Originally from the Karoo, Anel graduated at the University of Stellenbosch with a degree in Speech Therapy and Audiology in 2002 and completed community service in KwaZulu-Natal in 2003. Thereafter she worked in the UK for 7 years gaining experience as an adult and paediatric audiologist. After moving to George in 2012, she worked for Cornel van den Berg as a Speech therapist and De Jager & Van Zyl Audiologists was established in 2013. She was fortunate to have experienced many different working environments and gained invaluable experience working with the new and evolving digital hearing aid market over the last 15 years. She has a passion for language and communication, interests in early intervention in children and have great appreciation for the context of family and community. It makes her very excited to be living and working in South Africa again with a world-class team - striving to bridge sound barriers and being part of many hearing journeys in the Garden Route.
When it comes to the sense of hearing, audiology is a wonderful combination of science and psychology, which has always fascinated Sonelle. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Communication Pathology at the University of Pretoria in 1998. Wanting to further her knowledge in Psychology, she completed an Honours degree in Psychology in 1999 at the University of the Free State. She spent 7 years working in the UK, the last 5 years which were at St Thomas’ Hospital in London working mainly with cochlear implants. In 2007 she returned to Cape Town and started working at the Ear Institute in Belville. She moved to George in 2013 and Anel and Sonelle had the wonderful opportunity utilise many years of local and international experience by starting their own practice in the Garden Route. Five years down the line, they are still as passionate and enthusiastic about delivering the best possible service to the Southern Cape community.
Amey Blignaut
It was Amey’s dream to become an audiologist since she was 15 years old. Today, she feels very privileged to live her dream, expanding her knowledge about the profession each day, with a growing passion for hearing rehabilitation. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Communication Pathology at the University of Pretoria in 2013. She completed her community service year at Witrand hospital in Potchefstroom in 2014. In 2015 she had the opportunity to work at a busy private practice in the Krugersdorp Netcare Hospital, doing a wide range of behavioural and objective measures, hearing aids fittings, vestibular testing and implantable devices. She moved to the Southern Cape in 2017, where she started working for De Jager & Van Zyl Audiologists. Amey feels that it is an absolute blessing to be a part of the De Jager & Van Zyl team.
Wildine Greeff
Wildine joined the De Jager & Van Zyl team in March 2020. Having family roots in the Western Cape, she always wanted to live in the Garden route. She grew up in Eden Park Gauteng, as the youngest of three children and completed her degree in Audiology at the University of Cape Town in 2017, where after she worked at the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at UCT as a Tutor, Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer.
Being an academic at heart, she is currently also completing her master’s degree in Audiology, through the University of Cape Town. Working full-time and being a master’s student has taught her the importance of time management and the ability to work under-pressure whilst not compromising on her work ethic.
She completed her community service in 2019 at Madadeni Hospital in KZN working with various age groups and performing a broad spectrum of hearing assessments, including Auditory Brainstem testing, ENT referrals and newborn hearing screenings (OAE’s) and hearing aid fittings during home visits.
During her time in KZN, she obtained invaluable experience in overcoming language and resource barriers, without compromising on patient care.
Her main motivation for becoming an audiologist was her passion for social interaction and enabling the hearing impaired to have improved quality of communication and limited social deprivation - a passion crucial during the Covid19 pandemic, especially to address the devastating effect of social distancing and usage of masks on our hearing impaired population.
Her hobbies include reading, following rugby and supporting the Springboks!