Because bad hearing is often stigmatised, we wanted to let our audience test the hearing without realising it. We gave them the most straightforward way to do a hearing test – without the need of speakers or headphones. Because high-frequencies such as a mouse click are lost first when hearing loss starts, we got the user to click his mouse. After that, we asked him whether he heard the mechanical high-pitched clicking noise produced by pushing the mouse button. If not, he might suffer from hearing loss and Phonak offers solutions to help him restore high frequency noises to his ears on www.hear-the-world.com.

People responded positively to this new and playful version of a hearing test. Because bad hearing is still stigmatized, this fast test managed to break down the barrier and encouraged readers to make a first step towards better hearing – as was expressed by people confronted with the promotion. As a consequence of the action, the number of people that took a hearing test on hear-the-world.com increased significantly.