Privacy Policy
This Policy was last reviewed and updated on 5.10.2023. Sonova Audiological Care Australia Pty Ltd trading as Connect Hearing (ABN 93 113 235 779) (“us”, “our” and “we”) collects and is committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) and other applicable privacy laws and regulations in Australia. This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, and how we maintain the quality and security of your personal information. What is Personal Information? To help us provide the best possible customer service, we may collect the following “Personal Information” from you:
1. your name, date of birth and contact details, including your address, phone number, email address and serial number of a device;
2. health fund details, Medicare number and relevant information from government agencies (such as Centrelink, Department of Veterans Affairs, Ministry of Health and/or the Accident Compensation Corporation);
3. health and welfare information, including past and present health conditions, hearing test results, diagnostic images of the ear and any other audiological records, prescribed medication, hearing prescriptions and any other health information provided by you or your healthcare provider;
4. information about your circumstances including employment status and history, cultural and linguistic background, and family circumstances;
5. information about your family and other related persons such as partners, children and carers;
6. information about your visit to our website; information provided in forms you fill in on our website, and any other information you have voluntarily provided to us; and
7. any information we are required to collect as part of our legal and regulatory obligations, including without limitation, information under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Laws as enacted in each state and territory of Australia and the Hearing Services Program (Voucher) Instrument 2019.
Some Personal Information we collect is “Sensitive Information” which may include information or an opinion about your hearing and health condition and history. We collect Sensitive Information to provide health services to you. We will only use the information disclosed for the purpose for which it was provided, unless we have obtained your express consent for us to use it for any other purpose. Collection of Personal Information We collect, store and use your Personal Information to provide you with the services you elect to receive from us and for the other purposes set out in this Policy. We may collect this Personal Information from you in various ways, including:
1. through a website or application that is owned or operated by us;
2. through e-mail and other online tools and applications;
3. through our online portal which contains several hearing related tests (“Online Tests”);
4. through one of our stores/ clinics when you visit, or make an enquiry over the phone for a hearing test, or other service, or purchase or enquire about our products;
5. through information provided by you if you apply for a job with us;
6. through our customer feedback surveys;
7. through our social media accounts;
8. through third parties such as an authorised person who may provide your personal information to us, employment recruitment agencies, health insurers or Government agencies, and audiology professionals and health practitioners (with your consent or to the extent permitted by law).
Please note that the information or services provided by us are directed at those over the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 16. If you learn that your child has provided us with Personal Information without your consent, please alert us as soon as possible. How do we use your Personal Information? We may use your Personal Information only as described in this Privacy Policy, such as to provide you with our services, products and information; to conduct certain analyses and statistics, such as to improve our products and services; and to the extent permitted or required by applicable laws, or in support of any legal or criminal investigation. We may disclose an anonymised version of your contact details (to protect your details) to third parties (such as social media providers) to collect statistics to help us improve our products and services (for example, to monitor how effective our targeting advertising is). This information would have undergone an appropriate and robust de-identification process to protect your identity. With whom do we share your Personal Information? We may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We may disclose your personal information to:
1. medical and health care providers involved in the provision of health services to you;
2. health insurers, health authorities and regulators as permitted or required by law;
3. other members of the Sonova Group of companies who process information on behalf of, or provide services to, the Connect Hearing stores;
4. our suppliers (who are located overseas in Switzerland, Vietnam and China but may be located elsewhere from time to time) if you order a product from us;
5. to government authorities in relation to government programs, such as the Hearing Services Program.
Please note that our affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as authorities, customers and suppliers to whom we may disclose your Personal Information, may be located in a different country, (such as the United States), whose data protection laws may differ from those in Australia. In such cases, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your Personal Information. In some instances, we may additionally ask for and will need your specific consent for collecting and using your Personal Information, especially in connection with sending you marketing materials or newsletters regarding additional products and services we think you might be interested in. If you refuse to grant us consent to collect and use your Personal Information If you do not provide the personal information requested:
a. we may not be able to provide you with our services or products;
b. the quality of the services or products provided to you may be lesser than if you had provided all of the information requested; and
c. the risk of adverse consequences from our provision of services and goods may be increased. We are not liable to you for any adverse consequences resulting from your failure to provide accurate personal and health information.
