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Our Bureau

Chennai , Oct. 5

PHONAK AG (India), a fully owned subsidiary of Phonak AG, Switzerland, makers of hearing systems, has had a successful first year of operation, having sold ten times more units than the previous year, Mr Gelek Tashi, Manager, International Sales, Phonak AG, told the press here. . Mr Tashi said that Phonak hoped to sell 10,000 hearing aids in the next year or so.

Mr P.V. Ramana Rao, Manager, Sales and Marketing, Phonak AG India, told Business Line that the reason for the upswing is the intensified marketing efforts made by Phonak in India. Apart from the centre in Chennai, Phonak has a distributor in Mumbai and Delhi, service centres in the major cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad), and a strong network of retailers.

Members of the Phonak Group in Switzerland made twenty trips in the last year to strengthen and develop the market in India. "We are looking to expand even further," said Mr Rao.

Mr Rene Burgin of Audiology and Product Education, International Sales, Phonak AG, said that in order to boost performance levels, Phonak has decided to launch its latest model, the Savia hi-technology digital hearing aid, in India ahead of schedule.

Mr Burgin said that Savia contains a 2.7 mm by 3.7 mm microchip which has six million transmitters embedded in it, to help it operate effectively in all situations.

The Savia hearing aid comes both as a behind-the-ear hearing aid as well as an inside-the-ear one. It has several features such as Autopilot, that provides optimal audibility and comfort in an infinite number of listening stations, Autofocus, that restores near natural hearing even for behind-the-ear hearing aid users and sound cleaning technology, which scans and eliminates the disturbing components in each sound signal. The Savia hearing aid costs around Rs 1.25 lakh, and has a life span of around 6 years.

Mr Gelek Tashi said, "We are soon going to introduce a more affordable product, the eXtra hearing aid, hopefully by December, or January next year. The product eXtra will cost less than Rs 35,000."

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