Episode Transcript
Rebecca: Hello and welcome to the Future is Sound, a partnership in hearing podcast brought to you by Oticon Canada. I'm your host, Becca Angel. Thanks for joining me on my first podcast journey where we will chat broadly about all things hearing. We will launch fun new episodes every month and if you have any suggestions or comments, be sure to get in touch. Okay, let’s get started.
Okay everybody, my guest today is Jessica Niemela. She is a pediatric audiologist in Vernon, BC. She is the recipient of the Speech, Language and Audiology Canada’s 2020 National Clinical Certification Exam Award in Audiology, which is quite the feat. She has served on the panel of currently affected populations for the Lancet Commission on Hearing Loss. She is also the CHHA-BC YPSP, which is the youth care support program event coordinator for the Okanagan region.
She is also a CHHA National online mentor, where she volunteers as a one-to-one mentorship for all of those in Canada struggling with hearing loss. She also has bilateral moderate to severe hearing loss herself and wears hearing aids. Jessica is the founder and creator of CHHA-BC’s exhibit, The Way We Hear It, a community engagement exhibition that we’re going to be talking about today together. Lots to unpack there, but thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast today.
Jessica: No problem.
Rebecca: How are things going?
Jessica: Pretty good. We’re organizing this exhibit, it’s very exciting. It's CHHA-BC’s very first special exhibit. It’s for all ages, which is very exciting.
Rebecca: Was this exhibit your idea? Did you kick off this exhibit? How did it come about?
Jessica: Yeah. It is my idea, I guess I would say. The birth of the project basically began when I approached our local science center executive director, Dione Chambers, with this idea to have CHHA-BC host and exhibit at the science center. I observed that science centers in the province host a variety of special exhibits that are interactive for people of all ages. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for nonprofit organizations such as CHHA-BC to provide a public organization display in this sort of fashion.
Hearing health is a concept that should begin early and continue across the lifespan. Providing an exhibit that’s inclusive of young children will allow families to learn together and have an experience that is engaging and memorable. Dione, she was all ears. She took the project with open arms and the collaboration began.
Rebecca: That's really cool. I don’t know much about the museum itself, but do they do lots of different health events or is this unique to us having a hearing health event? Do they do lots about health and science already?
Jessica: This is actually, I think, the first time that they have done this with a nonprofit organization and then something geared to public health education. It’s very exciting for both CHHA-BC and the Okanagan Science Center.
Rebecca: Cool. I guess, I mean it’s obviously going to be marketed to people in interior BC and the Okanagan, but anyone can go, right? It’s open to anyone that wants to make the trip out.
Jessica: Yes, it’s inclusive for everyone and all ages. That’s what's so special about it. Grandparents can bring their grandchildren, that kind of thing.
Rebecca: Like a family day at the museum.
Jessica: Exactly.
Rebecca: We’ll get into a little bit of the finer details as we go on, but this sounds like something that you're super passionate about and has kicked off this initiative which is really awesome. For anyone that doesn’t know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you've been with Interior Health? You also wear hearing aids yourself, so why is this project so important to you?
Jessica: Yes, a little background about me. I'm from Thunder Bay, Ontario. I went to nursing school there and moved to British Columbia, where I worked as a nurse for nine years. Like you mentioned I have bilateral mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss and I wear hearing aids. I came to a point in my career where I was looking for change and growth, and because of my hearing loss, I started thinking about audiology. I went back to school and here I am, three years later, I'm in my dream job as a pediatric audiologist in Vernon, BC.
I am also very passionate about the community of people out there with hearing loss. I understand the importance of peer to peer support and connection, as it brings a sense of empowerment and belonging. This is actually one of the challenges that I faced as an audiologist. It’s not necessarily in our scope to provide emotional support for our clients and be in the know about how to connect clients with their communities, to me, this is so important for people with hearing loss to actually find their people.
Over the years, I have become very involved in the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association. I'm the CHHA-BC Secretary and through CHHA, I coordinate youth peer support events here in the Okanagan for kids with hearing loss. As we’re talking about, I'm about to launch this very special exhibit, The Way We Hear It at the Okanagan Science Center to increase awareness about hearing health, hearing loss and the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Rebecca: I feel like we need all of that everywhere.
Jessica: We certainly do. I think the bigger picture of this project is actually to make it more of a modular thing, so we can actually travel around BC annually and host in different areas.
Rebecca: Yeah, using it as a pilot that we can take elsewhere. That’s awesome. It’s interesting to say that because I know—my previous podcast guest was actually Dave Gordey who is a well-known audiologist in Canada and works for Oticon Global and does lots and lots of research for them. Aside from Oticon, he finished his PhD a couple of years ago.
