A mission to make hearing care easier to access

Armando Di Lello was four years old when he was diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears and received his first hearing aids. He doesn’t remember that moment, but he recalls moments that followed.

“Going through elementary, middle school, high school — it was definitely something that was not a positive experience for me,” he said.

Di Lello’s hearing aids were big, bulky and noisy, and he chose not to wear them much of the time.

“I didn’t perceive the benefit as a kid,” he said. “No kid wants to appear different.”

Now 34, Di Lello is on a mission to make high-quality hearing care easier to access.

On Saturday, he celebrated the grand opening of SimplyHear, an independent clinic he started in Winnipeg’s St. Vital neighbourhood. With SimplyHear, Di Lello aims to reduce barriers to hearing care by offering affordable hearing aids.

“It’s really important to me that the client’s relationship with hearing aids is a positive one as early as possible because I know what it was like as a kid to have a negative relationship with my hearing aids,” he said.

Di Lello brings a wealth of experience to the new clinic. Upon graduating from high school at West Kildonan Collegiate, he entered the hearing aid practitioner program at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. The program gave him the theoretical and practical knowledge required for dispensing hearing aids and assistive listening devices.

After graduating in 2013, Di Lello jumped into a job at a busy hearing centre in a big-box store. He eventually worked his way into a management position, helping a high volume of clients — including budget-conscious customers — along the way.

Later, Di Lello moved into the premium sector of the industry, where the hearing aids are more expensive and the caseloads are much smaller. He worked for a global leader in premium hearing care for about six years, climbing up the corporate ladder to a high-paying role.

Ultimately, the big paycheques didn’t dissuade Di Lello from quitting his job to start SimplyHear.

“I felt like there was a huge gap… where clients are sitting at home, not knowing where to go because a traditional hearing clinic is cost prohibitive for most people,” he said. “And elsewhere, the wait times are very, very high. So I wanted to create a space where families can come in and access timely care.”

According to the Canadian Association of the Deaf, there are 357,000 culturally deaf Canadians and 3.21 million Canadians who are hard of hearing.

Research from Canadian Hearing Services and Statistics Canada indicates that 77 per cent of seniors aged 60 to 69 experience hearing loss, with this percentage increasing to 94 per cent for those aged 70 to 79.

With a hearing test, properly fitted hearing aids, counselling and communication strategies, 90 per cent of people with hearing loss can improve their communication, according to Canadian Hearing Services.

But hearing aids can be expensive, ranging in price from $2,000 to $8,000 for a pair, depending on the technology level, brand and features. Di Lello says he’s trying to keep SimplyHear’s prices as low as possible. At the clinic, pairs of hearing aids start at $3,800.

“Our recommendations (for hearing aids) here are grounded in the outcome of the client — it’s not grounded in (the) bells and whistles that oftentimes are not needed,” he said. “We add them in as they’re applicable, but… we don’t pull out tools that are not necessary if it’s not going to benefit the client. That helps us keep the cost within reach.”

The entrepreneur and his assistants also help clients navigate available funding programs, and have partnered with the Lions Club of Winnipeg to further improve access for those facing financial barriers.

It’s an impressive undertaking, says Billie Cross, MLA for Seine River, who spoke at SimplyHear’s grand opening celebration. Cross’s father uses hearing aids, so she has some understanding of the costs involved and the isolation that people experiencing hearing loss can feel.

“When you talk about hearing and you talk about accessibility for people, (you’re talking about) belonging,” Cross said on Tuesday. “What (Di Lello’s) doing is making sure that other human beings feel like they belong.”

After more than a dozen years working for other people in the industry, Di Lello says that running his own clinic feels surreal.

“It’s something I wish existed when I was a kid so that my family could have had a place to go to feel a bit more confident,” he said.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca