Hear at Home: A Mobile Hearing Clinic in North Vancouver That Puts Clients First

It was Simon Manvell’s wife who first suggested he get his ears checked. Manvell had noticed his hearing had been worsening since his early 20s, but he dismissed the idea of hearing aids as something older people needed, not something for someone his age.

By his early 40s, his hearing had declined enough to affect his work, relationships, and home life. Encouraged by his wife, Manvell began looking for a hearing clinic in North Vancouver. Through a recommendation from his community, he found Hear at Home, a mobile hearing clinic started in North Vancouver by Jennifer Abbott.

Hear at Home, as the name implies, provides a broad range of hearing care services from the comfort of clients’ homes. With two young children, Manvell and his wife appreciated the convenience of at-home visits, but that wasn’t the only reason they chose Hear at Home.

“It was her reputation,” Manvell said. “We had a reference from someone that told us she’s the best.” Manvell has been a client since, first using the mobile service and now visiting the brick-and-mortar hearing clinic in North Vancouver that Abbott opened three years ago.

“They identify clients concerns very well,” Manvell said, adding that Abbott and her team were understanding of his worries about wearing hearing aids at a younger age, offering discreet options along with clear communication, accurate diagnoses, and effective solutions.

He and his wife have since recommended the hearing clinic in North Vancouver to many people, praising the professionalism and streamlined service that made the entire process easier than expected. While Manvell’s early experience with the mobile clinic suited young families, Abbott originally created Hear at Home to help older clients with mobility challenges.

“I was working in a clinic in Burnaby, it was my first job, being newly licensed in a hearing clinic. I could see some of the elderly people coming in, and they had a difficult time getting in,” Abbott said.

Many older clients relied on taxis or friends for transportation, and some stopped coming altogether after moving into care homes. Abbott remembered her experience working for an at-home insurance company and realized a similar model could be applied to hearing care.

“We are the queens of earwax removal.”

After being laid off from the Burnaby clinic in 2008, Jennifer saw an opportunity. With support from government programs for self-employment, she developed a proposal for a mobile hearing clinic, which was approved at multiple levels, from local colleges to federal authorities.

Hear at Home officially launched in 2009. Initially focused on the North Shore, the first service call came from Richmond for a grandmother who couldn’t comfortably take taxis to nearby clinics. “Every time I heard those stories, I started to go further and further,” Abbott said.

Soon, Hear at Home expanded services across Greater Vancouver, building trust-based relationships through community referrals. Abbott also volunteered in retirement and care homes, providing hearing aid maintenance and educational talks for staff.

Three years ago, Abbott purchased a brick-and-mortar hearing clinic in North Vancouver, offering both in-person care and administrative support for the mobile clinic.

The clinic still provides mobile services, including hearing evaluations, hearing aid prescriptions, and repairs. At the North Vancouver location, additional services, such as earwax removal, are offered.

“We are the queens of earwax removal,” Abbott said. “It’s become a hugely popular service, with people even travelling from New West or Surrey to see us.”

Sixteen years in, Abbott says the most rewarding part of her work is seeing social connections restored when people regain their hearing. She recalls a near-centenarian client who finally got hearing aids, allowing him to reconnect with family members he hadn’t heard clearly in years.

Manvell’s experience mirrors this. Before his hearing aids, hearing loss affected his professional, family, and social life.

“Previously, I just sort of kept to myself in some conversations or loud situations where you just couldn’t really hear that well,” he said. Today, his initial hesitation about hearing aids has vanished, and his quality of life has significantly improved.

For Abbott, moments like these define the success of her hearing clinic in North Vancouver. “Lots of times, people don’t realize what they’re missing until they start hearing again,” she said.