A lot of his PhD research was not necessarily about hearing aid technology, but more so about the psychological development of kids that had grown up with hearing loss and how important having some of these mentorship programs or friends with hearing loss or people that they could turn to and how important getting that at an early age was. He’s very passionate about this idea as well. He used to serve on the Canadian Audiology Board, I feel like he’ll be happy to listen to this podcast and probably get involved in some way if he can.
Jessica: That’s exciting. I think that kind of research is really important. For people with hearing loss, I think sometimes all it takes is meeting that one person your age that also has hearing loss just like you. I think that connection can be so powerful.
Rebecca: Totally. You also mentioned before about hearing health awareness and I know that this is open to the public, I'm just wondering in your opinion, why public health awareness about hearing loss is so important, and why do you think that we need it?
Jessica: Yeah. Public hearing health awareness is so important because I think for any condition out there, there is a certain level of stigma attached to it. Usually stigma is caused by a lack of understanding or awareness of the condition. I think we can say this for mental health conditions, sexually transmitted diseases or even Covid-19 for that matter. Historically, people with hearing loss have also faced a sense of stigma in society and are trying to navigate how to get their needs met.
If we create frontline opportunities for public education on hearing health, the public will have increased understanding on various topics related to hearing, such as where to go for hearing health services, how hearing devices work, and what are other ways to make communication more accessible for those with hearing loss.
Rebecca: Right.
Jessica: I think the more we do this, the more these healthy concepts for taking care of our hearing becomes more mainstream. Maybe the effects of stigma might become reduced.
Rebecca: Yeah, I mean it’s open to all ages but we’re also at a time where we have an aging population, so more and more adults are getting their hearing tested and hopefully we can shorten that gap between the time of diagnosis versus actually being fitted with a hearing aid, which we know is anywhere from five to seven years.
Jessica: Yeah. It can take a long time to get used to it, to accept it, all the things.
Rebecca: Everyone knows someone or has a direct link or a family member that has experienced hearing loss, at least I think, so it’s really important and definitely lacking education in general to the public.
Jessica: Yes, absolutely.
Rebecca: How is the exhibit going to be set up, what makes this set up unique and interesting—actually, I’ll pause because I was going to ask you another question, but I’ll do a hard stop there and then we’ll keep going. What makes this setup unique and interesting with the Vernon Museum?
Jessica: Well, I can tell you how it’s going to be set up. There are going to be a variety of standalone individual interactive education stations and each station was actually made possible by collaboration with professionals in the field, people living with hearing loss and other organizations and partners. The vision of the exhibit takes on an intersectoral action approach by showing the public all the community partners that are involved in caring for our hearing. For example, Interior Health is providing the equipment and staff we need to have a hearing screening station so that the public…
Rebecca: I was going to ask about screening.
Jessica: …can have their hearing screened on site. This is actually going to happen May 1st and 7th, the first week of the exhibit. While they get their hearing screened, they can also learn about where to get hearing health services in their community. Another example is Science World has produced a hearing loss simulator, so that participants can hear what hearing loss actually sounds like. We collaborated with WorkSafe and 3M to provide information on how to protect their hearing.
We called on community members with hearing loss to help with the art pieces of the exhibit and provide photos and quotes for our accessibility. We’ve consulted various organizations to help us at our education panels and provide feedback so that the information is sound and accurate. There's also going to be a lot of opportunity for people to touch and feel hearing devices. I feel like kids touch glasses at a very young age, I remember being three years old and I knew what a pair of glasses were, but I don’t think the same really necessarily happens with hearing aids.
I think this contributes to the lack of understanding around hearing devices. I believe it’s something that should happen early. We’re going to provide this opportunity. Through this vision we want to show people that hearing health actually requires a holistic approach. Hearing aids for example are not going to solve all your problems when we have hearing loss. We need a team, we need a community and a society that appreciates a sense of accessibility to get through a journey with hearing loss.
Rebecca: It also sounds like it runs for a whole month, right?
Jessica: Yeah. It’s going to be May 1st to 31st. Lots of time.
Rebecca: That’s also an opportunity like you said for people to meet people and talk about their hearing loss. Like, ‘I have hearing aids, I don’t have hearing aids, this is why I love my hearing aids.’ It sounds like a really good opportunity for a lot of different people to come together and meet in an open and non—I can't really think of the word I'm looking for, but stressful or more of a laid back atmosphere, it sounds like.
Jessica: Yeah. It’s a visible opportunity to talk about hearing health. I'm hoping to kind of arrange with families and people with hearing loss to get together at this event as well, so they can make these peer-to-peer connections at the exhibit and I'm excited.
Rebecca: Right. I'm excited. I know we’ve been talking about this for a long time. I can't remember when I saw you but it feels like a year ago, so you’ve obviously been putting lots and lots of hard work into this event. I'm definitely going to be there. My second question that I was going to stop with is just why this event is so timely, most people know but not everyone will know why May is such an important month.
