Author Archive

MyStudyLife Student Planner App

A woman in a wheelchair uses a laptop and a monitor to do some coding.

When you’re a student studying multiple subjects, staying on top of your school, homework, social life, and work is not an easy task. Of course, you’ve likely been given an agenda at the start of the school year, and while an agenda serves as a decent paper-based organizational tool, you’re probably going to be better off seeking out a digital alternative instead. This is especially true for students with learning differences who tend to perform better within a more flexible digital space.

MyStudyLife is a personal academic assistant that is designed to keep track of your commitments through scheduling, tasks, and reminders. Essentially it does everything that an agenda does, in a digital space, so that you can access your schedule from anywhere on virtually any device. The app was specifically developed for students, so it’s based around an academic calendar where users can input term dates, holidays, classes, exams, extra-curricular activities and more.

Maria’s New Hearing Aids are “Incredibly Helpful” on the Job

A woman holds her coat and briefcase in front of a building.

Maria is a family court support worker. Her duties include intakes, referrals, providing emotional support, and accompanying clients during court hearings and meetings.

She has hearing loss, which makes it hard to hear in public spaces and during court hearings and meetings. In particular, she was having trouble hearing her clients when they need to speak quietly.

Chessa’s New Hearing Aids Are a “Blessing”

A health care worker helps an elderly man with his pills.

Chessa works as a Health Care Assistant, providing home and community care for seniors.

She has Central Auditory Processing Disorder, which leads to misunderstanding and mishearing of conversations. She finds loud voices and quick speech difficult to hear, and can find directions difficult to follow.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, she received hearing aids, which have made a big difference in her workday.

Obsidian Note-Taking App

A woman in a wheelchair shows a young girl something on a laptop.

Notetaking apps are one of our favorite ways of staying organized, whether it’s in the classroom, at home, or in the office. And while these apps were brought into this world as fairly simple word processing programs, the very concept (and execution) of notetaking has evolved greatly thanks to the growth and evolution of the internet.

And while there are already so many great options for notetaking apps already available, the app that we are looking at today is unique enough that it definitely deserves some attention.

Obsidian is an open-source notetaking app of virtual infinite possibilities. And while that statement might sound hyperbolic, it’s also true. Because the app is open source, individuals can create their own plugins to enhance the apps default functionality. As of right now, there are 1,924 plugins available to download, for free.

The Math Learning Center App Suite

A young woman in a wheelchair takes down some notes while going on the computer

We’ve tested a variety of Math apps in the past and generally these apps focus on one or two functions or features. Today we are going to look at a collection of math learning apps that cover a wide variety of math topics. And while the mobile versions are available for iOS only, the web version of each app can easily be opened or installed on any operating system.

The Math Learning Center by Bridges in Mathematics offers a suite of completely free math apps and activities for students from pre-K to grade 5. The best way to access this collection is by going to www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps. From there, you can navigate the various apps and activities that are available.

“It’s Less Stress and More Joy to Work and Communicate”

A woman holds a pen over some graphs next to a calculator

Mathilda works as a bookkeeper for a safety training company in northern BC. She has hearing loss.

“I do a lot of phone calls because of my work, and it was difficult to communicate, hear, and understand what people were saying,” she explains.

A friend referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help obtaining hearing aids. Mathilda applied, and was quickly approved for funding, getting the hearing aids she needs for work.

Speech Central AI Voice Reader

A woman looks at her tablet

We’ve discussed a few different text-to-speech apps in the past, and while there are plenty of great choices for iOS users (Voice Dream Reader is a perfect example) many of those apps, including the one we just named, are not available for Android. So, in an attempt to identify some suitable text-to-speech alternatives for Android, we are going to look at an app that IS available for Android users.

Speech Central AI Voice Reader is a text-to-speech app that offers users a full app experience for free, with the caveat that the free version of the app limits your daily usage. And unlike many other apps that offer their pro versions on a subscription basis, Speech Central Pro is available for a more reasonable one-time purchase fee of $12.99 CDN.

Gregory Stays Safe at Work With New Hearing Aids

A truck driving through the mountains.

Gregory works full-time as a truck driver.

“I had almost no hearing in one ear, and limited hearing in my other, which made it difficult for my work, as well as safety,” he shares. “I need to hear my dispatch throughout the day, and what each mill I go into tells me where to go, and what is going on.”

His hearing aid practitioner referred him to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding for the hearing aids he needed for work.

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604 473 9360 | 1 877 673 4636
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Hearing Solutions logo
400 – 3999 Henning Drive
Burnaby, BC V5C 6P9
778 945 1215
hearingsolutions@neilsquire.ca
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