June 10, 2009
Unitron turns up the volume on uHear availability

Proceeds from uHear sales during Better Hearing & Speech month donated to the Carabez Alliance

Kitchener, Ontario, Canada – Following the success of last month’s launch of uHear™, a self-administered hearing screening test for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®, Unitron today announced the application is now available in English worldwide, free of charge. The proceeds from uHear’s 99 cent downloads during May’s Better Hearing and Speech month will be donated in the form of hearing instruments by Unitron to the Carabez Alliance – helping to improve hearing awareness and support children with speech and hearing loss.

The Carabez Alliance is an Australian-based charity that works with audiologists who donate their time to test children with mild and moderate hearing losses in Fiji and the surrounding Pacific Islands. For the past three years, Unitron has supported the organization, which provides hearing aids and audiology assistance in conjunction with speech and language development without cost to its recipients, and is pleased to continue this commitment through today’s donation. By tying the fundraising effort with the launch of uHear, Unitron is able to help drive awareness for both the charity and the need for hearing screenings.

“Unfortunately, children who experience mild, moderate and severe deafness were not receiving the help they needed through the school system, but with the help of companies like Unitron, these children now have the opportunity to reach their full potential,” says Bronwyn Carabez, Founder of the Carabez Alliance. “We can now screen and identify these children as soon as possible and with Unitron’s support, fit them with the donated hearing instruments. Having access to this kind of technology will have a huge impact on restoring their quality of life.”

Available now as a free self-administered screening test, uHear helps users identify potential hearing loss through three assessments: Hearing Sensitivity, Speech in Noise, and a Questionnaire about common listening situations. Hearing loss has an impact on quality of life, yet the process of getting tested can cause significant anxiety and as a result, is often ignored. Easy to use and now even easier to access from anywhere in the world, uHear is designed to help users overcome this anxiety and serve as a first step towards identifying and addressing hearing loss.

“Today’s announcements represent our deep commitment to increasing global awareness and improving the lives of people living with hearing loss,” says Cameron Hay, President and CEO of Unitron worldwide. “The Carabez Alliance is an organization that does incredible work with children in Fiji who have experienced hearing losses. We are pleased to be able to continue supporting this great charity with proceeds from our first month of uHear downloads.”

About uHear
Designed by Unitron, uHear™ is a hearing loss screening test which enables you to test your hearing on your own time, in your own space., uHear helps you assess whether your hearing is within normal range, through any one or all three of the following tests: Hearing Sensitivity, Speech in Noise and a Common Listening situations questionnaire. If you already have iTunes, you can click here to download uHear.

If you do not have an iPhone™ or iPod touch®, you can view a demonstration of the uHear application at www.unitron.com/uhear.

About Unitron
Unitron is a global innovator of technologically advanced hearing instruments. We care deeply about people with hearing loss and work closely with hearing healthcare professionals to make advanced, purpose-driven solutions available to everyone. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Unitron, a member of the Sonova Group, meets the needs of customers through 16 international offices and through distributors in a further 53 countries. For more information, please visit us on the web at unitron.com.

For more information, contact:
Ann Marie Lang
Corporate Media Relations
(519) 895-0100 ext. 2104
annmarie.lang@unitron.com