isin ch1012549785 industry hearing instruments founded 1947 company 1985 holding headquarters st fa switzerland key people robert f. spoerry chairman beat hess vice chairman lukas braunschweiler ceo products various brands advanced bionics phonak unitron revenue 2 071.9 mil . chf 2015 2016 1 number of employees 10 894 31.03.2016 1 website www.sonova.com sonova sonova holding ag phonak phonak holding ag before 31 july 2007 is a swiss company that specializes in hearing and wireless systems . sonova develops and markets hearing care solutions in two segments hearing aids and cochlear implants . the group operates through its core business brands phonak unitron advanced bionics and connect hearing . on august 1 2007 phonak ag officially changed its name to sonova holding ag . contents 1 history 2 connect hearing group 3 external links 4 external links 5 references history edit a man running the new york marathon wearing the company s advanced bionics brand waterproof cochlear implant sonova phonak traces its roots back to the ag f r elektroakustik which was founded in 1947 . the company was bought by ernst rihs in 1965 . as of september 2007 the group employed about 4 200 employees worldwide . phonak was the title sponsor of the uci protour team phonak hearing systems active between 2002 and 2006 . on october 2 2006 the phonak group agreed to a share purchase agreement with gn resound in an acquisition worth a total of 2.65 billion . however european regulatory agencies blocked the merger bringing an end to a period of large scale consolidation within the industry . 2 in the fall of 2006 phonak launched the initiative hear the world which creates awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss and promotes good hearing across the planet . the goal of hear the world is to educate the public about the importance of hearing the social and emotional implications of hearing loss and the available solutions for those with hearing impairment . world renowned musicians such as pl cido domingo the vienna philharmonic bryan adams and joss stone support hear the world as ambassadors . in october 2012 the foundation became an initiative of the entire sonova group . 3 the company produces the following products hearing aids and assistive devices wireless communication roger systems hearing protection devices cochlear implants covert communication systems and accessories tour guiding systems connect hearing group edit connect hearing group is sonova s storefront . 4 connect hearing group is made up of 5 connect hearing which is active in australia canada mexico the usa and the netherlands audium which is active in sweden denmark and brazil lapperre which is active in belgium and luxembourg auditionsant which is active in france hansaton which is active in austria triton which is active in new zealand pannon which is active in hungary boots hearingcare which is active in the uk vitakustik which is active in germany fiebing which is active in germany in 2014 connect hearing usa incorporated a little under 50 hearing companies to the connect hearing brand . this included newport audiology and jones audiology & hearing aid centers . 6 external links edit companies portal website sonova holding ag external links edit companies portal website sonova holding ag connect hearing usa connect hearing canada connect hearing australia references edit a b 1 annual report sonova 2015 16 2 3 press release 15.10.2012 connect hearing focusing on the customer experience . sonova . retrieved 8 july 2016 . our brands . connect hearing group . retrieved 8 june 2016 . connect hearing rebrands nationwide . connect hearing . retrieved 8 june 2016 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sonova & oldid 734648525 categories manufacturing companies of switzerlandhearing aid manufacturersswiss brandsst fa navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages danskdeutschfran ais norsk bokm lsvenskati ng vi t edit links this page was last modified on 15 august 2016 at 19 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view