Unitron

Brand Profile: Unitron Hearing Aids

Unitron is a leading global maker of hearing aids with a very strong presence in the United States and Canada. An independent subsidiary of Sonova Group (which also owns the Phonak hearing aid business), Unitron in 2010 and 2011 leveraged its own R&D with Sonova’s platform technologies into an array of new high-end hearing aid products. Unitron also is driving innovation in retail delivery of hearing aids through its Sona brand.

Unitron Hearing Aid Product Line

Unitron’s Era sound processing platform powers its new Quantum and Moxi hearing-aid families. Era features a next-generation digital signal processor that performs over 200 million operations per second–with double the speed and twice the memory capacity of previous processors–driving new sound processing software that delivers higher fidelity sound.

The Quantum family offers a full spectrum of shells and styles, including smaller, more ergonomic behind-the-ear (BTE) models and more flexible, precise in-the-ear (ITE) choices, delivering the benefits of the new Unitron Era sound processing technology to nearly any conceivable hearing profile.

The Moxi family incorporates Era sound processing in an open-fit, receiver-in-the canal (RIC) design. Promoted with the tagline “Open fit goes high fidelity,” Moxi hearing aids are at the cutting edge of an industry-wide trend to put high-power, high-performance sound processing in tiny “on-the-ear” processing units with a micro-wire extending to a tiny microphone (receiver) sitting in the ear canal. The still-new open-fit RIC form factor, which doesn’t require an occluding ear mold, is driving faster growth in the high end of the hearing aid market worldwide, positioning Moxi to take advantage of demand for the latest sound processing technology in an open-fit design.

In October 2011, when Sonova announced the appointment of Jan Metzdorff as President of Unitron, the holding company also tasked Unitron with driving the new Sona brand through Unitron’s strong international distribution channels. Sona was created by Sonova to give audiologists a standard, upgradeable platform to make it easier to fit and retain hearing-aid patients.

 

Recent Posts About Unitron Hearing Aids

Unitron Introduces High-End Models In Its New Quantum And Moxi Hearing Aid Families

At last week’s AudiologyNow convention in Boston, Unitron showed its new premium hearing instruments for its Quantum and Moxi product families featuring better speech comprehension through improved location of sound.

Built on Unitron’s Era sound processing platform, the new Quantum Pro and Moxi Pro feature Unitron’s binaural spatial processing and SpeechZone automated directional technology to make it easier to understand speech in challenging listening environments. With SpeechZone, the two hearing instruments work together to determine the location of a sound and focus on it.

Unitron also showed its uDirect 2 and uTV 2 accessories. uDirect 2 uses Bluetooth technology to enable seamless wireless connection to entertainment and communications devices. It also acts as a remote control for quick access to essential features. Unitron’s uTV 2 accessory provides similar wireless connectivity for the television, sending stereo audio to both hearing instruments via the uDirect 2.

Hearing Aid Sales And Job Satisfaction Go Hand-In-Hand As Unitron Is Named One Of Canada’s 50 Best Small and Medium Employers

I’ve worked with hundreds of high-tech companies in my consulting career. By and large, their corporate cultures are focused less on the long-term job satisfaction of their employees than on having them work as many hours as it takes to achieve peak performance every day in a never-ending, constantly accelerating race to stay ahead of equally fast-moving competitors.

But ever since I’ve been involved with the hearing aid industry, I’ve seen a different side of the high-tech equation — companies and employees united by a mission and common social purpose.

The hearing aid industry is loaded with as much technology as any of the fast-moving hardware and software companies in Silicon Valley, and it’s got its share of die-hard competitors. Nevertheless, job satisfaction is generally very high.

If you want to know why, you should read the press release Unitron put out this month on being named one of Canada’s 50 Best Small and Medium Employers for the third year in a row:

“It is a terrific reflection of the spirit of the people who work at Unitron and the culture we collectively foster,” says Jan Metzdorff, President, Unitron. “We have the great privilege to work on products and technologies that make a real difference in lives of people with hearing loss. The highly personal nature of what we do gives our employees a shared purpose and common goal, which we see reflected in our survey results and in our ranking as a top 50 employer.”

The competitive study by Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s Centre for Business Venturing and Aon Hewitt, identified 21 key drivers influencing employee perceptions of their work experience, including people, work/motivation, opportunities, procedures, total rewards, quality of life/values, and corporate and social responsibility.

Among other things, the award recognizes Unitron’s recent investment in corporate social responsibility programs, including the Unitron Community Connection, an employee-led charity which has donated thousands of hearing aids to children around the world and raised more than $100,000 to provide hearing dog guides through the Lions Foundation of Canada.