Sonova keeps its ear to the ground in China market
Print Edition
Switzerland-based Sonova Group, a major provider of hearing care solutions, hopes to tap Shanghai as its next regional research and development center to explore China, a market it said has the biggest potential in Asia.
The company set up an innovation center in Shanghai earlier this year with an initial investment of US$1 million, and plans to develop and introduce hearing solutions customized to Chinese users, said Lukas Braunschweiler, chief executive officer of Sonova.
The company sees big room for improvement in China, where some 27.8 million people suffer from hearing loss and only 5 percent of them have access to hearing aids, the CEO said.
That compares with an average level of 20 percent in developed countries.
As one of company’s global strategies, Sonova is targeting 7 percent to 8 percent of sales every year as investment in research and development.
Sales last year’s sales topped 2.04 billion Swiss francs (US$2.12 billion), according to Sonova’s annual financial report released in May.
The company has introduced tonal adaptation for its hearing aid solutions system in May. It’s designed to improve the speech intelligibility for Mandarin speakers with impaired hearing, both in quiet situations and noisy environments.
The development of another system customized to Cantonese users is also on the agenda, according to Braunschweiler.
“We are a medical technology company in the hearing care segment. The core of our success is our focus on innovation, providing the best solutions to our customers,” the CEO said.
China is the second-largest market in Asia for Sonova, after Australia.
The CEO said he expects China will be the second-biggest market globally for Sonova after the US, in 10 years.
“A manufacturing facility of cochlear implants is also under construction in Suzhou. It will be the largest production center of Sonova globally,” the CEO said.
“Consumer awareness, a shortage of hearing professionals and unmet local demand need to be addressed, and we will keep on playing our part in cultivating more qualified hearing experts based on our past experience in China,” Braunschweiler said.
He added that there are fewer than 10,000 fully qualified hearing professionals in China, and the industry must cultivate at least 500 a year for the next 10 years to meet the huge need.
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