Hear the World Foundation

34 million children across the world have moderate to profound hearing loss – prevention could stop 60 percent of all hearing loss. 80 percent of children with moderate to profound hearing loss live in low-to-middle-income countries and often have no access to audiological care. The consequences, especially for children with untreated hearing loss, are serious. Not hearing means that they live in isolation, cannot learn to speak and have problems at school. Moreover, their job opportunities are severely limited.

Social Responsibility – A serious Concern at the Sonova Group

Against this background Sonova founded the non-profit Hear the World Foundation in 2006. The Foundation’s aim is to create a world in which each person has the chance of good hearing. As a leading hearing system provider, Sonova sees its corporate responsibility as the provision of support to needy people and particularly children with hearing loss and its involvement in prevention of hearing loss.

The Hear the World vision is a world in which

each person has the chance of good hearing
hearing is cherished and protected
wearing a hearing aid is no taboo
and people with reduced hearing experience equal opportunities

Alongside a long-term information campaign, which is directed at the general public as well as experts and opinion makers in the health care sector, the foundation work is the main element of the commitment. The Hear the World Foundation advocates equal opportunities and increased quality of life for people with hearing loss globally. To this end, the Foundation involves itself with financial resources and the provision of hearing aids. Alongside the financial and technological project support, employees of the Sonova Group form the third pillar of the foundation’s work with their voluntary involvement and expertise. The foundation focuses particularly on projects for children with hearing loss, enabling them to develop to their fullest potential. They thus have a better chance to live a life without limitations.

Learn more about the projects

three siblings in Peru in the Hear the World pose (hand cupped behind the ear) — #HearPeru: Hearing screenings for 30’000 children. Peru has more than 30 million inhabitants, 532,000 people are affected by hearing loss. Access to hearing health care in Peru is limited. That is why the World Wide Hearing Foundation and the Hear the World Foundation launched a broad hearing screening campaign in 2016.

Children in South Africa in the Hear the World pose (hand cupped behind the ear) — #HearSouthAfrica: App-based hearing screenings for 10’000 children. One of South Africa’s biggest challenges is the huge gap between rich and poor and the lack of access to medical care for people in need. In order to close this gap, the Hear the World Foundation is working closely with the start-up hearX Group, which developed an app for non-professionals to conduct hearing screenings.

Children in Guatemala waiting to get otoscopy — #HearGuatemala: Putting smiles on children’s faces with colorfoul hearing aids. Guatemala is the most populated country in Central America. Audiological care in the country, however, is very limited – there is only one audiologist in all of Guatemala: Paty Castellanos. She is the founder of the «Sonrisas que Escuchan» foundation (smiles who listen). Hear the World supports this organization with donations of hearing aids and volunteers.

A boy in Lebanon participating in a hearing test — #HearLebanon: Hope for Syrian refugee children. There are over a million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon. They receive no financial support from the state. Accordingly, most of them depend on humanitarian aid to get by from day to day. The Hear the World Foundation provided a glimmer of hope by giving hearing aids to children with hearing loss.

A girl in Vietnam with a cochlear implant doing play audiometry — #HearVietnam: Breaking the silence – with a cochlear implant. In Vietnam there is no insurance coverage or state subsidization for cochlear implants. Therefore, the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss (GFCHL) and the Hear the World Foundation have entered into a unique collaboration that will enable 10 Vietnamese children in need with significant hearing loss to hear and speak.

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Hear the World Foundation

Social Responsibility – A serious Concern at the Sonova Group

Learn more about the projects

To learn more about the Hear the World Foundation, visit www.hear-the-world.com.