Direct marketing We will occasionally communicate with you by mail, telephone or electronic means to offer you products or services that may be of interest to you. You may withdraw your consent to be contacted at any time as long as you give us reasonable notice of withdrawal. You can do this by emailing “unsubscribe” in the subject line to us directly at info@connecthearing.com.au or calling 1300 104 730. Research Sonova is committed to contributing to continuously improving understanding of hearing healthcare and hearing aids, and improving our products and services. To this end, Sonova performs internal research and is involved in research with universities and other third-party organisations or individuals (Research Organisations). Information related to you (but always fully de-identified) may be used by Sonova for these purposes. This research involves the collation and analysis of (de-identified and non-personal) data collected from our clinics, centres and online (including our online portal). For example, this may include data collected during assessments performed by our clinical staff or from your participation in Online Tests. The research may be presented in journals, conferences, patents or other publications. Sonova only discloses such de-identified and non-personal data to Research Organisations or in publications. You will not be able to be identified from that data. We and the Research Organisations are bound by confidentiality and privacy laws. Our contracts with Research Organisations contain legally binding provisions to protect your privacy. How do we protect your Personal Information? We handle all your Personal Information with the utmost care. We have implemented a variety of security measures to protect your Personal Information from unauthorised access, use and disclosure. These follow technical and organisational measures generally accepted as appropriate security standards in the industry, including access controls, password, encryption and regular security assessments. Although we take reasonable steps to maintain the security of our internet connections and safeguard your personal information, for reasons outside of our control, information transmitted to us over the internet may not be absolutely secure. We assume no responsibility for disclosure of data due to errors in transmission. We ensure that all employees and contractors are bound to keep your Personal Information confidential and to not use or disclose your personal information in a manner contrary to this Privacy Policy. How may you access control or delete your Personal Information? You have the right to request access to, and correction or deletion of your Personal Information. Please contact us directly via the below details if the information we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate, or you would like to request access to and/or correction and deletion of such information. Cookies and Usage Tracking We use cookies, which are small text files that are automatically placed on your computer’s hard drive when you access certain websites. We use cookies and other related technology to make our website easier for you to use and to personalise your online browsing experience and our communications with you. Cookies allow us to store information, such as your domain name, your internet service provider, your operating system, the date and time of access, the pages you visit or the types of searches you perform. We collect this data to conduct system administration and report aggregated information to affiliates, business partners and/or vendors who conduct analyses on our behalf. You have the right to change your preferences with respect to accepting cookies in your web browser’s settings and to opt out of Google Analytics. You can block cookies by changing your browser settings so that cookies from the website cannot be placed on your computer or mobile device. However, please note that in doing so, our website will not work as smoothly as you are used to and some basic functionality that is dependent on accepting some cookies will not work at all. For further information about the types of cookies we use, please visit our Cookie Policy here. For general information about managing cookies, please go to the All About Cookies website. We use Google Analytics, a web analytics that uses cookies and similar technologies to analyse how users use the domains and provide other services related to the website and internet use. The information generated about your website usage, including your shortened IP address, is transmitted to Google Analytics and stored on servers in the US. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile statistical reports on website activity, and to provide other services related to the website and the internet use activity. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. By using this website, you consent to the processing of your Personal Information by Google, as described in this Statement. However, you may also opt-out of Google Analytics. For more information about Google Analytics, or to opt out of Google Analytics, please go to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Interactive Features On some of our websites or applications, we offer interactive features, such as blogs, message boards, or newsfeeds. If you make any contributions to such features, please be aware that these contributions may be viewed by others and that these contributions will be neither private nor confidential. Complaints Handling If you wish to complain about how we’ve handled your Personal Information, please contact us as per the below. We will use the information from your feedback to investigate and resolve individual issues and to provide feedback to our staff or business areas. Your information will be stored and used to help us improve the delivery of our services. If we do not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The OAIC is independent from us. How to contact us If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Statement, or want to request access to your Personal Information or exercise your privacy rights, please contact us using the contact information below. You may also reach out to our Data Protection Officer at privacy@sonova.com. Sonova AG Suite 37.01, Level 37, 100 Miller St, North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia. Phone: 1300 104 730 E-Mail: privacy@sonova.com
Privacy Collection Statement
1) Sonova Audiological Care Australia Pty Ltd trading as Connect Hearing (ABN 93 113 235 779) (“us”, “our” and “we”) collects your personal information to provide you with our services and products and for the other purposes specified in our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy policy contains information about how you can access and seek correction of the personal information which we hold about you, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principals, and how we will respond to complaints.
2) If you do not provide the personal information requested:
a. we may not be able to provide you with our services or products; and
3) We will usually disclose your personal information to other entities in the following circumstances:
a. to health care providers involved in the provision of health services to you;
b. to our suppliers (who are located overseas in Switzerland, Vietnam and China) if you order a product from us; and
c. to government authorities in relation to government programs, such as the Hearing Services Program
c. to government authorities in relation to government programs, such as the Hearing Services Program.
4) Enquiries related to your personal information and privacy should be directed to: info@connecthearing.com.au, or Ground Floor 50 Victoria Street McMahons Point NSW 2060, or 1800 693 277.