Overwhelmed by demand, Dal hearing aid program for seniors can't see new clients

A Dalhousie University program that fits low-income seniors with free hearing aids has been unable to accept new clients after facing too great a demand for its services among older Nova Scotians who can't afford the devices.

A pair of hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars. Nova Scotia is one of a handful of provinces that doesn't help pay for them for people over the age of 65 who don't have much money.

Michael Kiefte, the director of Dalhousie's school of communication sciences and disorders in Halifax, said it's "heartbreaking" the decade-old program, called Hear@Dal, is still getting calls seeking help for seniors, even though it has closed its doors to new clients for the moment.

"This is a program that we really wanted to do to provide a service to Nova Scotians," he said. "And then to discover that the demand is too large for us to be able to … meet the demand, it was quite eye-opening."

The low-income seniors program stopped accepting new clients at the beginning of the pandemic. But the restriction has remained in place, Kiefte said, as the program tries to secure more resources.

Millions of older Canadians have at least mild hearing loss. Experts say hearing aids can significantly improve a person's life, allowing them to take part in conversations and be more independent. 

Research has also shown that seniors at risk of developing dementia but who wore hearing aids saw a slower rate of cognitive decline.

The provincial government does help subsidize hearing aids for eligible people on income assistance, and Dalhousie does have a program to help those clients that is supported by the Department of Community Services and continues to accept new patients.

But the Dalhousie low-income seniors program is instead funded with help from the Lions Club service organization. Kiefte said the provincial government could play a greater role and that money is the biggest barrier to expanding the seniors' program.

A Department of Health spokesperson did not indicate whether the province is considering funding hearing aids for seniors. She said the department works with the Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia program to "identify potential funding opportunities," such as through Veterans Affairs Canada, the Workers' Compensation Board and community groups.

The Dalhousie low-income seniors program currently has about 150 clients, who have an income of less than $25,000 a year. It runs once a week, and is also a training ground for audiology students at the university.

The clients return for hearing checkups and to make sure their devices are still working. Dr. Sarah Wilson, an audiologist with the program, said the restriction on new patients is in part because the COVID-19 pandemic slowed followup with some current clients, and the program is now catching up.

Private member's bill

Last spring, NDP MLA Gary Burrill introduced a private member's bill that would see MSI, Nova Scotia's health insurance program, cover 75 per cent of hearing aid costs for seniors under a certain household income threshold. The PC government did not take up the bill.

"I think it is a real shame and travesty to have people who would wish to be able to fully participate in the environment around them and their communities, not really able to do so because they can't afford a hearing aid," Burrill said.

Wilson said hearing aids pick up sounds through a microphone system, then modify that signal based on the patient's needs and deliver the amplified sound into the ear.

The clients in the program have at least a moderate degree of hearing loss in both ears, which means they often can't understand speech, particularly when there's background noise.

Outfitting them with hearing aids can help them with social connections and do daily tasks, and improves their perception of their mental functioning, Wilson said. She hopes the seniors' program at Dalhousie will be able to accept new patients in the near future.

In Canada, she said, about 90 per cent of people with hearing loss could benefit from a hearing aid, but that just one in five actually use one.

"What that really tells me is that there's probably a great number of seniors, and many patients of all ages, that could benefit from a hearing aid who are not in those devices right now," Wilson said.

There are several reasons for this, she said. Cost is one, and whether a person has the family support to attend clinics is another. Their own perception of their hearing loss is also a factor.

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