HearAbility (www.hearability.co.za) is an independent company which was founded in 2009 by Diane Bell, a person with compassion for people who deal with hearing loss on a daily basis. Being a mother of a child born with a profound hearing loss and who has recently undergone a cochlear implant, she understands the complexities and unique needs involved.  The name “HearAbility” is derived from “giving those who are hearing impaired the tools or ability to enhance their residual hearing as well as to improve their quality of life”.  This Company is the first of its kind in South Africa - an online company devoted to serving the needs of the hearing impaired communities throughout Southern Africa and is based in Table View, Cape Town.

HearAbility has recently partnered with Bellman & Symfon® (a Swedish Company who exports their products to 45 countries) by becoming their sole distributor in Africa of their personal amplification devices (Maxi, Mino, Classic and Domino Pro) (see http://www.bellman.se/audio/) as well as their Visit 868 alerting systems (http://www.bellman.se/web/page.php?catid=179) and with Bo Edin (a Swedish Company which manufacturers the Univox range of loop systems).

HearAbility's ultimate and long term goal is to improve the life of the hearing impaired person by ensuring that they, through the use of various assistive technologies (both assistive listening and assistive living devices), are able to live a high functioning life as economically active South African citizens in industries of their choice and not as determined by their disability.

INTRODUCTION TO FOUNDER:

Diane Bell started out as a High School Educator and taught Accounting and Economics.  She studied further in the field of Information Technology and obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration and is currently busy with a PhD in Inclusive Education (which documents the experiences of students with hearing loss in Higher Education in South Africa).  Diane set up the first Disability Unit at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She also served on the Executive Committee of HEDSA (Higher Education Disability Services of South Africa; see www.hedsa.org.za ) and on the Executive Committee of Hear2Day (a support group for persons with a hearing loss and their families; see www.hear2day.co.za ).

OUR PARTNER - BELLMAN & SYMFON®:

Bellman & Symfon® AB (www.bellman.se)supply various solutions designed to aid and protect the ears. Those with hearing difficulties or who suffer from grey noise will find exactly what you need in their unique range of solutions that will help them both in their private life and on the job.  Their products are characterized by their unique functions and have been developed to offer simple and flexible applications as well as attractive designs. Their employees have extensive experience in their respective fields, from technical development to sales and customer support.   Bellman & Symfon AB® was founded in 1989 and now has about 20 employees in Sweden and about 120 in its international operations. The company is growing rapidly and its Swedish operations are currently supplemented by more than 45 international partners and distributors in Europe, the USA, Middle-east, Asia, Australia and New Zealand and now South Africa.

OUR PARTNER - Bo EDIN AB:

Bo EDIN (www.edin.se) develops, manufactures and delivers assistive hearing devices, such as loop amplifiers since 1965.  The first products manufactured consisted of systems that had to be installed by professional technicians. Since several years Bo EDIN also has developed products that don’t need to be installed. These products are sold directly to end-users. Initially the company cooperated with the largest distributor of medical care products in Sweden, LIC (owned by Swedish County Councils). The assistive hearing devices developed and produced by Bo EDIN were distributed mainly by LIC. In December 1992 this cooperation was put to an end, and Bo EDIN started direct sale and distribution to existing markets and customers in Sweden.  Thanks to a strong technology portfolio and cutting edge products – in some cases world-leading – the exports began to grow in the early 70’s. Exports accounts for approximately of the total turnover.  The export countries include Norway, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Australia, New Zealand, China (HK) and more recently South Africa.  Today Bo EDIN produces more than 10,000 loop amplifiers (branded Univox) per year.