Strategy and businesses

Audiological Care business

We provide expert, personalized, and technologically advanced audiological care, easily accessible through multiple channels of engagement, bringing Sonova solutions to a growing consumer base.

The Audiological Care business, operating through the AudioNova brand and other strong national brands, offers best-in-class hearing care through a network of around 3,600 points of sale in 20 key markets, employing more than 7,000 dedicated hearing care professionals (HCPs). Our goal is to engage and excite consumers about how our solutions can help them enjoy the delight of hearing and live their lives without limitations. We achieve this goal by focusing closely on each consumerʼs experience of interacting with us, from the very first moment of contact. We establish relationships as the consumer chooses – digitally or in-store. We provide attentive, personalized, and expert care through engaged and highly-skilled professionals. And we aim for a consistent, inspiring experience of visiting our stores, where consumers and their loved ones are encouraged to deepen their understanding of hearing loss and the solutions we provide.

Our strategy puts the consumer firmly in first place. More satisfied consumers mean increased market share and sustained profitable growth. Consumers are satisfied by the consistent experience of excellent personalized care. Excellent care relies on engaged, highly-trained employees along with a versatile, targeted approach to attract and satisfy new consumers. All this is supported by continuous improvement of our processes and the consumerʼs experience while allowing our audiologists to spend more time on audiology and consumer interaction. At the same time, we continuously optimize our local and global support structure, matching our offering to local consumer needs and growing our physical presence to align with high-potential markets.

Taking audiology to the next level

Central to our brand, and to all we do, is what we call “pinnacle audiology.” This means providing an experience of care that is outstanding in all its aspects: outstanding in the precision of hearing assessment and the technology that supports it. Outstanding in the sympathetic attention and willingness to explain of the hearing care professional, in the opportunities to work through specific concerns, involve friends or family in decisions, and try out our hearing solutions in realistic listening environments. And outstanding in our flexibility, enabling us to provide excellent care in whatever way the consumer wishes: in person, on the phone, online, or through our suite of apps.

Delivering pinnacle audiology demands a great deal from our hearing care professionals. We are therefore deeply aware of our responsibility to provide the tools they need to excel in their profession. It starts with excellent training; we have set up award-winning programs and university partnerships leading to HCP certification in the US, China, Germany, the UK, France, and Brazil; these graduate around 500 new HCPs every year, and we plan to grow this number further going forward. Our Hearing Care Academy brings to life our vision of creating a global network of academies to connect, educate, and train HCPs to meet the growing demand for the high quality, holistic care that differentiates us in the market. HCPs are able to access personalized learning when they need it, engage in best-practice exchange, and have direct access to internal and external experts. For those HCPs who are doing outstanding work in the field, they will have opportunities to be recognized as experts and support their peers around the world – and to pursue further career opportunities across all of Sonovaʼs businesses.

In a marketplace where purchasers are often hesitant to take the first step, attracting the first-time consumer is a vital challenge. Our dedicated in-house lead-generation team connects us with new, younger consumers, generating a higher conversion rate and average purchase value – all at a lower cost – than would be possible using an outside agency. But there are also valuable ser­vices we provide on this journey, to help establish and strengthen that first contact.

For example: tinnitus is a condition often associated with a significant hearing loss. Our SilentCloud™ app is a medically-regulated tool for self-paced tinnitus management that offers therapies, education, and counseling by audiological care experts. At the same time, it opens a way to start a one-to-one conversation about hearing, and to mobilize the data to support and inform each consumerʼs future hearing care. Ear, nose, and throat specialists and other hearing care professionals can see how our medical solutions add value, and therefore feel comfortable in recommending us. These professional referrals are a very important step in beginning a trusted relationship with the consumer. And when the referred consumer has been fitted with a hearing aid, our MyAudioNova app, known to some as “the audiologist in your pocket,” continues the easy-to-use, user-controlled, information-rich, and personal contact that marks all our software offerings.

Deepening ties with the consumer

We base our business on our consumersʼ “hearing journey.” As their life circumstances change, their hearing needs change, and it is our role to accompany, advise, and assist on that journey with ever-improving solutions. This role demands great flexibility, as consumersʼ needs are never exactly the same. Our lead generation – the start of the journey – therefore makes use of a mix of media, both traditional and digital, to ensure that we contact the full spectrum of potential consumers, wherever they decide to start their personal hearing journey. We continue to expand our network, both through acquisitions and greenfield openings, based on strategic considerations and in-depth analysis. We apply to stores across our network the lessons learned in our flagship World of Hearing stores – now operating in 14 markets and five continents –by, for example, including “experience rooms” where consumers can hear how different hearing aids perform in a variety of virtual situations, such as a concert or noisy restaurant, and where friends and family can hear simulations of what their loved oneʼs hearing loss is actually like. Each of these steps helps to reinforce our connections with the consumers we serve as we continue to expand our network.

We also learn lessons from consumers themselves. We have started the process to measure consumer satisfaction and excitement consistently across all our 20 key markets and down to the individual store level, allowing clear actionable analysis of the effect of our initiatives on consumer sentiment and helping to ensure that everything we do makes a real, positive contribution to the consumerʼs experience. We already know that satisfied existing consumers are most likely to be excited about further innovation – and therefore to continue with us as their partner on their hearing journey.

Supporting our global brand proposition

With a business model centered on pinnacle audiology and committed to satisfied consumers, engaged employees, and sustainable, profitable growth, Audiological Careʼs brand values are the key to distinguish us from our competition and help us to stake a clear claim to audiological leadership in each market. In markets where we have no strongly established national brand, we are consolidating our presence under the AudioNova brand: for instance, all our stores in the US and in Japan are currently being rebranded as AudioNova.

But whatever the name above the door, all our stores will have a recognizably uniform appearance, layout, technology, and working practices, supporting our clearly differentiated brand proposition. This uniformity gives us a strong platform for continuous improvement, based on the Sonova X business system and mindset, in productivity, store performance, and consumer lifecycle management. It allows us to learn from local excellence and swiftly apply it across the global network.

We continuously support the delivery of personalized, expert audiological care with initiatives to improve commercial execution and optimize structural efficiency. This year, we have launched an 18-month program that will secure cost savings, protect critical capabilities, and expand profitability by streamlining global and local headquarters functions, optimizing the store network and its capacity levels, and reviewing the structural adjustment of non-core business models. The goal is straightforward: to ensure that our resources and talents are applied most profitably to the activities that matter most to the consumer.