Jessica: Yes. The Way We Hear It, our exhibit is going to be on for the entire month of May, which coincides with speech and hearing months. May is speech and hearing month and it’s a perfect time to celebrate the month and all the work that professionals, hearing loss communities and organizations do. While at the same time, we’re educating the general public and showing them why hearing health is so important. Also, I think the Covid-19 pandemic has brought hearing awareness to the forefront as people with even a mind degree of hearing loss are having communication challenges with masks and other restrictions in place.
I think now is the time to talk about these barriers and show the public how we can actually live in a pandemic without making society inaccessible for those with hearing loss.
Rebecca: It definitely, at least, in my family, it’s become more of a talking point, because my dad has hearing loss and wears hearing aids and even for him, the masks and going to dinners and things can just become so much harder to simple things like when he gets to the restaurant and he has his mask on they have their mask on and their like how many people, and he’s just like, I cannot hear what you're saying. He has to refer back to asking for help or asking for repetition or can you say that differently.
Jessica: I find myself, I've been in many awkward situations and no one really knows what to do. How come a clear mask is not just there and available so I can read your lips when it’s really noisy. Stuff like that, I hope will come up with some policies in the future to help manage communications strategies.
Rebecca: We also talked before, offline, just about the accessibility act, and full disclaimer, I really don’t know much about this, but you mentioned that but you mentioned that BC is launching their own accessibility act. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that is and what that means?
Jessica: BC’s Bill 6-2021: Accessible British Columbia Act was passed recently in June 2021. It’s very exciting. My understanding is that our provincial government is now required to create policy that allows everyone to participate fully and equally in our province. There is now staff and an actual accessibility committee that has been formed to create such policies. I know that the committee is composed of 11 members who are people living with various disabilities themselves and are affiliated with advocacy organizations. One of which is actually a deaf-blind individual.
This is a big political move for a province and to move forward on policies around inclusion and disabilities. As we become more accessible and inclusive as a province, I think now is the time to really start educating the public on exactly what that means. For CHHA-BC, this means educating the public on hearing health and hearing loss in our community.
Rebecca: That’s so cool. I didn’t know that. That’s really exciting.
Jessica: It’s very exciting.
Rebecca: As I've gone to record more of these sessions with different people, I take little notes because I keep thinking of new people to get on board. I'm like, this new member of the committee would be a great guest on the podcast.
Jessica: Absolutely.
Rebecca: Just a kind of clue up, I was wondering just how people can learn more about the event and we talked about a little bit at the beginning about how they can attend, where it is. Do we need to buy tickets? Is there a website? All of that stuff. How can we do our best to promote this to everyone? Because it’s coming up in a couple of—it’s just going to be next month when this launches.
Jessica: Around the corner.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jessica: So far, CHHA-BC and the Okanagan Science Center will be promoting the exhibit on their websites and social media platforms. Do follow them on their Facebook, Instagram pages and check out their websites. Our community partners involved will also be promoting the exhibit. Of course, we will have a press release before the exhibit launches so that local newspapers and video stations can spread the word about The Way We Hear It. Of course, it would be awesome if Oticon can help us spread the good word.
Rebecca: Yeah, we definitely will.
Jessica: As per tickets, I think people just need to pay a regular pass to enter the Science Center, which I think is around $8 or $9.
Rebecca: Awesome. Is it every day, like Monday or all weekend as well?
Jessica: Yes. I believe that they are closed for school field trips Mondays and Tuesdays, but it will be open Wednesday to Sunday.
Rebecca: Very cool. I’ll definitely promote it on my LinkedIn and Facebook where I can and lots of the pediatric Oticon teams are aware of this as well. I'm going to come and check it out and I’ll be there for probably a couple of days with some fun interactive stuff that I have to provide. I'm really looking forward to it.
Jessica: That’s so exciting.
Rebecca: Anything that you would like to close on? Anything that I forgot to ask you or anything that you would like to say before we bid farewell?
Jessica: No, I think that’s pretty much it. That’s a pretty good first run. What do you think? Is there anything else I should be saying?
Rebecca: No. I think we’re good. I think it sounds great. Thank you so much for being here. I’ll see you very soon and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. Hopefully everybody listening will be able to make an effort to get out and see it, because I think it should be something that we bring elsewhere. I think it’s a really great initiative.
Jessica: Yeah. I just really appreciate Oticon just supporting us and being part of the exhibit and doing this podcast. I'm so grateful for that. You guys are awesome.
Rebecca: You're so welcome. Well, thanks so much and we’ll see you soon.
Jessica: Thank you. bye.
Rebecca: Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, or leave us a review. You can also register for our partnership in the hearing community website using the link in the description below.
