Sonova says its responsibility is caring for people
Print Edition
FOR Sonova, corporate social responsibility seems to go hand-in-hand with its business line.
The Swiss-based provider of hearing solutions considers the health and comfort of people its primary object.
“We produce hearing aids — products are for the well-being of human beings,” said Albert Lim, senior Asia-Pacific region vice president for the company. “We want to create a world where everyone enjoys the delight of hearing and lives a life without limitations.”
As such, his company was happy to take part in the “Invest in Green Future” Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Awards, Lim said.
“Our practice of corporate social responsibility is to make the products catered more to people’s basic needs at affordable prices,” he said.
According to one world survey, it takes people an average of seven years after first detecting hearing problems to purchase a product designed to help them. In China, that gap is even longer.
Worse, the general public in China isn’t aware enough of hearing problems and solutions. An estimated 150 million Chinese people suffer some degree of hearing impairment, but only 5 percent of the 27.8 million with registered hearing disabilities use hearing aids.
“That’s why we choose to join the category of ‘responsibility and innovation’ in the competition,” Lim said. “Chinese clients are still in the process of learning the functions of hearing aids … and innovation can help us best perform the duty of guiding people through that process.”
Last year, Sonova unveiled a hearing-aid system especially adapted for Mandarin speakers.
“Most hearing aids have been designed for general users,” Lim said. “We were determined to develop a set of products customized for Chinese people, recognizing the Chinese language and the typical Chinese environment, which can be noisier and in more varieties of settings.”
Chinese-tailored hearing aids were developed by the Sonova Innovation Center in Shanghai, which was established last year to enhance the research capabilities of the company in China. To strengthen technical skills of industry and raise the service quality for end users, Sonova also plans to set up an Asia-Pacific training center in the country this year.
“We are dedicated to the Chinese market,” Lim said. “It is not for profits only. We want to create value that people appreciate.”
Last year, Sonova joined a Shanghai project aimed at giving people with hearing disabilities access to hearing aids. The Chinese-tailored products by Sonova were chosen by more than 3,500 Shanghai residents, whose feedback was positive.
“It made us feel needed and encourages us to do better,” Lim said.
The Singaporean said he has worked for several companies in the medical industry out of a commitment to help people and create value for life.
“Hearing aids are best needed by two groups of people: young kids with inherited hearing problems and seniors with hearing impairment,” Lim said. “Both of them deserve a good life. Our products can help people fulfill that goal. Helping more people to achieve that is our corporate social responsibility.”
Lim added that one key element of his firm’s corporate social responsibility activities continues to be the Hear the World Foundation, a Sonova Group initiative that places a special focus on projects that support children who have hearing loss.
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