CANADA

OUR IMPACT TO DATE

Since 2016, the Canadian Hearing Health Initiative has worked in partnership with Indigenous communities and hearing health professionals across Canada to co-develop, pilot, and scale innovative approaches to sustainable, community-led hearing care. Rather than relying on traditional fly-in, fly-out models, the Initiative focuses on building local capacity so that communities can strengthen their own hearing health services, retain knowledge and skills locally, and sustain programs beyond World Wide Hearing’s direct involvement.

In 2026, WWH is also rethinking and broadening the Canadian Initiative. Through our work, we have seen that barriers to hearing care are not limited to remote and northern communities: underserved populations in urban areas can also face significant challenges accessing timely and affordable services. Going forward, the Initiative will build on its Indigenous-led and capacity-building approach while exploring how similar community-based models can help address hearing health inequities in urban settings as well.