Lois works as an administrative assistant for a regional health authority. A large part of her job involves taking minutes for meetings and fielding many task requests. The meetings are held both in-person and virtually, and she found she was having trouble with her hearing loss in both contexts.

“My hearing has suffered and causes issues when taking minutes. Having to depend on reading a transcript, reading lips, [and] turning up the volume slows down production and to some extent [affects] accuracy,” she shares.

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Hazen works as a care aid in a long-term care facility. A young cancer survivor, she has hearing loss as a side effect of her treatment, which affects her confidence in communicating in the workplace.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Hazen received funding for hearing aids for both ears.

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Lola works in food service at a care home for seniors. She has hearing loss, and with over 100 residents to serve, it was becoming hard for her to hear food orders.

Her audiologist referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding a new set of hearing aids. She applied and was quickly approved, allowing her to get the hearing aids she needs to do her job.

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Fred works as a sales associate at a building supplies store in the BC Interior. He has hearing loss, which can make his job difficult.

“Adequate communication and understanding is imperative to my position,” he explains.

He had heard about WorkBC Assistive Technology Services from both co-workers, as well as from the local WorkBC Centre. He decided to apply for funding for the hearing aids he needs to do his job — in no time, he was approved.

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Cheryl works full-time as a booking clerk/secretary in the health care sector.

“I have conductive hearing loss. It was gradual, and then seemed suddenly I had severe hearing loss. I had great difficulty hearing information,” she shares.

Her hearing specialist referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding the hearing aids she needs for work.

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May is Speech & Hearing Month in Canada. It’s a time to shine a spotlight on communication health and the life-changing work of Speech-Language Pathologists and audiologists.

Many of us take communication for granted, but speaking, hearing, and being understood are essential to daily life. For those with communication challenges, even simple interactions can be difficult — impacting work, education, relationships, and overall well-being.

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Cheng is a senior consultant for a cross-cultural communications consulting firm, where his role involves facilitating focus groups, consultation sessions, and online interviews. He also works on-call as an interpreter. His hearing loss was making both roles difficult.

“I have difficulties with hearing pitch and tones of individuals who are speaking to me especially in noisy environments. I was finding that I can only hear part of the conversation or speech. As I need to take notes and interpret verbatim, it is very challenging when I am unable to hear the whole [conversation],” he says. He notes that he often can’t interrupt to ask for clarification, and the fact that much of his work takes place over video calls rather than in face-to-face meetings also makes it even more difficult.

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Douglas is employed as a Marine Field Research Scientist on Vancouver Island, working from small vessels conducting research on marine birds and their prey.

“Hearing loss requires me to use hearing aids in the field for safety reasons,” he shares.

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Wilma works as a server at an assisted living facility for seniors. She takes orders from residents, and communicates meal adjustments to the kitchen. However, her hearing loss impacts her communication with residents, co-workers, and management.

Her audiologist referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services to help fund the hearing aids she needs for work. Wilma applied and was quickly approved.

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Naida was looking for work in northern BC. However, she found that she was facing barriers — she is deaf in her left ear, and she also has hearing loss in her right ear. This makes meetings challenging, and she has trouble in noisy settings.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Naida received funding for the hearing aids she needs for the job search process and future employment. “[It] helped tremendously, I would not have been able to receive hearing aids without the secondary help,” she shares.

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