Speech and Hearing BC

What Speech and Hearing BC does

Speech and Hearing BC is a not-for-profit professional membership association founded in 1953 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It serves more than 1,200 member speech-language pathologists and audiologists practicing across the province in settings that include private practice, schools, hospitals, and early-intervention programs, and it indirectly serves the general public through awareness campaigns and a Find a Professional searchable directory that lists 400+ practitioners across BC. The organization is the only official provincial association for these professions in BC and operates a joint membership with Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC), the national credentialing body, while also participating in the Pan-Canadian Alliance of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Associations.

The association's core offerings are member services rather than technology products: the public Find a Professional directory with filtering by disorder, age, language, and teletherapy availability; continuing-education programming including the annual SHBC conference, workshops, journal club, and courses on topics such as AI in clinical practice and interpreter collaboration; the Electronic Health Library providing access to thousands of publications; a Career Centre for employment listings; an awards program; advocacy initiatives including the Help BC Hear Better petition; and restricted-access practice resources covering adult practice, schools, private practice, Indigenous populations, equity/diversity/inclusion, and screening tools.

The business model is a recurring membership-fee model bundled with the SAC joint membership, supplemented by conference and workshop fees, career-centre advertising, donations as a registered charity, and member discounts on third-party services. The organization is staffed by a very small back-office team (1-10 employees) and governed by an elected 14-member Provincial Council; it has no patents, no proprietary technology stack, no APIs, and no disclosed AI capabilities of its own. Speech and Hearing BC is not an investment-stage venture; it is a stable, mature professional association whose strategic significance lies in its regulatory-adjacent positioning rather than in commercial scalability.

Name

Speech and Hearing BC

Legal name

Speech and Hearing BC

Website

https://speechandhearingbc.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Speech and Hearing BC is a 72-year-old not-for-profit professional association supporting more than 1,200 speech-language pathologists and audiologists across British Columbia. It delivers membership services, continuing education, advocacy, and a public Find a Professional directory for the BC public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Revenue generated through membership fees from speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Joint membership agreement with Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Speech and Hearing BC is a not-for-profit professional association serving over 1,200 member speech-language pathologists and audiologists across British Columbia. It offers membership benefits (advocacy, professional liability insurance, continuing education, networking, and the Electronic Health Library), operates a public-facing Find a Professional directory of 400+ certified clinicians, runs an annual conference and continuing education programs, and advocates for equitable access to communication, hearing, and swallowing health services.

Product overview

Speech and Hearing BC is a not-for-profit professional association serving over 1200 member speech-language pathologists and audiologists in British Columbia. The organization operates as a platform offering member directory services, professional development, career services, educational resources, and advocacy. Core offerings include the Find a Professional searchable directory (connecting users with 400+ professionals), continuing education programs with conferences and workshops, the Electronic Health Library database, Career Centre for employment services, awards recognition, funding information resources, and interpreter/translation service referrals. The platform uses a membership-based model with tiered access to resources, where public-facing services include professional search and educational content while member-exclusive materials cover practice guidelines, assessment tools, and professional development materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Find a Professional Directory Online searchable directory allowing the public to find speech-language pathologists and audiologists across British Columbia, with filtering by location, disorder, professional type, age group, language, and teletherapy availability.
• Continuing Education Professional development programs including workshops, journal club, and courses on topics such as AI in clinical practice, interpreter collaborations, and regulatory investigations for speech-language pathologists and audiologists.
• Career Centre Employment service connecting speech-language pathologists and audiologists with job opportunities across British Columbia, featuring job search, recruiting, and career information resources.
• Electronic Health Library Digital resource library providing members with access to thousands of leading online publications in speech-language pathology and audiology.
• Annual Conference
• Awards Program

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (CHCPBC, formerly CSHBC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2010The College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (formerly College of Speech and Hearing Health Professionals of BC, established in 2010) is the regulatory body for SLPs and audiologists in BC. In order to work in BC, SLPs and audiologists need to be registered with CHCPBC.
• Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint membership agreement with SAC, the national body representing speech and hearing professionals across Canada. SAC provides certification for both professions. Members of Speech and Hearing BC can obtain joint membership that includes national-level benefits, professional liability insurance programs, and certification services.
• Pan-Canadian Alliance of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology AssociationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMembership in this alliance enables provincial associations and SAC to work together on common priorities, providing coordinated advocacy and professional development at the national level.
• Help BC Hear Better CampaignminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAdvocacy initiative asking the provincial government to invest in a Hearing Health Program for British Columbians. The petition is hosted at helpbchearbetter.ca.
• HealthLink BCminorOthersHealthLink BC is referenced as a resource partner providing information about hearing tests and other health issues for children with hearing loss.
• Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WIDHH)minorOthersWIDHH is referenced as a resource partner providing information and support about hearing problems and deaf culture.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Manitoba Speech-Language and Hearing Association: Provincial counterpart serving Manitoba's SLPs and audiologists with comparable member benefits, public awareness, and advocacy activities.
• Saskatchewan Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists: Provincial counterpart in Saskatchewan offering membership services, advocacy, and continuing education for SLPs and audiologists in a similar small-team association structure.
• Alberta Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists: Provincial professional association in Alberta with the same two-profession focus (SLP and audiology) and member-driven advocacy and continuing-education model.
• Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC): National professional association for speech-language pathologists and audiologists in Canada and the association's joint-membership partner. Operates the same member-benefit and certification model at the national level, making it the most directly comparable peer.
• New Brunswick Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists: Small provincial counterpart in New Brunswick with a similar member-driven structure for SLPs and audiologists.
• Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (OSLA): Provincial counterpart serving Ontario SLPs and audiologists with a similar member-based advocacy, professional development, and public-referral mandate.

Regional players

• Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Centres: Provincial service organization in Nova Scotia delivering speech-language and audiology services; comparable in mission (speech and hearing health in a Canadian province) but operates as a service delivery organization rather than a membership association.

Others

• College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (CHCPBC): BC's regulator for SLPs and audiologists, formerly CSHBC. Not a membership association but the partner organization whose regulatory separation defines SHBC's role; useful benchmark for the regulatory side of the profession in BC.
• HealthLink BC: Provincial health information and referral service referenced by SHBC as a resource partner. Adjacent to SHBC's public-referral function rather than a direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): Largest US professional association for SLPs and audiologists. Comparable in mission and product set (certification, CE, advocacy, public referral) but operates at national US scale with significantly larger resources.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/speechhearbc
• Facebookfacebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fspeechandhearingbc.ca%2F

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Speech and Hearing BC