Maureen works in the counselling office of a middle school in Lake Cowichan, helping students with their schoolwork and supporting them with issues like anxiety and social skills.

“I have hearing loss mostly in the area of hearing speech which makes it really hard to help students when I can’t hear soft voices,” she shares. “Without hearing aids, I have to continuously ask students to repeat themselves and even then, I miss a great deal of the conversation.”

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Calvin has over 35 years of experience as a carpenter. He does service work for a housing development in Kelowna, and recently became a licenced home inspector and started his own business.

Over the course of his career, Calvin has noticed a gradual loss of his hearing.

“Both positions dictate that I have direct personal contact on a daily basis,” he explains. “Discussions with trades, clients, homeowners and management were getting harder to understand if I did not have face to face communication.”

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Selma is a senior who is currently looking for work, and is trying to upgrade her English teaching certification so that she can teach English as a second language. She has hearing loss, and found she needed new hearing aids.

“My old ones were not working properly anymore,” she explains.

A WorkBC Centre referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for a new set of hearing aids.

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Whether engaging with loved ones, navigating a tricky situation at work, or recognizing the familiar click of the oven remaining on after a meal, much of our social connectedness, professional performance and personal safety rely on being able to hear.

Yet, hearing-related issues like hearing loss and tinnitus ⁠— or perceiving ringing, hissing, buzzing, rushing or roaring sounds in the ears ⁠— are more common than you might think. Among Canadians aged 19 to 79, a whopping 60 per cent of us live with hearing loss, tinnitus or a combination of both.

“Hearing loss is often something that’s very treatable and preventable, but there are so many people who suffer in isolation and are not able to get the help that they need because of how expensive it can be,” says Heather Ritchie, an audiologist at Neil Squire Hearing Solutions.

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Joanne is an editor based in the Kootenays. Through participating in the Retail, Accommodation, Food Service and Tourism (RAFT) program with the Kootenay Career Development Society, she recently landed a publishing company as a client.

Her duties include assessing non-fiction manuscripts for structural coherence, communicating with well-known authors, accepting edits from copy-editors, and more.

“I have bouts of tendonitis in my middle fingers, wrists, and elbows, as well as migraines. Typing and using the mouse in an un-ergonomic position inflames these tendons causing me pain and the inability to work longer hours. My migraines cause light sensitivity and the blue light from the computer screen increases this head pain,” she shares.

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Michael is the founder and general manager of a construction company in Kelowna. He had an anoxic brain injury which caused severe hearing loss, and is just returning to work.

He needed hearing aids and his audiologist referred him to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding. Michael applied and was quickly approved.

“The help to get my hearing aids funded has been a life saver. I did not have the money for hearing aids and I need them,” he shares. “I am just starting to ease my way back to work.

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Susan’s job at a school in Kelowna requires effective communication with students and teachers.

“I have hearing loss which affects my communication abilities with staff and students. I need to hear comments, instructions while directing students and reporting to teachers,” she says.

Her audiologist at Lakeside Hearing recommended she apply to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for new hearing aids. She applied and was quickly approved, receiving new Signia hearing aids.

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Mary is a stylist working at a salon in Sechelt.

“My hearing was effecting how I communicated with clients,” she explains.

Her audiologist recommended her a new set of hearing aids, and to cover the cost, he referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services.

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Lynda is an executive assistant and office manager at a non-profit in Vancouver. She has virus-caused progressive hearing loss in both ears.

“I have worn hearing aids for the last 20 years. It has not been easy, but I have managed in the workplace,” she explains. “In the last three years, capacity for hearing on the phone has changed since my workplace replaced actual office phones with a software program called Teams — so when someone calls it comes through my laptop, difficult to hear.

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