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VOLUME 16 NUMBER 18 | 50¢
may 5, 2017
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Campaign seeks to improve quality of life The world is a busy bustling place, but if you feel like the volume around you is being turned down, it’s time to take matters into your own hands. Through Hearing Life Canada’s Campaign for Better Hearing, anyone can visit the many hearing health care centers to test their hearing. Hearing Life Canada has affiliates across the country, but you might not recognize the names. Depending on the provinces, it’s referred to as “Listen Up” or “Hearing Life.” Jillian Price, Chief Audiologist of Canadian Life Hearing, announced that as of 2018 all affiliates would have the same name, offering further brand recognition across the provinces. “We’re unifying the brand. It’s a new name, but the same service.” “While we deal with the 60+ population, anyone at any age can come and test their hearing.” Jillian said. “Some people don’t even know if they have hearing loss, testing is the first step to regaining control.” Jillian describes hearing loss as a “quality of life issue. Hearing loss impacts social, psychological, cognitive and health aspects. Wellbeing, and untreated hearing loss can also affect your personal relationships.” Hearing loss takes you out of the moment, and can cause depression, anxiety, embarrassment, and feelings of isolation. As we get older, the more serious that loneliness can be. If we are unable to hear the conversation and felt unable to express that there was hearing difficulty, people socially withdraw. Furthermore, hearing loss can cause irritability, negativity, anger, fatigue, and tension. Impaired hearing reduces alertness and increased risk to personal safety, as well as diminished memory, the ability to learn new
Dorothy Welsh knows getting your hearing checked is important to your quality of life.
tasks, reduced job performance, earning power and diminished psychological and overall health. Jillian warns, “Hearing loss is not reversible. From the time they start to lose their hearing, the average person takes 7-10 years to be tested. Once they’ve begun to lose hearing, it’s too late for preventive care. You don’t want to wait.” Why exactly are people not reporting their hearing loss? “Sadly, there’s a stigma. Perhaps, by admitting that there’s an issue acknowledges that they are aging. We do tend to lose hearing as we age, but the sooner we catch it, the faster we can create a better equilibrium,” Jillian said. For individuals with hearing loss, and have a
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fixed income or limited funds, a clinician can nominate a patient for a new hearing aid or upgrade an existing earpiece. In the summer of 2016, Dan Allen from Canadian Hearing Care nominated Kamloops resident Dorothy Welsh. Now a Campaign Ambassador, Dorothy reported: “I am so overwhelmed. It has been years since I have heard this well. I’m looking forward to talking to my family and hearing them. I feel like a kid with a new toy! What a great blessing.” Life is more enjoyable when you can easily access the sounds around you. That kind of freedom is like music to your ears. Canadian Hearing Care has two Kamloops locations, at Northills Mall and downtown, by the hospital at 208-321 Nicola Street.
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