Headquartered in Switzerland, the Sonova AG group stands at the global forefront of hearing care
Sonova leads with a portfolio of major hearing care brands and significant market dominance. Its widespread operations and large workforce drive substantial revenue and technical innovation, showcasing its industry leadership and ambition.
Product Vision
Centralise hearing care experience in a 24/7 companion App that redefines the way users interact with their hearing devices.
Marry diverse hardware and software technology, and broader service offerings in one seamless user experience that extends and unifies the previously diverse experiences offered by the brand portfolio.
Design Ops workflow - multiple checkpoints for robust deliverables
So what do users need from their hearing technology experience?
Designed for Calm
Easy to use with no stress, a reassuring experience that makes the individual feel cared for
Focused and tailored
Providing for every changing moment with an accessible experience specific to each individual
Elegantly simple
Remove complexity to provide a modern, crafted experience that is a pleasure to use
Hearing care appointment booking user journey - a later iteration with some early low fidelity screens starting to develop
Hub & Spoke navigation: divisive
Test participants in the larges segments, the Traditionalists and Self-Reliants, liked the minimal options and moved patiently through various sub-screens to access deeper features in a ‘hub and spoke’ navigation model.
Test participants in the ‘Modern’ segment found the navigation too slow but still liked the minimal options.
No test participants wanted to explore the extended functionality offered in the cards, assuming they presented unwanted marketing content.
Dashboard, core functions & tray navigation: distracting
Dynamic information was added to functionality cards, aiming to present valuable features as a dashboard. However, test participants found the screen too cluttered, distracting from core functions.
Usage analytics revealed volume change, mute, and program change were the most frequently accessed features (98% of interactions). While users appreciated their quick access, they struggled to find them amidst the dashboard distractions.
Moreover, most participants failed to notice the tray navigation at all.
Hamburger navigation: fast but not for everyone
Surprisingly, one of the most common of all interaction patterns, the hamburger icon, was not identified to access navigation by half of the test participants, the ‘Traditionalists’ segment and some ‘Self-Reliants'.
Less surprising the other half of the test participants, who were used the hamburger, used it to rapidly navigate through the various sections of the app. Many used the menu that the hamburger invoked to investigate the App’s feature set.
Dual navigation model
Problem
User research found that needs diverged for navigation.
Our ‘Traditionalist’ segment was overwhelmed by too many options, was not familiar with the hamburger menu preferred slow, sequential journeys while our ‘Modern’ segment was used to being able to assess the App feature set and rapid navigation afforded by burger menus.
Solution
Hamburger for fast access to all functions
Hub and spoke access to key journeys from large buttons with ergonomic positioning
Simple, calm core screen for accessible stress free moment to moment use
98% interactions accessible in one tap
Problem
Analytics showed that only three functions are accessed in 98% of all interactions for similar apps; volume level, mute and sound profiles to suit the user’s changing sonic environment.
Solution
Make core functions quick and easy to find on home screen.
Brand agnostic styling
Problem
Numerous brands, one UI solution
Solution
Scalable ‘master brand’ approach - facilitating roll out across various brands in different countries, the brand colours, brand logos and fonts are designed to be hot-swappable both in UI, in medical device regulation documentation and in code
Preference testing with our primary user segments clearly positioned our crisp neumorphic UI styling over flat design options
Users noted the styling gave the feeling of a “high tech premium medical experience”
Problem
Hearing loss is one disability among many. Humans are all different. Provide for all abilities.
Solution
Design principles were coupled these with accessibility principles of universal design, ensuring our solutions were inclusive and considerate of all users' needs, not just those experiencing a particular disability.
Vision
Large font sizing and high contrast meets wc3 standards for vision
UI accommodates OS level text sizing, screen magnification and reader support
Cognitive/
learning
Key journeys from home screen mean core functionality is always surfaced requiring minimum reliance on memory
Help is always at hand (instructional content and call to customer services)
Usability tested plain language explains complex auditory concepts
Mobility/
physical
Large touch areas
Ergonomic layout supports one hand use
Hearing
Audio feedback for some hearing aid functions
Consistent experience
Predictable interactions across a wide range of app functions
SaaMD
Software as a Medical Device
“Software as a Medical Device” (SaMD) is defined as software intended to be used for one or more medical purposes that perform these purposes without being part of a hardware medical device.
CE Mark & release
The CE (conformité européenne) mark signifies that products sold in the EEA have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements.
Screen flow example from the Design Specification Master document - Screen flows comprised the Design Specification master documents and maintained absolute parity with acceptance criteria
Release
1
Denmark only (Danish)
Release
2
Add UK
Add English language support
Update Denmark
Add features
Release
3
Add Italy
Add Italian language support
Add features
Handover to CapGemini
Release
4
Add Germany, Poland, Hungary
Add new country languages
Add features
Release
5
Add Belgium, France Netherlands
Add new country languages
Add features
Release
6+
Add USA, Canada
Add US English
Add features
Next steps
Dark mode
Research indicated that screen glare can be an unwanted beacon drawing attention to users’ phones when in the very social situations when adjustment to hearing aids via the app is necessary. While the current light theme was a clear winner in user research, the utility of dark mode was significant. Descoped due to development schedule constraints.
Contextual help on every page
We knew that our least digitally literate users could need explanation at any point in their journey, and memory might not be reliable for older users. As such, we hypothesised that contextual in-app help on most pages would reduce churn. Again, this was included in early designs but descoped.
Hearing aid battery level indicators on homescreen
As the IA of the app that we drew analytics from displayed the hearing aid battery level on the same screen as the three most used interactive functions, this need was only identified in later user research. Hearing aid battery level is a major concern for users as running out can be a severe impediment depending on their activities. Also a descoped feature.
What would I do differently?
Full redesign
To meet aggressive project deadlines made more acute by the lengthy external medical device registration approval process, some parts of the app that would have benefitted from a full redesign were inherited from a pre-existing app that had already passed under the assumption that this would increase project velocity. While this was a decision was a known compromise made by the team, this resulted in some known usability issues being baked into full release and in retrospect didn’t make significant gains to the schedule.
Early competitor benchmarking
To better quantify the usability improvements of alternative design approaches, early benchmarking of competitors’ solutions would have been advantageous.
