Special swim aid for hearing impaired

Inspired by her son's wish to be more independent, a Stratford woman has launched a new business to "speak for people when they can't speak for themselves".

Catherine Trowbridge's son, Joshua, has been hearing impaired since birth. While his hearing aids help him hear clearly in most aspects of life, there are times when he cannot use them. Once they are out, not only can he not hear but "you can't see deaf", Catherine says, so people don't realise he can't hear.

To change this, Catherine has launched a business selling silicon wristbands which identify a person as having a hearing impairment.

"Some people wear badges, but you can't wear a badge in the pool and not everyone wants something that obvious. Younger people like Joshua would prefer the wristband.

"When Joshua is in the swimming pool, he has to take his hearing aids out and wear a swim cap to protect his ear canal. This means sound is completely blocked for him, so he can't hear the lifeguards or a swim instructor when they talk to him."

Catherine says when Joshua was younger, she would be in the pool with him so it wasn't a problem.

"Now he is 10, he wants to be able to do things without me tagging along, so I needed to find a way that people would know he couldn't hear."

Catherine talked to Andrea Wilkie, manager of the Stratford TSB Pool, about the problem, which she says was made worse when she overheard other parents talking about her son, thinking he was being badly behaved when he ignored instructions from the lifeguards.

"They didn't know him so thought he was being naughty, when in fact he hadn't heard the lifeguard at all."

Andrea says she understands Catherine's concerns, and agrees it would help Joshua, and others like him, if people were aware of their hearing loss.

"When it comes to safety issues, if lifeguards know someone can't hear, then they can make sure they are communicating in a way that a person can understand."

Talking to Andrea was, says Catherine, "the best thing I could have done".

"She instantly came up with solutions and ideas, and together we realised that a waterproof silicon wristband would be a great idea."

Andrea put Catherine in touch with a supplier who was able to produce high quality wristbands with the writing etched and ink filled, to ensure it wouldn't wear off.

"The lovely team at bcreative have been fantastic as well, helping us design the posters for advertising at no cost."

Andrea has offered to stock the wristbands at the swimming pool, and will talk to other pools in the area about also stocking them. The wristbands can also be ordered from Catherine directly by emailing her: hearwithcare@outlook.co.nz, phoning or texting her on 021 818 396 or through Facebook: www.facebook.

com/HearWithCare.

As for the inspiration behind this new business, Joshua, he loves the fact he no longer has to try to explain to people that he can't hear, and has identified other times that the wristband will help him.

"He was in a fast food place the other day and wanted to order an ice-cream, but the background noise was making it hard for him to be understood.

"Afterwards he said he should have had his wristband on as then they would have understood why."