The company will focus on its core hearing instrument and cochlear implant businesses going forward.

Sonova Holding AG has announced it will seek a new owner for its Consumer Hearing business, which operates under the Sennheiser brand. The company has stated it will now concentrate its investments and execution on its core hearing care activities, specifically hearing instruments, including Phonak and Unitron, and Advanced Bionics cochlear implants.

“Our renewed strategy translates Sonova’s technology leadership and audiological expertise into broader adoption and stronger local execution,” says Eric Bernard, CEO of Sonova, in a release. “By expanding design towards lifestyle-aligned solutions and healthy aging, transforming, and growing our retail network, applying country-by-country discipline, and driving excellence in customer service and operations, we are confident in our ability to deliver above-market profitable growth and sustainable value creation.”

Core Strategic Priorities

The company’s new focused strategy is built on three key priorities:

  • Innovate to drive adoption: Sonova plans to expand design and form factors toward lifestyle-aligned and healthy-aging solutions. The strategy includes embedding AI and digitalization across products and leveraging R&D synergies between its hearing aid and cochlear implant segments.
  • Succeed locally with a multi-channel play: The company will manage distribution on a market-by-market basis with differentiated brand roles. The plan includes expanding the Retail business (formerly Audiological Care) through targeted acquisitions and deepening synergies between its Wholesale (formerly Hearing Instruments) and Retail divisions.
  • Elevate service and operations: Sonova aims to make customer service a visible growth driver and boost operational efficiency through footprint optimization, streamlined processes, and automation.
Sonova Completes Acquisition of Sennheiser Consumer Division

Sonova completed its acquisition of the Consumer Division from Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co KG.in 2022. As part of that acquisition, Sonova secured a perpetual license for the Sennheiser brand. It is unclear what this will mean for the future.