HearingLikeMe: Online Community for People with Hearing Loss Receives Multiple Honors

WARRENVILLE, Ill., July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Only one year after its launch, the online community www.hearinglikeme.com has been awarded with a number of prestigious prizes: following the best online video award at this year's Telly Awards, HearingLikeMe.com has now been announced as a triple winner at the Communicator Awards and nominated for the 2013 Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M) Awards. The 12,000-member HearingLikeMe community offers education and inspiration to people with hearing loss, their families and hearing care professionals. Users are invited to share their stories, connect with peers around the globe and seek expert advice.

Initiated by the leading hearing systems manufacturer Phonak in March 2012, HearingLikeMe.com is an online community for people whose lives have been touched by hearing loss. More than 12,000 users worldwide representing those with hearing loss, parents, spouses and hearing care professionals utilize the site's many educational and inspirational videos and articles. "The goal of the HearingLikeMe platform is to provide a forum for users to connect to share their hearing loss stories and support each other in living more successfully with hearing loss," explained Maarten Barmentlo, Group Vice President Marketing at Phonak.

Credible content in a user-friendly format
The content of the site is user-generated, and a number of hearing impaired bloggers regularly contribute dedicated articles. The user-friendly website has been designed to automatically adapt itself for use on any mobile or tablet device. The site is optimized for SEO and promoted through the HearingLikeMe Facebook page via an online advertising campaign and a newsletter to professional users. Journalists, bloggers and professionals are invited to leverage the content via hearinglikeme.com/spread-the-word.  

Broad international recognition
Immediately embraced by users around the globe, the site has received high recognition by the healthcare and marketing community. "HearingLikeMe was a very ambitious project for us, so it is encouraging to receive not only positive feedback from users but acknowledgement by several renowned global marketing awards" says Maarten Barmentlo, Group Vice President Marketing at Phonak.

• At the 19^th Annual Communicator Awards, the leading international awards program in marketing and communication, HearingLikeMe has been awarded three prizes: the Gold Award of Excellence in the "Integrated Campaign/Business-to-Consumer" category and two Silver Awards of Distinction in the "Health Website" and "Community Website" categories.

• Two of the emotional online videos that aim to inspire hope, "Caring without Coddling" and "My Brother has Hearing Loss" were awarded the bronze award at the 2013 Telly Awards. The Telly Awards honors the best film and video productions among more than 13,000 annual entries worldwide.

• HearingLikeMe's user-friendly design has been nominated in the "Best Disease/Education Website" category by Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M) Awards. MM&M Awards honors the best in healthcare marketing, encompassing creativity, design and effectiveness. This year's winners will be announced at a dinner ceremony on October 2 in New York.

More information on the Awards:
Communicators Awards: http://www.communicatorawards.com/home/
Telly Awards: http://www.tellyawards.com/
MM&M Awards: http://awards.mmm-online.com/

See the videos that have been recognized with the Telly Awards:
Caring Without Coddling: http://www.hearinglikeme.com/raising/advocate/caring-without-coddling
My Brother Has Hearing Loss: http://www.hearinglikeme.com/supporting/challenges/my-brother-has-hearing-loss

About Phonak LLC
Headquartered in Warrenville, Illinois, Phonak LLC was founded in the United States in 1989 with the guiding mission to enrich the lives of the hearing impaired by providing the best products and services through the hearing health professional. Phonak LLC is a Group Company of Sonova, the global leader in hearing healthcare solutions.

For more information, please visit www.phonakpro.com.

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SOURCE Phonak