can better hear any type of amplified presentation in a large space, from the prayers at a worship service to the dialogue at a movie. In his articles and talks, Myers argues that existing systems for people with hearing loss — which predominantly broadcast 59 DeceMber 2011 • Monitor on psychology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - December 2011

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Willpower Pioneer Wins $100,000 Grawemeyer Prize
Single-Sex Schooling Called Into Question by Prominent Researchers
Maternal Depression Stunts Childhood Growth, Research Suggests
For Boys, Sharing May Seem Like a Waste of Time
Good News for Postdoc Applicants
In Brief
Treatment Guideline Development Now Under Way
Government Relations Update
Psychologist Named Va Mental Health Chief
The Limits of Eyewitness Testimony
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Deconstructing Suicide
Questionnaire
A Focus on Interdisciplinarity
A Time of ‘Enormous Change’
The Science Behind Team Science
Good Science Requires Good Conflict
A New Paradigm of Care
Speaking of Education
Science Directions
New Labels, New Attitudes?
Psychologist Profile
Early Career Psychology
Unintended Consequences
Better Options for Troubled Teens
Saving Lives, One Organ at a Time
New Journal Editors
APA News
Division Spotlight
Guidelines for the Conduct of President-Elect Nominations and Elections
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011