In April 2017, for the first time, a seven-strong team from Sonova volunteered in Peru for five days. In the meantime, three more teams traveled to Peru to support our project partner. Thirty-one Sonova employees screened children in Lima for hearing loss.
Thirty-one Sonova volunteers from 13 different countries who work in various Group companies traveled to Lima, Peru, in the past two years. Through their work, they supported the project, which has the aim of conducting a total of 30,000 hearing screenings in Peru.
Sonova employees pass on valuable knowledge
The Sonova volunteers not only conduct hearing tests but also provide advice and suggestions to the Peruvian volunteers. The latter are mainly speech therapists, and they received hearing-test training with the iPad app Shoebox and an introduction to otoscopy. During the missions, the Peruvian volunteers were able to rely on the knowledge of the Sonova audiologists, ask questions, and get expert opinions time and time again. These assignments allow an exchange of points of view on a professional and a social level.
Screening process is improving all the time
The first team that visited this project back in April 2017 screened more than 1,000 children for hearing loss. Since then the screening process has steadily improved. As a result, our last team in September 2018 was able to screen more than 4,000 children in a week. Even though the processes have been optimized, the procedures remain the same. First, the volunteers check the children’s ear canals and make sure they are not blocked by earwax or foreign objects. Second, the volunteers conduct a simple hearing test using an iPad app. If the children fail this test, they are given a second hearing test conducted by an audiologist.
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