The only short term glitch I see is the current shortage of simple inexpensive semiconductor chips in the market. Everything from cars (with Ford and GM forced to dial back assembly lines due to the inability to install the electronics cars rely on today) to TVs, anything with a screen, and even HAs are in such short supply prices have, in some cases, jumped 1,000% in price. Chips that sold for $0.50 are now selling for $30. A cheap mosfet switch the design of which hasn’t changed much in years, is suddenly a precious product as without it you can’t complete the build a high, or low end, electronic devices and and controls.
This is bound to impact HA makers who will have to decide if and how they can handle the increase in cost. Where it really may hit home is for anyone like Bose to introduce things like OTC aids may have to rethink their introduction timetables. We may well end up with a shortage of devices over the next year with HAs. Even Sony’s PS5, which is selling like crazy, just put out a warning that unit production may well not catch up to demand for the next year. If OTC aids are stuck in the same loop, we may be speculating about their introduction for many months before we see them.
It’s just another twist in the pathways electronic devices can be designed and marketed. The funny part is all the complex chips like all the CPUs can be made in sophisticated chip plants, while it’s the little simple cheap stuff halts production across industries.