Is the hearing aid industry slowing down?

Hearing Aids
#21

Platform cycles are now 3 Years, with revisions on 18months. This is getting faster by the decade, the speed of the cycle has doubled since I’ve been in the industry. Moore’s law may be hitting physical limits, but the software isn’t physically restricted in the same way.

Physical re-tooling might not be happening that often, but then again your head isn’t changing shape that quickly either.

So categorically - the changes in the industry are happening faster. Product development is happening more quickly ‘under the hood’ than ever before.

4 Likes
#22

This senior is doing just fine.

I think most folks spend too much money on stuff they don’t really need, like high end phones,expensive cell phone plans, cable TV, cigarettes, fast food meals, and booze.Then they moan about not having any money. Dave Ramsey will tell it like it is.

#23

Well i am 77 and doing better than just surviving, and I agree about spending too much. But over the last 3.5 years the cost of the necessaries have skyrocketed. But at my wife’s and my age we are going to enjoy our lives together because there isn’t that much time left. We aren’t just going to set around and stop living.
We both worked our butts off for close to 50 years so it is time to enjoy ourselves.

6 Likes
#24

I would be fine with that except that every mfg advertises bt connectivity as a main feature, not a luxury bonus. Many of us struggle without it. To me its a necessity not a luxury.

1 Like
#25

I struggle too, my struggle is mostly understanding what people say to me. And with hearing aids I can use my headphones to stream from my phone, laptop, tablet or even my TV. There always ways to work around any issue.
Sure I love being able to stream directly to my aids, but that isn’t the reason I choose which aids I use. I spend 90% of my time with people and that requires the best possible conversation capability. The 10% streaming can be accomplished in many different ways.
One reason I prefer over the ear headphones is that people see them on my ears and know not to expect me to automatically hear them when they start to talk without getting my attention. Streaming straight to my aids that people don’t necessarily see or even think about the fact I may be say on a call or listening to a audiobook lthen people don’t understand or even accept that i am not setting on my butt or walking around waiting to talk to them. I prefer advertising the fact i am doing something else verses waiting on them.

3 Likes
#26

I can sure see this as well.

The SNR is better streaming. This enables some to hear when they couldn’t before using devices.

There is also people who use streaming with aids for other things besides speech understanding. That’s a different story.

#27

One word . . .

OTC

#28

Really? Please show me Oticon Xceed or Oticon Own replacement. Platform is NOT indicator. You must analyze all indicators. Intent, Real and More are only for mild hearing loss.

#29

Oticon Own was released in Sept 22, so would be due a platform review in 2025.

This:

    • The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) web statistics state that hearing loss affects more than 12 million people in the UK, and provides a breakdown of the prevalence of hearing loss by NHS and local authority area in the UK [RNID, 2020a].
  • A key RNID Hearing Matters report states that [RNID, 2020a]:
    • There is evidence of an average delay of 10 years in people seeking help for their hearing loss. When people do seek help, GPs fail to refer 45% of people reporting hearing loss to NHS hearing services.
    • Most people with hearing loss are aged over 50 years, and prevalence increases with age. It cites evidence from a previous Medical Research Council national study of hearing, which found:
      • Hearing loss affects 41.7% of people over 50 in the UK, increasing to 71.1% of people over 70.
    • With an increasingly ageing population, it is estimated that by 2035, over 15.6 million people in the UK (one-fifth of the population) will be affected by hearing loss.
    • About 900,000 people have severe or profound deafness

Says that severe and profound will make up about 8% of the whole market in the U.K. - of those the split is bit under half who have a profound issue: given that many Severe losses can be fitted with power RIC/SP with mould. So a total potential UP market of 400,000 (say 75% penetration), divided by average replacement window of 6 years, so 50k (x2 assuming binaural fit) = £100k units divided by typical market share. (Sonova 31%, WDM 30% etc. )

That means even in a fairly well developed smaller economy, it’s worth 30k units or (NHS 25k X £100 + Private 5k X £500), which doesn’t really go that far at the product development level. I appreciate these are estimated values and penetration figures might be wrong (though monaural wearing of aids is more historically established here).
Now, I’m not for one minute saying they should ignore profound losses, but in terms of the market share and product development the non-RIC market sits squarely at the sides of the bell curve. It’s not surprising that all manufacturers who are looking at the challenge of OTC are focussing on the 90% of the market with the faster turnover and easier fits.

2 Likes
#30

I also forgot to say: ‘new’ Profound losses are fairly rare, so the marketing effort is largely wasted too. If you’re wearing Phonaks since age 20, who’s going to convince you to bounce to a different brand, especially if you’re already down the Roger rabbit hole……

2 Likes
#31

A reality check @Dallyroo22 : the industry would love to be able to work more closely and earlier with “volunteers”. Thanks to new regulations such as the MDR update politics have set higher and higher hurdles and the industry is literally blocked for fast iterations and standard approaches such as design thinking. Many value generating ideas are killed and users get less value. Thanks dear regulators.

2 Likes
#32

true @Dallyroo22 you don’t need AI. You need the best possible solution for you to get every spoken word clearly. this requires zillions of small features … lot of technology… .log of computing power. And AI (DNN) is one of the great helpers that extract sound more clearly while the traditional sound cleaners still run on the same chip.

1 Like
#33

“Over-the-counter hearing aids promised to be cheaper and more accessible for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Instead, people are returning them at high rates.”

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/apple-airpods-hearing-aids-over-the-counter-cb916621?st=khvKKb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

#34

I’d say hearing aids make things louder and only with Bluetooth or other wireless they make speech better for those of us who cannot hear well in noise.

#35

This article says hearing aid sales are up. So they are not slowing down.

https://www.ehima.com/about-ehima/hearing-aid-sales/

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#36

Everyone wants to talk up OTC so called aids. I was listening to Dr Cliff and he says that OTC aids has upped his business over 50% because people try OTC aids and either happy with the results, find that aids can help them but OTC aids don’t do the job. Some just want a professional to adjust them and find out that real aids work so much better.
OTC aids maybe and possibly is all that someone with a mild to moderate hearing loss needs, and that is good. But I have found that not even the best aids work if the best professional adjustments aren’t made to them for my needs.

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#37

they are not … actually sales of OTC had not been great at all.

I think the price is still to high. Lets see what happens with apple

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#38

the last Power instrument Oticon had released what the OPN S series.

That was a very long time. I dont know what are they really up to

but they really need to focus on rechargeable Bte PP …

They might come up upgraded version for the Zircon (that would be dissapointing )

before a power line who knows?

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#39

not really, you can use a 105 custom receiver and fit hearing losses up to 105 dbhl

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